News
9 October: what is celebrated today
9 October is a date that brings together three forms of communication that have shaped human history: the message that travels, the gaze that observes and the art that endures. On this day we celebrate World Post Day, World Sight Day and the European Day of Rock Art — three reminders that expressing ourselves, looking and leaving a mark are an essential part of what makes us human.
World Post Day
Since 1969, every 9 October we have celebrated the magic of post thanks to the Universal Postal Union (UPU), created in the 19th century to link countries, cultures and hearts. Behind every stamp, every envelope and every parcel, there is a story of waiting, emotion and connection.
Post does not only carry words; it carries feelings, news and hopes. Although today the world communicates in seconds, this day invites us to remember the value of the tangible, of the handwritten message, of that human connection that knows no borders.
World Sight Day
On the second Thursday of October, the planet turns its attention to what is essential: seeing. The WHO and the IAPB promote this day to remind us that eye health is also a right.
More than 180 million people live with vision problems, many of them preventable. That is why, in 2024, the slogan “Children’s eye care” focuses on new generations: teaching them to care for their eyes, reduce screen time and enjoy the real world, the one seen with their own eyes and not through a screen.
In addition, the international “Glasses of the Future” competition invites children to imagine what tomorrow’s glasses will be like: smart, colourful, magical? Perhaps those childhood visions reflect a world that is learning to look with hope.
European Rock Art Day
Thousands of years ago, before post and before languages, human beings were already communicating through art. European Rock Art Day, proclaimed by the Council of Europe, pays tribute to those first expressions engraved in stone, in caves such as the mythical Altamira, the “Sistine Chapel of the Palaeolithic”.
It was on 9 October 1902 that the French archaeologist Émile Cartailhac publicly acknowledged his error in doubting the authenticity of those paintings. His gesture marked a milestone in the history of art and opened the world’s eyes to the genius of our ancestors.
Today, as we contemplate those figures drawn with natural pigments, we understand that art was the first universal language, and that we are still, thousands of years later, trying to tell stories with the same passion.
9 October is a date for rediscovering what connects us: the words that travel, the gaze that understands and the strokes that endure.
From the envelope that crosses oceans to the painting that withstands millennia, we continue to send the same message: humanity wishes to communicate, remember and look at the world with wonder.