2021 International Peace Day: Celebrating a Longstanding Tradition and Honoring the History of our School’s Peace Tree

This upcoming Tuesday, September 21, marks the 40th anniversary of the International Day of Peace. First celebrated in 1981, the International Day of Peace is a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire.

The Sandy Spring Friends School Peace Committee has a longstanding tradition of finding ways for our school community to join together to honor this day, and that tradition continues into 2021.

Day of Peace 2008 - "Pinwheels for Peace"

Day of Peace 2021 - All-School Moment of Silence

Day of Peace 2016 - Peace Flags

At noon on Tuesday, September 21,  the SSFS Peace Committee invites all members of the Sandy Spring community to join the School in participating in a worldwide "Minute of Silence - Moment of Peace" to mark the day. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, whatever time zone you are in, take one minute at noon to join thousands of others across the globe as we reflect silently on world peace.

In addition, the Peace Committee will also be borrowing a "leaf" from our school's history by bringing the community together to create an art installation commemorating the "Tree of Peace.” The tree, which was planted in October of 1987, linked SSFS to an international effort by the Iroquois Confederacy for Global Peace, which honored a custom that began 1,000 years ago by the five tribes that came together in a move for peace to form the Haudenosaunee.The planting was arranged by the Indian Affairs Committee of the Baltimore Year Committee. [Read more about the tree from an October 7, 1987 article and an October 15, 1987 article in the Olney Courier-Gazette]

Everyone on campus will be given a paper leaf on which to write or draw their hopes and wishes for peace, and these, in turn, will be combined to create a school-wide art project that will inspire thoughts about peace, our relationship with the greater world, and our sense of community.