(Our) Friendship day

There are so many special days nowadays that I have stopped keeping a track of them. Every other day there is some XYZ day and you are supposed to send some card to someone, buy and tie some kind of a band, wear some special attire, or buy some variety of flower, ... The list is endless but there is always some special gift or something you must buy. So it is very clear who must be the people who are promoting these new found zeal for newer traditions. One such day during the last week was a so called friendship day. I came to know about it because a film producer launched a film on the theme of friendship and had put huge ads in the newspapers. So I was wondering about what used to happen in the past ? I was thinking about whether the people were all spoilsports before this new industry of 'days' started ?
Incidentally Sunday was Makarsankranti. The day on which Maharashtriyans exchange sweets and remind others to talk sweetly. I am too lazy to keep a track of multiple calendars and making preparations for festivals. But this particular day is easier to remember because it (almost) always falls on 14th January. So one doesn't have to make efforts to remember it. Different states in India have different traditions and festivals. In Gujrat people fly kites on this day. Mumbai having a sizeable Gujrati population also celebrates 14th January as a kite festival. My cousin's maternal uncle was born and brought up in a Gujrati neighbourhood. So he always flies kites on this day and celebrates it in a big way. I traveled to their old neighbourhood ( Girgaum ) and spent 2-3 very memorable Makarsankrantis there. At home when parents were stingy about giving money to us for buying kites, here we had a total contrast. An elderly gentle giant ( he is 6' + ) who used to be as enthusiastic as we kids. He used to order special Maanja ( specially treated, toughned thread ) from Surat/Baroda. There used to be a big pile of kites. Kites of different colours and sizes. The entire day used to be spent in enjoying kite flying. ( with some precious time wasted on some stupid things like having a lunch.) The kite flying used to be full of thrill of kite fights. But the fights used to last only during the day. Kite flying at night used to be an altogether different game. There used to be a big kite specially reserved for the night. At night the kites were flown with paper lamps attached to the thread. Slowly the lamp moves further and further from you and becomes smaller and smaller. It used to be a great scene to watch. Those tiny dots in the sky!