Happy Philly Vegan Day!
The Philly Vegan Day proclamation is on display at the American Vegan Center.
Often we request Philadelphia observe World Vegan Day with its own local equivalent on November 1st. This year, however, we set Philly Vegan Day for today, which is also Dynamic Harmlessness Day.
This holiday is celebrated on the birthday of Jay Dinshah, founder of the American Vegan Society (AVS) and the man who coined “dynamic harmlessness” as a modern way of expressing the ancient Jain concept of ahimsa.
Today in a proclamation from the Office of Mayor Kenny, Philly Vegan Day was explained in a text citing the contribution of Jay Dinshah among others. Read the whole PDF here. The second paragraph notes that “important steps towards Americans’ acceptance and adoption of the vegetarian/vegan lifestyle took place in our city’s history, including the founder or the American Vegan Society, Jay Dinshah, decisively declaring his intent to go vegan on Front and Venango Streets in 1957.”
The next paragraph opens with the fact that “In 2021, the American Vegan Society opened its first satellite office in old City, Philadelphia,” and concludes with this stirring statement tying this year’s observance to Jay Dinshah’s birthday: “Each year on November 1st, World Vegan Day is celebrated globally, and in 2023, the celebration is enhanced by the 90th birthday of Jay Dinshah on November 2nd. Therefore, I, James Kenney, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia, do hereby proclaim the day of November 2, 2023 to be PHILLY VEGAN DAY in Philadelphia(.)”
There are many ways to celebrate. One is to share this post and remind others that Philly Vegan Day is today. As per tradition, the proclamation will be publicly read at the American Vegan Center (AVC) at 5:00 p.m., so anyone who’s in the area can feel free to attend. Also, this evening at 6 pm AVS is sponsoring a special zoom panel devoted to dynamic harmlessness and the legacy of Jay Dinshah. And don’t forget our First Friday party tomorrow at the AVC spinning the hits from Jay’s time as a radio DJ. Lastly, the best way to celebrate is to live vegan unapologetically, today and every day!
