Hug Day 2027

About Hug Day

Hug Day is the sixth day of Valentine's Week and falls on Friday, 12 February 2027. Couples mark it, and so do friends, siblings and parents, since a hug is one of the few Valentine's Week gestures that suits almost any close relationship. There is no ritual. People hug in person or send a virtual hug by message.

Where Hug Day comes from

Hug Day sits between Promise Day on 11 February and Kiss Day on the 13th, two days before Valentine's Day. See the full Valentine's Week list.

Nobody is on record as having started it. Valentine's Day reached Indian cities after the economic reforms of the early 1990s, when a new middle class got foreign TV channels and card shops. The day-by-day week grew on top of that, carried by card and gift shops, radio, TV and later social media, from roughly the late 1990s and 2000s. There is no founding text and no ritual.

Some Indian news explainers say Kevin Zaborney started Hug Day in Michigan in 1986. That mixes up two different days. Zaborney started National Hugging Day in the United States, on 21 January, to lift spirits between the winter holidays and Valentine's Day. He also told people to ask first if they weren't sure a hug was welcome, which is good advice for 12 February too.

Hugs were Indian long before Hug Day

The custom is new. The hug is not. In India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, people greet each other after Eid prayers by embracing, often three times, and then shaking hands. In Varanasi, the Bharat Milap at Nati Imli, held the day after Dussehra, re-enacts Ram embracing his brother Bharat on his return from exile, and local tradition dates it to 1543.

For a generation of Hindi film viewers the hug even has a name: the jaadu ki jhappi, the "magic hug" that Sanjay Dutt's character falls back on in Rajkumar Hirani's Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003) when nothing else works.

There is some science behind the jhappi. In a 2014 Carnegie Mellon University study led by Sheldon Cohen, 404 healthy adults logged their hugs for two weeks and were then exposed to a cold virus. Hugs seemed to soften the extra risk that stress brings, and people hugged more often had milder symptoms. The researchers could not say whether the touch itself helped or the feeling of support it stands for.

jhappi (झप्पी)

Everyday Hindi and Punjabi word for a hug

gale lagana (गले लगाना)

To hug someone; gala means neck or throat

gale milna (गले मिलना)

To embrace in greeting, as after Eid prayers or at a reunion

aalingan (आलिंगन)

The formal Hindi word for an embrace

jaadu ki jhappi

"Magic hug", the phrase made famous by Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.

How people mark Hug Day

Hug Day is one of the easiest Valentine's Week days to share with family, because a hug means nothing romantic on its own.

• College and school friends often treat it as a friends' day: a group hug in the corridor, a photo, a story post tagging the whole gang. It overlaps in spirit with Friendship Day in August.
• Couples keep it simple: a long hug when they meet, a message when they can't.
• Married couples can join in without planning or spending anything. A hug at the door after work is the whole celebration.
• Families use it to say what doesn't get said aloud: a hug for a parent, for a brother leaving for hostel, for a grandparent who has been unwell.
• People far apart, from partners in different cities to children studying abroad, send a virtual hug: a voice note, a video call or a card.

Hug Day messages to send

The best wishes name a real hug, one you remember or one you're promising. Change the details to fit.

Only hug people who want a hug

Not everyone likes hugs, and that includes family. In many Indian homes the warm greeting is a namaste or touching an elder's feet, and neither is less loving. A hug across genders can also be unwelcome in some families and workplaces, whatever the calendar says.

Sending a hug by link

People search for "Hug Day link generator with name" and "Hug Day wish link with name". That is exactly what Kehdoo does: type their name, write a line, pick a look, and you get one link to send on WhatsApp. It is free, with no app and no sign-up.

1. Type their name and add a photoA picture from the last time you hugged, at a farewell or a railway platform, makes the card theirs.
2. Write one line, then a letter if you wantKeep the front short. Save the long letter for what you never say out loud.
3. Add a listA titled list such as "5 times your hug fixed my day" suits partners and best friends.
4. Pick an openingA gift box or curtains for a surprise, an envelope for a letter, a card cover for parents.
5. Add music and confettiSoft background music suits a partner. Confetti suits a friend.
6. Send it at the right momentMidnight for a partner, before the first lecture for a college friend, morning tea for parents. You get an alert when they first open it.
7. Save it as an imageThey can download the card as an image for their WhatsApp status.

A link works best paired with one small real thing: the hug itself when you next meet, a cutting chai together, or the rose you saved from Rose Day.

How to wish someone on Hug Day

A Hug Day wish works when it names the hug you mean: the one at the airport, the one after the exam results, the one you will give when you next meet. Keep it warm and light for friends and family, and closer for a partner. For someone far away, a virtual hug with a date to meet is kinder than a vague one. Offer a hug only to people who would welcome it, and send romantic wishes privately, since not every relationship is known at home.

Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.

Language tip: English, Hindi + Hinglish.

When is Hug Day in 2027 and 2028?

Hug Day is on 12 Feb every year. Only the weekday changes.

• 2027Friday 12 Feb
• 2028Saturday 12 Feb

Frequently asked questions