Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day — sometimes referred to as Rainbow Bridge Day — celebrates the pets who live on in our hearts, although no longer in our homes.
When is Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day?
Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day is observed every year on August 28. The pet holiday was founded by author Deborah Barnes who chose the date in memory of the day in 2013 when she said goodbye to her purring pal Mr. Jazz. The day was developed to honor all of our friends with fur, feathers or fins to whom we have said farewell.
Deborah Barnes is the author of the award-winning blog Zee & Zoey’s Cat Chronicles and Purr Prints of the Heart: A Cat’s Tale of Life, Death and Beyond.
Barnes has set up a special Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day event page on Facebook so pet parents can gather in the virtual world to celebrate the life of their late pet by posting a photo or poem.
What is the Rainbow Bridge?
The English poet Alfred Austin wrote that “Tears are the summer showers to the soul.” Just as a rainbow can frequently be seen in the sky after a rainfall, the tears we as pet parents shed over the passing of a beloved cat or dog helps our hearts see the reflection of Rainbow Bridge.
No one knows who penned The Rainbow Bridge poem, but its words have consoled countless animal lovers during their time of sorrow.
Like an elusive rainbow’s end, when we lose a furry family member they may go to a land that we cannot now reach, but the thought that our fur babies are at play with other pets who have passed on and are waiting at Rainbow Bridge for the day when we are happily reunited helps to bring color back into our lives.
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