As many of you will know, November is a month for celebrations and commemorations of all things big and small in our world today. In a previous blog posting, I outlined how November is rife with ‘days’ of recognition (e.g. World Toilet Day is November 19th), and the month itself holds great meaning (e.g. November is Peanut Butter Lover’s month).

Perhaps no other November awareness campaign is more willingly followed and observed than Movember,“involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men‘s health issues, such as prostate cancer and other male cancers” (Wikipedia article). Despite being a fairly new phenomenon (the movement began in 2003 in Melbourne, Australia), Movember was listed in 2012 as one of the top 100 NGOs in the world (Movember Canada; Wikipedia article).

Now I’m as surprised as anyone that the end of November is already here. It seems like just yesterday that I was still writing “October 2013” in my day planner; now I’ll soon be writing “December”. For the guys growing their mustaches, that means the end to their feel-good facial hair.

Thankfully, the movement known as Movember does not leave men in the lurch. “Official Movember Gala Partés and Mo Parties” are available across major Canadian cities (see the listing here). Although the end of November is a sad time for all mustachioed men, there are many opportunities (and reasons) to celebrate!

Happy Movember, everyone!