Who would think that our “let’s meet up with other Hetalia fans around October 24 because that’s UN Day” gatherings would go on for 10 years?!
Let’s look back at a decade of Hetalia fan tradition through our group photos.
2009
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Things were sort of spontaneous during our first year, like this shot from the capital of Canada:
2010
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Hetalia Day 2010 was perhaps our biggest year, with close to 3000 people attending 142 meetups around the world. A quarter of that was held in Europe, including the Netherlands:
2011
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Our dedicated hosts began to spice things up by organizing themed gatherings. Hetaween (Hetalia Halloween) is a popular option since our annual meetups happen at the end of October. Butler or maid cafes were held as well. For 2011, Hetalia Day Singapore’s theme was Gakuen Hetalia:
2012
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When your meetup is held outdoors, the weather forecast is part of the planning. Rain never stopped our friends from the Czech Republic:
2013
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Traditionally, major American cities had large turnouts. Like Hetalia Day 2013 in Philadelphia:
2014
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By 2014, some cities have had meetups for five years straight, oftentimes hosted by the same people or clubs. Some of them are Hetalia Day NYC, Hetalia Day Santiago, and – as seen in the next photo – Hetalia Day Philippines (HetaDayPH):
2015
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It’s always interesting to see what meetups are like in countries that are represented as Hetalia characters. Take for instance Hetalia Day in Russia, 2015:
2016
Sometimes, even companies joined in on the fun! American distributor Funimation – who would occasionally send our North American friends Hetalia goodies – hosted a Hetalia Day party in their offices back in 2016 and live streamed it on Facebook!
2017
While there are fewer and fewer meetups each year, fans still gather in major cities like Mexico City for Hetalia Day:
2018
But it’s never to late to join! Take for instance Hetalia Day Ho Chi Minh, which first participated in 2017 and came back the next year:
2019
Hetalia Day 2019 isn’t over yet as of posting! Ten cities will be holding their meetups over the next two weekends. If you’re feeling nostalgic and live nearby, why not check them out?
What’s next
So…a Japanese Twitter thread explaining Hetalia Day went viral this week, and suddenly we have 2000+ new followers, mostly Japanese fans hoping for a meetup in their country in 2020. The Summer Olympics will take place in Tokyo next year, so there’s also that heightened interest in international cooperation and foreign culture. (Who knows, maybe new Hetalia content will come out too.)
Which is why we can’t stop now! The site will remain open to list all meetups submitted. Hetalia Day 2020 will definitely take place, and the suggested date is October 24, 2020, which luckily falls on a Saturday. Of course, your meetup can take place the weekend before or after that.
Hope to see you next year!
p.s. Check out Hetalia Twitter Japan’s collective fanworks they posted for our tenth year!