Purple Day is an international grassroots effort dedicated to increasing awareness about epilepsy worldwide. Every March 26^th, people from around the world wear purple to show support for people with epilepsy.

Purple Day was founded in 2008, by nine-year-old Cassidy Megan of Nova Scotia, Canada. Cassidy started Purple Day in order to give people a forum to show support and express solidarity for people who have epilepsy, to show them they are not alone. Cassidy started this by writing to the members of Canada’s Parliament and asking them to wear purple on March 26^th.   95% of the members wore purple and Purple Day was born. Cassidy named the day Purple Day after the internationally recognized color for epilepsy, lavender.

In 2009, over 100,000 students worldwide wore purple to support epilepsy awareness, and hundreds of businesses and community groups hosted awareness events. Many American leaders (such as US Senator Menendez of New Jersey and Governor Paterson of New York) also demonstrated their solidarity by wearing purple and making proclamations.