The History of Le Panda Day

4 Year Anniversary Special

The following was transcribed from live footage.

Transcriber ID: BAM_BAM_SUPR3MACY

Date: April 27th, 2024

The camera moves slowly over a field and settles on a figure laying on their back. Her face comes into focus. 

Grass the colour of bamboo is strewn into her hair, tangling itself over and over again. Pollen from weeds twinkles like stardust,  hair a brown halo. 

The ground was still damp from the rain a few hours before. The soil was getting her pants dirty. She didn't seem to mind. 

She traced her fingers along the clouds in the sky, trying to find pandas in formless cotton; to find new meaning in something so familiar but faded by time. But time did not make her jaded, it only increased her desperation to search for something that was already there, maybe something that had never left. 

She did not stop until she found a round cloud with two large puffs that stuck out like ears. She imagined the face of a panda, and let out the breath she had been holding. She finally rested, allowing the sun to hit her eyelids. The sun warmed her face, as tea does, and reminded her of days hiding from the winter air, being wrapped in blankets, or the back of her laptop after using it for too long.

But all rest must come to an end. When it was done, she knew it was time. She was ready. 

🌿❉ ╤╤╤╤ ✿ ╤╤╤╤ ❉🌿

𝕳𝖊𝖆𝖗 𝖞𝖊 𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖗 𝖞𝖊 𝖕𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖆 𝖈𝖎𝖙𝖎𝖟𝖊𝖓𝖘... 𝖑𝖊 𝖕𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖆 𝖕𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖈𝖊𝖘𝖘 𝖘𝖕𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖘!

❝On this fateful day four years ago, a tradition was born.

From a single panda to dozens, a couple of Wattpad friends created something glorious. 

I actually cannot fathom that it's been four years. I'm Grace by the way. I had the profile picture of a cute infant panda (originally screenshotted from Kung Fu Panda 3) stuffing its face with dumplings and it all went from there. To no efforts of my own, though. I have no idea what made me choose Le Panda in the first place. He was nameless and random, probably chosen on a whim. But he was welcomed with opened arms. And, of course, the infamous panda emoji apart of my signoff. Who was originally a boy panda named Mochi, but was taken into the interpretation of the public and made anew—a cute girl panda with an affinity for her emoji friend Bamboo and a whole lot of sleep. 

Now it has been four years of changing our profile pictures and celebrating pandas with you all. I still remember the creative things people would leave on my message board, usually a panda made from hearts or something like that. The art that used to come in that was (and still is) amazing. 

And though I may miss some days and am extremely inactive on Wattpad at this point, I will come back for Le Panda Day as long as it continues. 

We have Sunny to thank for the perseverance of this panda-filled holiday. She quite literally never misses a beat. This woman has been on a mission from day one. She has created and continued this legacy and we love her for it. The genius behind the messages that Mochi writes for us, the adorable and impressive art each month. . .when she puts her mind to it, she really is a force to be reckoned with.

On behalf of every person who ever changed their profile picture to a panda or wished us a happy Le Panda Day or voted on these books: thanks Sunny. Your determination is inspiring.