Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
Gather Around Day is for meeting up with a group of people. You may have a story to tell them. You may sit around a campfire. You may have some snake oil to sell them.
Gathering around has a circular feel to it, doesn't it? I mean, if you really wanted people to gather in straight lines or in a hexagonal formation, you'd specifically tell them to, right? You wouldn't just say, "Gather around."
Maybe this is so because you'd actually be more likely to say, "Gather 'round."
Americans are so lazy about their speech.
That's what nicknames are all about too. We're too lazy to say Elizabeth, so we say Betty or Liz instead. Although, for some reason, we normally still say Queen Elizabeth, even though we're not her subjects.
Contractions are another example of speech laziness. We say we'll, dasn't, and goodbye more often than we will, should not, and God be with ye. (That last word dasn't be pronounced yee. It outta be thee.)
G'day, mate.