Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia declared their unification on September 6, 1885. Unfortunately, no one outside of Bulgaria—neither the Western Powers nor the Ottoman Empire, of which Rumelia had been a part—recognized the union.
The declaration precipitated the Serbo-Bulgarian War in which Bulgaria defended its borders, and Bulgarians still celebrate September 6 as the anniversary of its unification.
This year (2009) most events celebrating Unification Day have been canceled, due to a tragic boating accident on Saturday which killed 15 Bulgarians. The boat Ilinden sank in Lake Ohrid, Macedonia. An investigation as the cause of the sinking is currently underway.
Instead, the President has declared Monday, September 7 a National Day of Mourning.
Memorial services for the victims were held at Plovdiv Cathedral, and were attended by the President and Speaker of Parliament.
During the mass, the Plovdiv Metropolitan, Nikolay, hinted that God had punished Bulgarians over their many sins including celebrating and partying too much on August 29 (the day of the concert of pop diva Madonna in Sofia) instead of mourning for St. John the Baptist.
I have to say the name’s misleading. The whole point is not to labor on Labor Day, isn’t it? Shouldn’t it be Leisure Day or Play Day? But then I guess it would defeat the purpose of honoring the workers–past and present–who make it possible to BBQ on this day.
Scores of countries and billions of people celebrate Labor Day on May Day (May 1) but the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand just had to be different.
By the 1880s May 1 had become a traditional day for workers to unite and go on strike, strikes which led to progressive social measures, but also violence between workers and police. The most notable example being the Haymarket Riot of 1886.
The Anarchist Riot in Chicago, Harper's Bizarre, May 15, 1886
Pressure was on for the creation of a Federal Holiday honoring the workers of America. President Grover Cleveland wanted to appease workers’ organizations by creating an official Labor Day, but the political establishment was afraid a May 1 holiday would strengthen socialist solidarity and forever bring attention to violent May Day clashes like Haymarket, leading to much such demonstrations in the future.
In 1886 Cleveland instituted a national Labor Day, but moved it to the first Monday in September. (The Central Labor Union of New York had been celebrating an autumnal Labor event since 1882.)
It worked. Today few Americans recall the Haymarket riots, but we use Labor Day to bid farewell to the glorious days of summer. Labor Day means back-to-school for kids, don’t wear white for the fashion conscious (although this too is fading), and time to host that last big barbecue before bequeathing the grill back to the spiders.
All across India hundreds of millions of schoolchildren celebrate Teachers’ Day. In many schools, children dress up like their teachers. Teachers meanwhile, sit in the back of the room, like students, as the students lead class, and roles are reversed for a day. Students have a chance to see from their mentors’ eyes, and teachers remember what is was like to be a student, to have the one other job as important as teaching: learning.
The lesson plan may include a look at the man behind Teachers Day, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.
Born on this day in 1888 in Tamil Nadu, India, Radhakrishnan became one of the leading philosophers of the 20th century. According to George Conger:
“…Among the philosophers of our time, no one has achieved so much in so many fields as has Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan of India … William James was influential in religion, and John Dewey has been a force in politics. One or two American philosophers have been legislators. Jacques Maritain has been an ambassador. Radhakrishnan, in a little more than thirty years of work, has done all these things and more… Never in the history of philosophy has there been quite such a world-figure…. like a weaver’s shuttle, he has gone to and fro between the East and West, carrying a thread of understanding, weaving it into the fabric of civilization.”
Radhakrishnan taught subjects including philosophy, ethics and comparative religion at the Universities of Calcutta, Oxford, and Ahndra.
In 1952 he was elected the first Vice-President of India. Ten years later the philosopher became India’s second President.
When his friends and former students wished to make his birthday a holiday, Radhakrishnan did not forget his first calling. He replied, “Instead of celebrating my birthday, it would be my proud privilege if 5 September is observed as Teachers’ Day.”
Throughout the rest of his life, Radhakrishnan went on learning and teaching, holding true to his most firmly held belief:
“The true seekers are those who never end their quest. Even at the termination of one’s life one is still searching. Fulfillment is a distant goal.”
Every year on September 4 (or the weekend closest to) approximately 200 Angelinos, known as the Pobladores recreate a nine-mile walk from San Gabriel to downtown Los Angeles, California, originally taken on this day in 1781. The Pobladores are descendants of the original permanent settlers of Los Angeles, eleven families and four Spanish soldiers who journeyed from Northern Mexico to what is now Los Angeles.
The final leg of the journey ran from the San Gabriel Mission to near what is now Olvera Street.
Actually the original settlement was right on the banks of the Los Angeles River, then called the Rio de Nuestra Senora, Santa Maria, Reyna de los Angeles de Porciuncula. (Our Lady Santa Maria, Queen of the Angels of Porcuicula River.) It had been so named on July 31, 1769 by a Spanish expedition led by Gaspar de Portola.
Porciuncula means “small portion of land” but it also has a spiritual connotation. The most famous ‘porziuncula’ was the small portion of land, and the tiny chapel upon it, bequeathed to St. Francis of Asissi in the 13th century. It was from this church that the Franciscan Order spread. ‘Porciuncula’ was often used to refer to a special place of retreat.
The natives gave the settlers funny looks in 1781, for building their pueblo right on the river, and come the rainy season the settlers found out why. Their little settlement was flooded out, and they rebuilt the Pueblo further away from the river, where it still stands today.
Fortunately for posterity, the name “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora Reyna de los Angeles” has been shortened to just Los Angeles. And for those for whom that’s too much a mouthful, it’s simply L.A.
Routes of the Pobladores
The Pobladores were a mixed-race group, with over half claiming black and Native American blood. Each year, Angelinos watch and join the descendants of the Pobladores as they retrace the steps of the ancestors on the nine-mile walk.
The 44-person pueblo has grown into a city of 4 million, with over 12 million in the metropolitan area. L.A. is the only city outside Europe to have hosted the Olympics twice. L.A. has four major airports, one of which is the 5th busiest in the world. In the late 19th century, Los Angeles was a fairly sleepy city. Settlers began arriving from all parts of the country, attracted first by the region’s agricultural advantages, and in the 20th century by its aviation and film industries. All of these benefited from Southern California’s famous year-round sunshine.
The city in the desert survives largely because of water imported from the Owens Valley. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is the largest municipal utility in the U.S.
The Los Angeles neighborhood known as Hollywood (there is a movement to make it its own city) is largely responsible spreading Southern California culture across the world.
The Los Angeles (Porciuncula) River, not quite as scenic as it once was
Some sources cite the tiny nation of San Marino as the oldest country in the world. According to tradition, San Marino declared itself a constitutional republic in 301 AD. Founded by a Christian stonemason (Marinus of Rab) fleeing persecution, San Marino declared itself a constitutional republic in 301 AD.
San Marino lies entirely within Italy.
The secret to San Marino’s longevity? It takes soothing milk baths and does not engage in Middle-East land wars. It also helped that during the tumultuous Italian unification period in the 19th century, San Marino granted asylum to commander Giuseppe Garibaldi and 4000 of his men retreating from French forces in 1849. Later Garibaldi, as leader of a newly unified Italy, returned the favor by granting San Marino’s wish to remain independent.
The country’s official name is the “Most Serene Republic of San Marino”. [Makes one wonder if there are other, less serene republics of San Marino?] At 24 square miles, it’s the fourth smallest nation in the world (About 1/10th the size of Charlotte, North Carolina). And with only 30,000 residents, it’s got a smaller population than many universities.
Guaita Tower, San Marino
But what San Marino lacks is size, it more than makes up for in tourists. 3.5 million people visit the ancient locale each year, enjoying its breathtaking views of the Adriatic (San Marino itself is landlocked) and its scenic medieval mountaintop fortifications. Its location high atop Mount Titano is one of the reasons it was only overrun twice in its recorded history, briefly in 1503 and again in 1739, though the neutral country was bombed once by the Allies during World War II, believing the Germans had taken it.
San Marino is also one of the oldest countries in the world in another respect…its average life expectancy is 81 years.
Today, September 3, is celebrated as the Feast Day of its patron and founder, St. Marinus of Rab.
On this day in 1945, Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence of the newly-proclaimed Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
To sum up the prior 2000 years of Vietnamese history in an internet-friendly morsel:
Vietnam was ruled by China for nearly a thousand years, until 938 AD, when a Vietnamese Lord defeated the Chinese at Bach Dang River. The Vietnamese then enjoyed 900 years of autonomy (though not necessarily peace), after which the Europeans moved in, first as allies against neighboring armies, then as conquerors. The French gained control of the region known as Indochina in a series of conflicts in the 19th century and maintained control until World War II when the Japanese invaded.
At the time, France was occupied by Japan’s ally, Germany, and an uneasy alliance of power developed between Japan and Vichy France, the French puppet government that Germany had installed. French authorities in Indochina were thus able to maintain the illusion of sovereignty.
However, in March 1945 the Japanese staged a coup, kicking out the French and dispelling any notions of European dominance.
The Japanese surrendered to the Allies in August of that year, and British and Chinese troops were sent to Vietnam to quell the growing independence movement. But by that time, Vietnam had already proclaimed its independence. Ho Chi Minh became the head of the provisional government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
The First Indochina War would last nine years.
Ho Chi Minh declares independence, September 2, 1945
The Declaration of Independence that Ho Chi Minh read on September 2, 1945, began with a familiar ring:
All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free.
The Declaration of the French Revolution made in 1791 on the Rights of Man and the Citizen also states: “All men are born free and with equal rights, and must always remain free and have equal rights.”
Those are undeniable truths.
Nevertheless, for more than eighty years, the French imperialists, abusing the standard of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, have violated our Fatherland and oppressed our fellow-citizens. They have acted contrary to the ideals of humanity and justice…
They have built more prisons than schools. They have mercilessly slain our patriots; they have drowned our uprisings in rivers of blood….
After the Japanese had surrendered to the Allies, our whole people rose to regain our national sovereignty and to found the Democratic Republic of Vietnam…
Our people have broken the chains which for nearly a century have fettered them and have won independence for the Fatherland. Our people at the same time have overthrown the monarchic regime that has reigned supreme for dozens of centuries. In its place has been established the present Democratic Republic…
We are convinced that the Allied nations which at Tehran and San Francisco have acknowledged the principles of self-determination and equality of nations, will not refuse to acknowledge the independence of Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh’s northern-based government did not receive the support it had hoped for from the U.S. The Second Indochina War began not long after the first had ended. The U.S. supported the South Vietnamese government against Ho Chi Minh’s Communist government in the North; the Second Indochina War took the lives of millions of Vietnamese as well as 58,000 Americans. The U.S. withdrew completely in 1975 and North and South Vietnam unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
With over 86 million people, today Vietnam is the 13th largest country in the world by population.
With the 2011 revolution overthrowing Muammar Qaddafi, it remains to be seen whether the country will continue to remember September 1 as Revolution Day, marking the day in 1969 that Qaddafi rose to power.
Libya had an extremely rough colonization period under Italy in the early part of the 20th century. In 1951, Libya gained independence as a constitutional monarchy under King Idris.
King Idris held a decidedly pro-Western stance, and ruled the country for nearly two decades. He arranged to transfer power to his son on September 2, 1969. However, on September 1 that year, a coup led by officer Muammar Gaddafi deposed the King and his son, citing how the country’s wealth had managed to fall into the hands of the very few, notably the king’s inner circle. The 27 year-old Gaddafi gained his title: “Brother Leader and Guide of the Revolution.”
Gaddafi proposed that Libya would form a new type of government economy, neither capitalist nor socialist, but a third road between the two.
Gaddafi’s government’s links to the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s, and its links to terrorist groups and bombings in the 1980s led to increase pressure from the West, and finally to U.S. air strikes in 1986 (which killed Gaddafi’s adopted daughter). In 1988, Libyan intelligence agents were involved in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland. Libya spent the next decade under U.N. sanctions.
In 1999, U.N. sanctions were lifted after Gaddafi extradited Libyans suspected in the bombing. After 9-11, Gaddafi denounced Al-Qaeda; U.S. sanctions were lifted in 2003 when Libya agreed to pay billions of dollars to victims of Pan Am 103 and other bombings.
In terms of GDP per capita, Libya is the second richest nation in Africa. Its official name is the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (Arabic for “state of the masses), and it stands out from all other nations in terms of its flag: it’s the only single-color banner. Green symbolizes both Libya and the Islamic religion.
Over the decades, Libya has moved away from solidarity with the Middle-East and more toward taking a leadership role in the development of Africa.
This week Muslims around the world follow up the moderation and solemnity of Ramadan with the joy and festivity of Eid-al-Fitr. Fitr means breaking of the fast, [actually “natural condition”; see comment below!] referring to the month-long fast during Ramadan. Eid means “festival”, of which Islam has only two: today’s Eid-al-Fitr and Eid-al-Adha (Festival of the Sacrifice).
The days before Eid-al-Fitr are some of the biggest shopping days of the year in Muslim communities. Families stock up on special foods in preparation for celebrating the Fitr meal(s), buy or make presents and new clothes for the holiday events, and make sure to purchase extra food (Zakat) that will be distributed among the poor, ensuring that all families have enough to celebrate with during the three-days of festivities.
Muslims recite a special Eid prayer during Eid-al-Fitr. According to Islamicity.com
Eid prayer is wajib (strongly recommended, just short of obligatory). It consists of two Rakaat (units) with six or thirteen additional Takbirs. It must be offered in congregation. The prayer is followed by the Khutbah.
At the conclusion of the prayer the Muslims should convey greetings to each other, give reasonable gifts to the youngsters and visit each other at their homes.
With its emphasis on family, celebration, and gratitude toward God, Eid-al-Fitr might be compared to both Christmas and Thanksgiving in the West. Unlike Christmas, the season changes slightly year by year. Because the Gregorian calendar is 11 days longer than the Islamic calendar, by 2023 Eid-al-Fitr will fall during spring. Around 2030 it will fall during winter.
This year Eid-al-Fitr coincides with the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of ten days of repentance.
