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Happy Moving Day! I mean Canada Day

July 1

C’mon Jessica, C’mon Tori,
let’s go to the mall you won’t be sorry.
Dad says I’m too young to date.
But baby I don’t wanna wait…
That’s okay…
I’m gonna rock your body till Canada Day.

“Let’s Go To the Mall,” Canadian National Anthem

Canada Day isn’t an anniversary of independence but of unity. On July 1, 1867 the colonies of Upper Canada, Lower Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia united to form “one dominion under the name of Canada”. The day was known as Dominion Day until 1982 when it was officially changed to Canada Day–although the populace had long since taken to calling it Canada Day.

On this, the 142th anniversary of the first Canada Day, we ask: “Where did Canada get its name?”

According to answerbag.com, “Canada” means:

  1. An Indian word meaning ‘Suburb of Detroit’.
  2. George St. Pierre, the UFC Welterweight Champion of the World. Yea baby!!!
  3. Place where Americans come to ask stupid questions.

Another theory of the origin of Canada’ is that it is an Wendat (Huron/Iroquois) word meaning ‘village’ or ‘collection of huts’. The Wendat were a confederacy of four tribes who spoke the same language in what is now Ontario and Quebec.

According to the Department of Canadian Heritage, in 1535 explorer Jacques Cartier was mapping the area north of the present-day St. Lawrence River when…

“two Indian Youths told Jacques Cartier about the route to ‘kanata.’ They were referring to the village of Stadacona…but for want of another name, Cartier used “Canada” to refer not only to Stadacona (the site of present day Quebec City), but also to the entire area subject to its chief, Donnacona.”

Cartier named the St. Lawrence River the ‘riviere de Canada’, and by 1547, maps of the area labeled the land north of that river “Canada”.

Though this theory is widely accepted, some dispute its accuracy, suggesting that the Hurons didn’t occupy the area at the time of Cartier’s exploration.

Another theory is that Spanish explorers wrote “aca nada” on their maps, meaning ‘nothing here’.

The arguments are moot in Quebec, where most of the populace doesn’t celebrate Canada Day at all. Rather, in Quebec, July 1 is better known as “Moving Day.” Since 1971, apartment leases there have begun and ended on Canada’s national holiday.

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St. Peter & St. Paul

June 29

In a word,
Never let go on these three things:
Faith, hope and love.
And know that the greatest of these
Will always be love

I Corinthians 13:13

June 29 is the Feast Day of St. Peter and St. Paul. Each gets his own saint day, but in the Venn diagram of the Catholic Church, June 29 marks the intersection of the two.

The two Apostles couldn’t have been more different. St. Peter was Christ’s most devoted follower and leader of the Apostles. A simple fisherman, he was born as Simon. His name Peter comes from Petros for ‘rock’. Jesus referred to Simon as his rock, saying “Upon this Rock I will build my church.”

Paul was born Saul, a wrathful and often vicious persecutor of the early Christians, who never encountered Jesus outside his visions. It wasn’t until his vision on the road to Damascus that he was “blinded by the light”. Following his conversion, Paul became the most prolific converter of non-Christians to the faith the world has ever known.

The scriptures don’t detail the death of either saint. It’s believed St. Peter was crucified upside-down. As a Roman citizen, Paul was very likely beheaded. The saints are remembered jointly today because their remains were temporarily moved on June 29, around the year 258 AD to prevent their desecration during the Valerian persecution.

St. Peter & St. Paul

Leaders of the Apostles

Pauline Chronology

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Isra wal Miraj – the Night Journey

27th of Rajab

On the 27th day of the month of Rajab, the Prophet Mohammad was resting after evening prayers near the Kaaba in the city of Mecca when he was awoken by the angel Gabriel (Jibril). Gabriel had with him a white, winged horse-like creature named Buraq.

Buraq
Buraq

Gabriel then did a curious thing. He cut open the Prophet’s chest from throat to navel, removed his heart and cleansed it with Zamzam water, and poured into it a substance that fortified Muhammad’s wisdom and faith. Gabriel next asked Muhammad to mount Burak, and they began what is known in the Islamic faith as “the Night Journey”.

A single stride from Buraq measured as far as the eye could see, Muhammad later retold. Before much time passed the trio touched down in a land of palm trees, Medina. There Muhammad performed a prayer at Gabriel behest, and they were off again. Only this time they arrived at a much more distant location. The Masjid-al-Aqsa, meaning “the farthest mosque” in all of Islam. The city of Jerusalem. Along the way he saw many sights, including the birthplace of the Prophet Jesus in Bethlehem. Gathered together in one place at the mosque in Jerusalem were the prophets from Adam to Jesus, and Muhammad led them all in prayer.

From there Muhammad and Gabriel began the final leg of their journey, up to the heavens. This is know as the Ascension of the Prophet.

In the first heaven Muhammad saw Adam, the father of all mankind, surrounded by souls. If Adam looked to his left he cried, and if he looked to the right he laughed. For the souls on the left were his descendants who would die as non-believers; to his right, those who would die believers.

In the second heaven he came across the Prophets Jesus (Isa) and John the Baptist (Yahya).

In the third heaven was Joseph (Yusuf).

In the fourth, Enoch (Idris).

In the fifth, Aaron (Harun), brother of Moses, and in the sixth was Moses (Musa) himself.

Finally Muhammad reached the seventh heaven where stood the patriarch Abraham (Ibrahim), the holiest prophet in Islam next to Muhammad.

There Muhammad saw a sidr (lote) tree with fruit the size of the large jars and leaves the size of elephant ears. The sidr tree was said to be the tree Adam ate from before being banished.

He ascended past the branches of the sidr tree, into Paradise, where he witnessed the many rewards that awaited the faithful. And when he had passed beyond Paradise, he heard the ‘Kalam’ (word) of Allah.

The Kalam is likened to the language of Allah, but a language that doesn’t come word by word or letter by letter. Rather, it is one whole, eternal thing, without interruption.

The Kalam instilled in Muhammad many things, including the importance and power of good deeds. God told Muhammad that his followers must pray fifty times a day. With that, Muhammad descended.

But on the way down Moses asked him about what transpired. Moses said there was no way Muhammad’s followers would pray 50 times a day, and encouraged Muhammad to talk God down. Muhammad did this, and eventually talked God down to five times a day.

Muhammad returned to Mecca that same evening not far from where he had begun his journey. Only, in this age prior to supersonic jets, some of the townspeople didn’t believe he could have gone all the way to Jerusalem in one night. Muhammad described the Jerusalem mosque and its surroundings in perfect detail. And then told them of an event he had seen on the way back to Mecca, shepherds searching for a lost camel far away. When those shepherds reached town, they verified Muhammad’s story.

Today Muslims remember a key date in the history of Islam, the Isra and the Miraj, the Journey and the Ascension.

Isra and Mi’raj: The Details

UAE – July 31 declared Isra and Mi’raj Holiday

Miracle of Al-Isra and Al-Miraj


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Stonewall

June 28

June 1969. Two months before Woodstock, another New York event changed America in a profound way.

There’s no one moment that “started” the gay rights movement, but many say it began around 1:20 in the morning on June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in New York City.

The Stonewall Inn was a gay bar on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. When a handful of officers raided Stonewall in the wee hours of June 28th, they were well within their rights. The bar was owned by the mafia, and it didn’t have a proper liquor license. But the gay clubs were raided with uncharacteristic frequency, and the police would go the extra step of arresting customers en masse for “disorderly conduct.”

The half dozen police officers expected that the gay clientele would comply and line up docilely, which may have accounted for the lack of backup. The last thing they imagined was that their safety would be in danger from drag queens and other gays and lesbians who had been harassed one time too many.

Back in 1969 homosexual sex was outlawed in virtually every state. Even New York City, vigilante crews had formed to rid the city of the gay menace. Expressing a homosexual orientation in public could mean not just being ostracized, but beaten or even killed.

Stonewall’s windows were painted black. To get in patrons knocked on the club door and were peered at through a peephole. By raiding Stonewall, the police brought homosexuality into the outside world, but not in the “shameful” way they anticipated. Instead, as word spread quickly of the raid, homosexuals converged from all parts of the Village, to join in the Boston Tea Party of modern times. Essentially, ‘gayness’, normally confined to the interiors of clubs, exploded onto the streets, loud and wild and raucous. Rioters shook buses, blocked traffic, and shouted “Christopher Street belongs to the queens!”

Stonewall Jackson ('cause there are no public domain pics of the Stonewall riots.)

“…as the patrons trapped inside were released one by one, a crowd started to gather on the street. It was initially a festive gathering, composed mostly of Stonewall boys who were waiting around for friends still inside. Cheers went up as favorites emerged from the door, striking a pose and swishing by the detective with a “Hello there, fella.”… Suddenly a paddywagon arrived and the mood of the crowd changed. Three of the more blatant queens—in full drag—were loaded inside, along with the bartender and doorman, to a chorus of catcall and boos from the crowd…The next person to come out was a dyke, and she put up a struggle. At that moment, the scene became explosive.” (Village Voice, June 19, 1989, Lucian K. Truscott IV)

The following evening the rioting grew fiercer. Supporters, both gay and straight, gathered along Christopher Street, and the Tactical Patrol Force couldn’t bring order back to the streets.

Meanwhile the owners of the club changed Stonewall overnight to seize onto the symbolic value their club had suddenly attained. By Saturday night they served only sodas and were giving them away for free.

Before June 28, 1969, “the Stonewall Inn attracted larged crowds of chino-clad gay men in their late teens and early twenties because the Mafia-owned bar allowed men to dance with each other as long as they were willing to pay exorbitant prices for watered down drinks.” (From Perverts to Fab Fave, Bigner & Streitmatter) After June 28, 1969, it brought gay rights to the public consciousness and became the rallying cry for a new nation-wide civil rights movement.

Four years later homosexuality was reclassified in the DSM (Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) from a mental disorder to a “sexual orientation disturbance.”

Police departments also learned from the mistakes at Stonewall. First and foremost, never raid a gay bar right after Judy Garland’s funeral. Judy Garland died in London the week before of an overdose of sleeping pills. Her body was transported to New York, and Wednesday through Friday, thousands of her fans, many of them gay, passed by her coffin to pay their respects. The raid was that night. Recalled Seymour Pine, the officer who planned and led the raid, “If I had known that Judy had died at that point, I wouldn’t have had the raid.” (The Villager, June 2004)

Judy Garland, 1957
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Holidays for June 27

June 27 is a big day for holidays.

Djibouti celebrates its independence from France in 1977.

flag_djibouti

Canada celebrates Multiculturalism Day, which falls between National Aboriginal Day on June 21 and Canada Day on July 1.

flag_canada

Brazil celebrates Mixed Race Day on June 27. It falls 3 days after the (state of) Amazon’s Day of the Caboclo. Caboclo refers a specific Brazilian mixed-race, dating back to when the first soldiers of European descent settled in the Amazon to harvest rubber, and intermarried with the local Amerindian population.

flag_brazil

This year (2009) the UK celebrates its first annual Armed Forces Day to coincide with Veterans’ Day, which has been observed on June 27 since 2006.

flag_UK

June 27 is the anniversary of the first investiture of the Victoria Cross in in London’s Hyde Park in 1857. Originally established to honor veterans of the Crimean War, the Victoria Cross is the highest military honor in the UK.

In 2005, Private Johnson Beharry became the first living recipient of the Victoria Cross since 1969. Two Victoria Crosses were awarded during the Falklands War in 1982, both posthumously.

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Romanian Flag Day

June 26

Awaken thee, Romanian, shake off the deadly slumber…

Today is National Flag Day in Romania.

The three colors of the Romanian flag represent the blood of the people, the golden crops of the land, and the blue sky above…according to the Communists who ruled Romania from 1947 to 1989. But much has changed since the fall of the Iron Curtain, including the country’s national anthem, which was “Three Colors” from 1977 to 1989.

Like the flag itself, the country is an amalgamation of three nations: Dacia, Wallachia, and their all-too-famous cousin Transylvania. Though Transylvania is the most notorious, Romania was actually formed by the merging of the other two, Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859. Transylvania didn’t join the club until 1918.

Peles Castle, Romania © David Watterson
Who put the Roman in Romania?

After decades of clashes between Rome and the land known as Dacia, the Roman Emperor Trajan attacked and conquered the defiant kingdom around 100 AD. The war had tested and refined Roman military ingenuity. Dacia was powerful, wealthy, and no stranger to war. Trajan declared 123 days of celebration in Rome following the victory.

Two full Roman legions were posted in Dacia even in peacetime. The soldiers and Dacians intermarried, as did their native tongues. Dacian fighters repelled the Roman invaders around the 4th century, but even today Romania bears the name of the ancient empire. Romania, meaning Land of the Romans, didn’t become the official name until 1862, three years after the creation of the Moldavia-Wallachia state.

The Romanian flag has survived in one form another for 1500 years. Emperor Justinian issued a decree in 535 describing the region’s coat of arms and banner:

“On the right…a red shield, on which towers can be seen, signifying the other Dacia; in the second section a blue-sky shield, with the ensigns of the Bur tribe…and golden in the middle.”

A thousand years later the colors still coincided with the three major regions: red for Moldavia, gold for Wallachia, and blue for Transylvania. And in 1600, the prince Michael the Brave briefly united the three provinces before his assassination in 1601. The colors were used during this time to symbolize the amalgamated territories.

During the Communist regime a coat of arms was added to the banner, but removed in 1989, sometimes quite literally…


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Statehood Day – Croatia & Slovenia

June 25


Like a family of members forced to live under one roof through most of the 20th century, the states that made up Yugoslavia had little in common but rivalries. Forged in the wake of World War I, the country was initially known as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia, as it was later called, was dismantled after the Nazi invasion of 1941.

The country rose from the ashes of World War II as Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. Then as Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. (The Democratic thing didn’t work out too well.) Yugoslavia—the union of Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia & Herzegovina—held together during the post-War period largely due to the iron will of one man, Josep Tito, the country’s president from 1953 to 1980.

Tito didn’t get along with Stalin. Because Yugoslavia’s Socialist revolution wasn’t thrust upon it by the Soviet Union, but was home-grown, Yugoslavia’s Communist Party wasn’t dependent upon the Soviets. They didn’t look at Stalin as a national hero. Relations with the Soviets soured after Yugoslavia refused to compromise its independence and merge with Bulgaria, as the Soviet Union requested. And throughout the Cold War, Yugoslavia remained neutral.

In 1980 President Tito’s death left a power vacuum that would never be filled. In the late 80’s, ethnic tensions broke out in Kosovo and across the separate states.

Tensions came to a head in June 1991 when, following a Croatian referendum, Croatia and Slovenia announced their intentions to break away from the union. Both states declared their independence on June 25th of that year. Though Slovenia’s declaration met with some violence, Croatia’s erupted into a full scale war. The former Yugoslavia became the site of one of the bloodiest European conflicts since the end of the World War II.

Today—June 25—Croatia and Slovenia, the Yugoslav fraternal twins, celebrate their birthdays.