Kevin Gower

Located on the west coast of Africa, The Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa.

Its first contact with Europeans was in the mid-15th century when Portuguese arrived as part of their expansion of overseas trade. It was also an important location for the African slave trade.

Trade rights to the region were sold to the British at the end of the 16th century, starting a period of British control who initially struggled for domination of the region with France. For a short period in the 17th century part of The Gambia was under the control of what is modern-day Latvia.

In 1889 the present boundaries of The Gambia were set by agreement between Britain and France; five years later it became a British protectorate.

During the 1950s political parties emerged. In 1960, elections were held under a new constitution, with the People’s Progressive Party, led by David Jawara, emerging as a powerful voice and the dominant political party after further elections in 1962.

Following agreements between the British and Gambian Governments in July 1964, The Gambia achieved independence as a constitutional monarchy on 18 February 1965, with Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a governor-general, as head of state and Jawara as the first prime minister.

The Gambia is one of only two countries whose self-standing short name for official use should begin with the word “The” (the other one being The Bahamas). In 1964, the prime minister of The Gambia said that one of the reasons they like to have “The” in their name is to avoid confusion with Zambia.

The origin of the Chinese New Year is itself ancient and obscured by the amount of time. It is popularly recognised as the Spring Festival and celebrations last 15 days. The public holidays last about a week and stores and places of business usually reopen on the fifth day of the first lunar month.

It may seem strange that the celebration is known as “Spring Festival” in China, even though it falls in January or February, which are classed as winter months. This is because the ancient solar calendar, which depicts 24 periods through the year, classifies the start of Spring as the period from February 4th to 18th.

Preparations begin a month before (similar to a Western Christmas) when people start buying presents, decoration materials, food and clothing. A huge clean-up gets underway days before the New Year when Chinese houses are cleaned from top to bottom, to sweep away any traces of bad luck, and doors and windowpanes are given a new coat of paint, usually red.

A provincial statutory holiday observed on the third Monday in February in most provinces. About two-thirds of all Canadians will have the day off on Family Day.

Alberta was the first province to introduce the statutory holiday in 1990 under the Premier at the time, Don Getty.

The establishment of the day created some controversy. Some people believed that the day was established as a response to a cocaine possession scandal one of the former Premier’s sons was involved in at the time. According to an archive, “Premier Getty was obviously embarrassed by the revelation and admitted publicly that he had neglected his family, saying that it was important for all Albertans to take more care with their families also.”