HOLIDAYS

Hassan Agari was born in Medina on 8th of Rabi-ul-Akhar 232 AH His father was Ali Naqi, the 10th Shia Imam. Imam Ali Naqi lived under house arrest in a Samarra, a garrison town about 60 miles north of Baghdad. Hassan’s title became known as Asgari, meaning “the one who lived all his life in a garrison town.”

Even from an early age, Asgari was known for his divine knowledge and he became the 11th Shia Imam on the death of his father in 254 AH at the age of 22.

Becoming the 11th Imam was a big deal. In both the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam, it is believed that the 12th Imam would be the final Imam who would be the ‘Mahdi’ or ‘Guide’ for humanity until the Day of Judgement.

According to Shia tradition, Askari died aged 28 on 8th Rabi’ al-Awwal 260 AH (January 4th 874 AD) after being poisoned on the orders of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mu’tamid and was buried in Samarra, a town some 60 miles north of Baghdad.

In Shia tradition, Asgari did give birth to a son, Muhammad. who would be destined to be the final Imam, but Asgari kept Muhammad’s existence a secret in fear of Al-Mu’tamid finding out and wanting to kill his son.

Aged five, Muhammad al-Mahdi, disappeared on the same day that his father died.

Shias believe that Imam Mahdi will reappear alongside Jesus to be the saviours of the planet in the final judgement days. Sunni Muslims didn’t follow the Shia Imam lineage and most believe that the Mahdi has been born yet.

The full name of this holiday is the “Day of Memory of the Victims of the 1968 Invasion and subsequent occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops.”

According to the drafters of the legislation, the night of August 20th -21st 1968, was one of the most tragic dates of modern Czechoslovak history.

In 1968, Alexander Dubček was appointed to the key post of First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. Dubček made changes that liberalised the nation, a period known as the Prague Spring. In response, after failing to persuade the Czechoslovak leaders to change course, five other members of the Warsaw Pact invaded, with Soviet tanks rolling into Czechoslovakia on the night of August 20th 1968.

The invasion put an end to the democratisation and the humanist efforts at reform of the Communist system in Czechoslovakia and it also caused the death of many innocent civilians, they added.

This holiday is to commemorate the memory of the victims of the invasion.

The Czech Senate approved the state holiday in December 2019.

Isese (the Yorùbá word for Tradition) Day celebrates the Yorùbá traditions and religion in a display of culture and spirituality with parties, festivals, parades, lectures and display of other traditional apparels to attract tourists from other parts of the world.

As well as in South-West Nigeria, Isese day is celebrated by Yorùbá diaspora communities around the world.

Yoruba people are a large ethno-linguistic group or ethnic nation in Africa, and the majority of them speak the Yoruba language. The Yoruba constitute approximately 35% of Nigeria’s total population, and around 40 million individuals throughout the region of West Africa.

The Yorubas are the main ethnic group in the states of Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo, which are subdivisions of Nigeria; they also constitute a sizable proportion of Kwara and Kogi States as well as Edo State.

While the majority of the Yoruba live in western Nigeria, there are also substantial indigenous Yoruba communities in Benin, Ghana, Togo and the Caribbean.

The appropriate greeting for Isese Day is “Isese l’agba” and the response is “Isese l’agba gbogbo wa”.

Afghanistan is an Islamic state in Central Asia.  With its strategic position between India, Persia and the Silk Road, Afghanistan has been a region coveted by foreign empires since the dawn of civilisation. 

The country we recognise today as Afghanistan emerged in 1747, when Ahmad Shah Durrani unified the Pashtun tribes.

In the context of this holiday, our story begins with the arrival of the British in the early nineteenth century.

Threatened by the growth of the Russian Empire, Britain moved into Afghanistan to secure it as a buffer between Russia and the so-called ‘Jewel in the Crown’ of the British Empire, India. This led to the first Anglo-Afghan War when British forces invaded, installed King Shah Shujah, who was assassinated in 1842 and the war ended abruptly with the massacre of the entire British invading force by Afghan forces in the city of Jalalabad.

In 1878, the British returned and the Second Anglo-Afghan War resulted in victory for Britain over the Afghan army in Kandahar and a treaty that gave Britain control of Afghan foreign affairs in exchange for protection and a subsidy.

In 1919, the brief Third Anglo-Afghan War brought British control of any aspect of Afghanistan to an end. 

Afghanistan signed the Treaty of Rawalpindi (or Anglo-Afghan Treaty) on August 8th 1919, when Britain formally recognised the sovereignty and independence of Afghanistan and ensured neutral relations between Afghanistan and Britain.

On August 19th 1919, Emir Amanullah Khan declared independence from British influence. Note that it wasn’t independence from Britain, as Afghanistan was never part of the British Empire.

Pinot Noir has a storied history that dates back to the Middle Ages. It’s believed to have originated in Burgundy, France, going back to the Roman Empire. Over the past few hundred years, the grape variety used to make this wine has spread from France to other regions of the world as well. Now, this wine is made everywhere from Australia to New Zealand, as well as all across the United Statesand Europe.

Unfortunately, the history of National Pinot Noir Day is not as clear as the history of the wine it represents. No one really knows who created this holiday or when, but if we were forced to venture a guess, we would probably say that it was likely created by some wine association. Of course, that would only be a guess.

San Martin is regarded as the most important Argentinian founding father, who liberated not only a part of Argentina but also helped liberate Chile and Peru along with O’Higgins and Bolívar.

José Francisco de San Martín y Matorras (February 25th 1778 – August 17th 1850) was an Argentine general and the principal leader of the successful struggle for independence from Spain by the southern nations of South America.

Together with Simón Bolívar in the north, San Martín is regarded as one of the Liberators of Spanish South America.

He is regarded as a national hero in Argentina, Chile and Peru. San Martin’s exploits earned him a series of honorific names. In Argentina he is remembered as the “Padre de la Patria”, (Father of our Country). In Peru, he is known as, “Fundador de la Libertad del Peru”, (founder of the freedom of Peru), “Protector de Peru” (protector of Peru) and “Fundador de la República” y “Generalísimo de las Armas” ( founder of the Republic and supreme commander of weapons). In Chile, he is called simply “Captain General”.

In Argentina, historical figures such as San Martín are remembered on the anniversary of their death, rather than their birth.

The Order of the Liberator General San Martin, named in his honour, is the highest decoration in Argentina.

The first Europeans to visit Gabon were the Portuguese in the late fifteenth century when Diego Cam explored the region. They gave Gabon its name when they named the mouth of the Como River as gabão, Portuguese for “cloak”, after the shape of the estuary.

The French arrived in the region in the early nineteenth attracted by the slave trade. In 1839, local rulers in the coastal region signed away sovereignty to the French. The French explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza led his first mission to the Gabon-Congo area in 1875 increasing French control and founded the town of Franceville in 1880. France officially occupied Gabon in 1885 and in 1910, Gabon became one of the four colonies of French Equatorial Africa. 

During the Fourth French Republic (1946–58), Gabon became an overseas territory with its own assembly and representation in the French Parliament. In 1958 Gabon voted to become an autonomous republic within the French Community. 

On August 17th 1960, Gabon gained its independence and became an independent republic joining the other three territories of the French Equatorial Union who also gained their independence in the same month.

The first president of Gabon, elected in 1961, was Léon M’ba.

After the nation gained independence, France established a new dynamic with Gabon partly motivated by the West African nation’s uranium wealth which was key to France’s nuclear programme.

In 2021 the Taliban met little resistance from Afghan forces as they gradually took control of the country and eventually captured the capital, Kabul.

President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on August 15th 2021, when the Taliban had already seized virtually the capitals of all provinces except Panjshir and had advanced to the Kabul gates.

The Taliban swept into Kabul and seized the presidential palace as Ghani’s escape became common knowledge.

The Taliban were to enter Kabul following a political settlement, but they crossed the Kabul gates saying that since the previous government head and security officials fled the country, they entered to provide security.

After the Taliban took over Kabul, an international military evacuation operation took place, in which Germany also took part. Dramatic scenes took place at the capital’s airport when tens of thousands of Afghans attempted to flee the country.

A year after the Taliban entered Kabul to overthrow the US-backed government, the Taliban Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs declared August 15 as a public holiday in Afghanistan to mark one year since the Islamist militant group conquered Kabul during the chaotic withdrawal of US-led NATO forces.

The Taliban have changed the country’s calendar to include 24 Asad (August 15th) as a public holiday while eliminating cultural and traditional holidays such as Nowruz and the holiday commemorating the 10th of Muharram (Ashura).

Pakistan had been part of the colony of India since the 18th century, firstly as part of the East India Company and then as part of the British Indian Empire.

In 1947, the act of independence created the ‘Dominion of Pakistan’ which covered two different geographic areas known as East and West Pakistan. In 1971 following the Bangladesh Liberation War, East Pakistan parted from West Pakistan and became Bangladesh.

The name Pakistan is a conjunction of two words ‘Pak’ meaning ‘Pure’ in Urdu and Persian, and ‘Stan’ meaning ‘Land’. The name was also promoted in a pamphlet produced by the Muslim movement in 1933 – “ Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Afghan Province), Kashmir, Sind and Baluchistan”. The ‘i’ was added to aid pronunciation.

Independence happened at midnight between August 14th and August 15th 1947, which is why the tradition in Pakistan has been to celebrate the August 14th whereas August 15th is Independence Day in India.

CAR is a state in the heart of the African continent with a territory of about 622,400 square km and a population of 4.6 million people.

According to the UN, the republic is among the least developed countries in Africa in socio-economic terms, however, the country has rich deposits of uranium, oil, gold and diamonds.

This country’s inland location meant that it didn’t have the first wave of contact with Europeans as they rounded the coast of Africa looking for a passageway to India.

The isolation ended with the arrival of the slave trade with some local tribes becoming suppliers to the Europeans and Arab traders. The slave trade depopulated large parts of the region and shattered the sophisticated societies that had developed. To compound the chaos, at the end of the 19th century, the region couldn’t escape the so-called ‘Scramble for Africa’ as France, Germany, and Belgium all vied for control of the land.

Already controlling large swathes of surrounding Africa, the French won out and in 1894, set up a dependency called Ubangi-Shari. In 1910, Ubangi-Shari became part of the Federation of French Equatorial Africa.

The history of Ubangi-Shari then runs along similar lines to the other French colonies with the French imposing and abusing harsh labour laws to exact the cost of maintaining their expensive overseas colonies

The Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) is the largest and most loved annual event in Queensland, attracting on average 400,000 people to the Brisbane Showgrounds over the 10 days of the show.

The show celebrates agriculture in the region and features competitions for animals from cows to cats and for prize vegetables and traditional skills like wood chopping. There is also a popular fun fair with a Ferris wheel. Visitors can be seen snacking on Dagwood Dogs, a corn dog or buying bags of candies and treats called showbags.

The show began back in 1876, which was a public holiday,  and has taken place each year since with the exception of 1919 (Spanish Flu) and 1942 (World War II).

The first ‘Royal’ Show took place in 1921 after the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland was granted the Royal prefix under a warrant from His Majesty King George V.

The name ‘Ekka’ is a shortened version of the Queensland pronunciation of ‘Exhibition’.

The public holiday always takes place on a Wednesday. This is at the request of the RNA who organise the Show Day.

At the end of the nineteenth century, a Sudanese adventurer called Rabih al-Zubayr had conquered the kingdoms of Ouadai, Baguirmi and Kanem-Bornu, situated in modern-day Chad, a landlocked region in north-central Africa.

The region had come under the gaze of France as part of the so-called ‘Scramble for Africa’ when the European colonial powers raced to claim as much of the African continent as they could.

With French military support, Rabih was overthrown in 1900, and the traditional Kanembu dynasty was re-established under French protection by the creation of the Territoire Militaire des Pays et Protectorats du Tchad.

Rabih al-Zubayr fought back against the French invasion and it wasn’t until 1913 until all resistance was quashed. In 1920, Chad became part of French Equatorial Africa.

As with other French possessions in Africa, the end of the second world war brought a change in approach with Chad becoming an overseas French territory in 1946, with its own territorial parliament and representation in the French National Assembly.

In November 1958 Chad’s status changed to an autonomous republic within the French Community.

On August 11th 1960, Chad gained full independence and Francois Tombalbaye, a Christian from the southern part of Chad who had been instrumental in the push for independence, became the country’s first president.

Independence brought freedom from colonial rule, but religious and ethnic tensions that had been born when France arbitrarily defined the borders of this country during their conquest, led quickly to a period of civil war and unrest that lasted three decades.

From dawn on Carnival Monday (J’Ouvert), traditional masqueraders dressed as devils called Jabs-Jabs (French Creole, from diable diable ‘devil devil’) parade through the streets of Grenada. They are joined by the Ole Mas who are individuals that present satire and theatre on the events of the past year during the morning. 

In the afternoon, the traditional and fancy Mas bands participate in the Monday parade. These traditional masqueraders feature the striking Short Knee bands. With identical head coverings, batwing sleeves and three-quarter (short knee) baggy trousers, they chant and box the air as they dance through the streets from their villages into the capital of St. George’s.  They carry talcum powder as they make their way through the towns and villages. The powder is a symbol of appreciation and sprinkled on those who make cash donations.  

Next come the modern costumed bands who cross the stage at the National Stadium before parading through the streets of St. George’s in the afternoon sun, gyrating to the beat of the year’s most popular calypsos. 

The costumed bands are often heralded by the arrival of the King and Queen of the band, the large costumes which vied for King and Queen of Carnival during the Sunday night Dimarche Gras.

Singapore declared independence from Britain in August 1963. It joined the Federation of Malaysia in September 1963 after the 1962 Merger Referendum of Singapore.

Singapore left the federation two years later and gained its own sovereignty on August 9th 1965 when Yusof bin Ishak was sworn in as the first President of Singapore.

Singaporeans begin celebrations during the last weeks of July and they will continue throughout August. These celebrations will include concerts, carnivals, and many other festivities.

The largest event among the celebrations is the annual National Day Parade. The parade is held in Singapore’s National Stadium in front of 60,000 people and is nationally televised.

The parade features performances from military and school bands, a 400-piece drum ensemble, solo vocalists, professional dance routines, and displays by the Singapore Armed forces, which include free-fall parachute displays, tower repelling, vehicle shows, a presidential gun salute and a national flag fly-by.

Teendong Lho Rum Faat is celebrated by Lepcha people. It takes place on Tendong Hill in South Sikkim and other parts of the state

Tendong Lho Rum Faat is one of the oldest festivals of the Lepchas and is usually held on August 8th. The name, Tendong is derived from the Lepcha dialect, which translates to ‘the hill of the raised horn’ The three-day celebrations begin with the offering of prayers to Mount Tendong in South Sikkim.

Legend has it that Mt. Tendong saved the Lepcha people during the great deluge which flooded the entire Mayel Lyang country, now known as Sikkim. The festival is an annual thanksgiving to the saviour mountain.

During the festivities, people make a model of the mountain in the facade of their homes and worship it. It is exclusively made of nine stones and the people dance and sing wearing traditional masks to get the blessings of the mountain.

As per the Lepcha mythology, at the time of creation, Tendong Hill had risen from the horns of a deity. It was a volcanic peak that erupted and destroyed Naho and Nather Pokh, the sources of the Teesta and Rangeet rivers which caused a deluge. As the lower region started to flood causing loss of life and property, the horn rose miraculously and the tribesmen hurriedly started to ascend the Tendong Hill, which became their only chance for survival.

Various literary and cultural programmes are held in the state capital to commemorate the occasion. On the concluding day, exhibits of traditional Lepcha food, costumes and ornaments are displayed.

In 1819, Colombia was known as New Grenada and involved in a war for independence from Spain.

Bogota was seen as a key strategic location for both the Republicans and the Royalists to hold, and so both armies were heading to secure the town.

Some 150km north of Bogota the forces met at a bridge over the Teatinos River. The Republican army consisted of Colombian and Venezuelans, with support from the British Legion. The army was led by Brigadier Generals Francisco de Paula Santander and José Antonio Anzoátegui.

In just two hours they defeated the Royalist Colombian-Venezuelan forces.

Even though fighting with the Royalists continued for a few years, the victory at Boyacá is seen as the definitive battle in the war and the precursor for Colombia’s eventual independence from Spain. 

This bridge (El Puente de Boyacá) is no longer used, but has been kept as a reminder of South American independence.

Across most Caribbean islands, cricket is the national sport, with athletics becoming more prominent in recent years. Uniquely Anguilla’s national sport is boat racing, easily surpassing cricket as the most popular pastime.

The popularity of the sport is said to have evolved from when Anguillans had to find work on other islands and would race each other home.

The boat racing season runs from May to August, climaxing during the Anguilla Summer Festival. The big event on August Thursday is the Meads Bay Boat Race.

The festival and carnival draw to a close on the Sunday after August Thursday, fittingly with another boat race, when the Champion of Champions boat race final is held.

The July Mass Uprising Day has been categorised under the Cabinet Division’s “Ka” category, which includes national and international days of major significance. These days often involve extensive ceremonies, official participation, and may be observed as government holidays.

The day will be officially celebrated every year.

The decision was made at a meeting of the advisory council at the State Guest House Jamuna. After the meeting, Cultural Affairs Adviser Mostofa Sarwar Farooki told reporters at the Foreign Service Academy that a preliminary decision had been made to celebrate August 5th as the Student-People Uprising Day.

August 5th is going to be a national day, so the Student-People Uprising Day will be celebrated every year in the future, he said.

The Awami League regime fell on August 5th 2024 amid a mass uprising.

On August 5th 2024, Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left her official residence as a violent mob was marching towards it. With a serious threat arising over her security, Ms Hasina fled the country.

Arbaeen is one of the most important ceremonies in the Shi’ite Muslim calendar. 

Arbaeen means forty in Arabic as forty days is the traditional length of mourning after the death of a family member or loved one in Muslim traditions. 

Imam Hussein was killed at the Battle of Karbala in central Iraq on 10 October 680 AD.

Hussein was seen by his followers as the rightful heir of the prophet’s legacy. When he refused to pledge allegiance to the Umayyad caliphate, he was killed in the battle, cementing the schism between Sunni and Shiite Islam. Hussein’s half-brother Abbas was also killed in the battle.

Millions of pilgrims will gather in Karbala on Arbaeen, making it the world’s largest annual human gathering. Making the pilgrimage, known in Arabic as the Ziara, many of the pilgrims travel barefooted from across Iraq and more than 50 countries. Over three million Iranians travel to Iraq for the Ziara.

In Iran, thousands in Tehran will march to a town south of the capital to mourn at the shrine of Shiite saint Abdul Azim.

The colonial history of the islands is dominated by one crop – sugar cane. In the 17th century, the British started to establish sugar cane plantations. These plantations needed a plentiful supply of cheap labour which meant the arrival of African slaves, a practice which continued until the transport of slaves from Africa was banned in 1807. 

The ending of slavery in Antigua and Barbuda differs in two ways to the rest of the British Caribbean colonies.

Firstly, in 1680 Charles II granted Barbuda to the Codrington family. As Barbuda was not under British control, it did not have to abolish slavery on August 1st 1834 like Antigua but decided to free its slaves anyway. 

Secondly, and uniquely among the British Caribbean colonies, Antigua gave immediate full emancipation rather than having a four-year ‘apprenticeship,’ or waiting period. 

To commemorate the earliest abolition of slavery in the British Caribbean, Emancipation Day is celebrated with Antigua’s annual carnival.

The second of August has been an important date in the Macedonian calendar for centuries as it is a major religious holiday – Ilinden, or St. Elijah’s Day, marking the prophet Elijah’s ascension into heaven.

Macedonia had come under the control of the Ottoman Empire in the 14th century. On August 2nd 1903, an uprising against the Ottomans was led by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO). The Ilinden uprising resulted in the liberation of the town of Krushevo, where the first republic in the Balkans was proclaimed. The republic was short-lived, lasting only 10 days before the Ottomans took back Krushevo.

On August 2nd 1944, during the second world war, the Anti-Fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) proclaimed the People’s Republic of Macedonia as part of the People’s Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

On Republic Day shops will close but restaurants and bars will remain open. The main formal celebrations take place in Krushevo at the area called Mechkin Kamen (Bear’s Rock), where the battle with the Ottoman army took place during the Ilinden uprising.

Located on the Gulf of Guinea, the hot and humid West African nation shares borders with Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north.

The region of modern day Benin first came to the attention of the Europeans as a source of slaves with the shores of the region earning the name ‘the Slave Coast’.

Local warlords made agreements with the Portuguese to supply slaves from captured prisoners. One important local kingdom at the time was the Dahomey, known for their military discipline, who grew to be the dominant power in the region. 

Dahomey means ‘on the belly of Dan’. Dan was the name of a rival king. Defeated by the Dahomey, they built their royal compound over his grave. 

With the abolition of the slave trade, the control of the Dahomey was weakened, allowing the French to take over the region at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1904, the colony of French Dahomey was incorporated within French West Africa.

In 1946 with the establishment of the Fourth French Republic, Dahomey became an overseas territory of France with its own parliament and representation in the French national assembly.

On December 4th 1958, it became the Republic of Dahomey (République du Dahomey), a self-governing autonomous republic within the French Community. 

On July 11th 1960 France agreed to Dahomey becoming fully independent. Dahomey gained its full independence on August 1st 1960, with Hubert Maga becoming Dahomey’s first president.

In 1975, the country changed its name to Benin, after the Bight of Benin, a large bay in the Gulf of Guinea.