HOLIDAYS

Cochabamba is a city in central Bolivia located in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the fourth largest city in the country and capital of the Cochabamba Department.

The city was part of the Incan empire when the Spanish arrived in the 16th century.

A new Spanish settlement, called Villa de Oropesa, was founded in August 1571 by order of Viceroy Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa. The viceroy died in 1573 and for reasons that remain unclear to this day, a second foundation took place on September 14th 1574 by the conquistador Sebastián Barba de Padilla.

In 1786, Villa de Oropesa was elevated to city status in 1786 and adopted its name from Incan times, Cochabamba, meaning “a plain full of small lakes.”

This second foundation is celebrated as the day of the city and department. It also gives the name to the square in the city where the events of 1574 took place – La Plaza 14 de Septiembre.

The official foundation of the Cochabamba Department took place on January 23rd 1826.

According to tradition, the Maldives was converted to Islam in the year 1153 AD by a Muslim from Maghrib (Morocco) by the name of Abul Barakat Yoosuf Al Barbary. Abdul Barakat was a Hafiz, someone who had memorised the entire Holy Quran and he set about converting the local king, Sri Tribuvana Aditiya, to Islam. 

After much effort and perseverance, he managed to convert the king, who took the name Muhammed Ibn Abdulla. Following the conversion of the king and his family, the king sent missionaries to convert the local people on the various islands in the Maldives.

After the conversion of the islands, Abdul Barakat stayed in the Maldives for the rest of his life. His tomb is called Medhu Ziyaaraiy and stands within the grounds of Hukuru Mosque in the capital Malé, the first Friday masque to be built on the islands.

Before the conversion to Islam, the islands had been following the Buddhist religion since the 4th century BC.

Nowadays Islam is the state religion of the Maldives and all citizens must follow the Islamic faith.

The Maldives is the smallest Muslim country in the world.

The Day Maldives Embraced Islam was first celebrated in 1374. The celebrations ended in 1387, and it wasn’t until 2001 that the Day Maldives Embraced Islam became a national holiday.

The Jewish Holiday of Rosh Hashanah is generally known as the New Year’s Day of the Jewish calendar, but has a fourfold meaning – It is the Jewish New Year, the Day of Judgement, the Day of Remembrance, and the Day of Shofar Blowing.

• It is the Day of Judgement – Jews across the world examine their past deeds and asks for forgiveness for their sins.
• It is the Day of Shofar Blowing – The Shofar (an ancient musical horn usually made of a ram’s horn) is blown in temples to herald the beginning of the 10 day period known as the High Holy Days. The sound of the horn is meant to awaken the hearers from their spiritual slumber, to make them aware of their actions and their repercussions
• It is the Day of Remembrance – As Jews remember the history of their people and pray for Israel.
• And of course, it is New Year’s Day – Celebrated with its holiday greeting cards, special prayers, and festive and eating sweet foods such as apples dipped in honey (to ensure sweetness in the New Year).

According to Judaism, Rosh Hashanah is traditionally the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve.

The ten days starting with Rosh Hashanah and ending with Yom Kippur are commonly known as the Days of Repentance or the Days of Awe (Yamim Noraim). This is a time for introspection, a time to consider the sins of the previous year and repent (Teshuvah) before Yom Kippur. Jews are expected to reach out to friends, loved ones and community members and apologise to them for any wrongs they did to them during the year. And any apology must be sincere and meaningful.

The Ethiopian calendar is a solar calendar based on the Egyptian and Julian calendars and was brought to Ethiopia by missionaries. The year consists of 12 months of 30 days and a thirteenth month of five or six timekeeping days.

Pagume, the 13th month in the Ethiopian calendar, comes from the Greek word epagomene, which means ‘days forgotten when a year is calculated’. This month has five days or six days in a leap year. According to the Ethiopian calendar, a year has 365 days, six hours, two minutes and 24 seconds. Once every four years, the six hours add up to 24 hours and become the sixth day in a leap year. Once in 600 years, the two minutes and 24 seconds add up to a full day and form a seventh day.

Based on the Julian calendar basis, the Ethiopian calendar is currently seven years and eight months behind the Gregorian calendar used in most of the world.

Enkutatash means the ‘gift of jewels’. It is said to refer to the Queen of Sheba returning from her visit to King Solomon in Jerusalem in 980 BC. On the Queen’s arrival back in Ethiopia, her chiefs welcomed her by filling her treasury with jewels (‘enku’). It may also refer to the countryside, as this time of year coincides with the end of the rainy season meaning the landscape is covered with Adey Abeba, whose bright yellow flowers appear almost in celebration of the impending harvest.

Celebrations for the Ethiopian New Year usually last for a week and are focused on family events. The holiday starts on New Year’s Eve, when each household light wooden torches called “chibo” in Amharic language, that symbolise the coming of the new season of sunshine after the end of the rainy season that has prevailed since June.

Fasting days had been a tradition in Switzerland since the late medieval period. Despite not being seen as part of the reformed Protestant faith, they continued to be observed in parts of Switzerland.

In October 1567, there was a Geneva-wide fast to show support to the Protestants who were being persecuted in Lyon, France. This fast is recognised as the first Jeûne genevois.

In 1869 as a result of the Federal Fast across Switzerland, Jeûne genevois was no longer an official holiday, though it continued to be observed by many Genevans. In 1966, it was reinstated as a holiday.

While the religious fasting element is no longer widely observed, banks, most businesses and shops will be closed on Jeûne genevois.

In the sixteenth century, the only food that was allowed to be eaten on Jeûne genevois was plum pie. It remains a treat to be enjoyed on this holiday to this day.

The Tajiks emerged in Central Asia as a distinct ethnic group in the 8th century. Over the centuries the region had long periods under foreign control from the Persians, the Mongols, the Uzbeks, and the Afghans. In 1860,  Russian conquests in Central Asia brought most of modern-day Tajikistan under Tsarist control.

The capital of Tajikistan is Dushanbe; the name means Monday in the Tajik languages. It is believed that it got this name as grew from a village that originally had a popular market on Mondays.

In 1924, Tajikistan was consolidated into a newly formed Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which was administratively part of the Uzbek SSR until the Tajik ASSR gained full-fledged republic status in 1929 when it acquired the territory of Khujand from Uzbek SSR.

During the Soviet period, and despite the efforts of the USSR to establish a Soviet collective culture, the Tajiks maintained a fierce sense of nationalism and pride in their own history and culture.

Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of ‘glasnost’ in the late 1980s led to the formation of unofficial political groups and a renewed interest in Tajik culture with the Tajik Supreme Soviet (legislature) declaring Tajik to be official state language in 1989.

As the Soviet Union started to unravel in 1990, a state of emergency was declared, with 5,000 Soviet troops deployed to suppress pro-democracy protests. On September 9th 1991, the Supreme Soviet declared Tajikistan’s independence from the Soviet Union.

The date of birth of Mary is not recorded in the bible. The earliest writings about her life come from the ‘Protoevangelium of James’ which was written in the 2nd century AD. In this, her father is said to be Joachim, a member of one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel and his wife is Anne.

Though it’s not sure which date was decided first, the nativity of Mary is not surprisingly exactly nine months after the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary (December 8th).

This feast day originated in Jerusalem in the 5th century as the feast of the Basilica of Saint Anne, which was said to have been built on the shepherd’s field that was said to have been the home of Mary’s parents.

By the seventh century, the feast was being celebrated by the Byzantines and it was brought to Rome during the 7th century by Eastern monks. It would be a few more centuries before it became a feast day across Western Europe.

Another important feast day for Mary is Assumption Day (August 15th) which marks the assumption of her body into Heaven. This is seen as the most important feast day for Mary and observed in many countries as a public holiday. Due to the closeness of the dates of Assumption and the Nativity of Mary, the latter is not as widely celebrated as it once was.

Christians normally celebrate the day on which saints died to mark the beginning of their eternal life. There are three exceptions – Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and Saint John the Baptist. Their births are also feast days as all three were born without Original Sin.

On September 7th 1822, a declaration of independence from Portugal was made by Pedro di Alcântara, the 23-year-old son of the Portuguese King. He famously declared, “Independência ou Morte!” (Independence or Death) by the banks of the Ipiranga River in São Paulo.

Brazil had been a colony of Portugal since the 16th century. In 1807 France had invaded Portugal and the Portuguese royal family had escaped to Brazil. in 1815, Brazil was given equal kingdom status with Portugal. By 1820, the French had withdrawn from Portugal and the royal family.

Alcântara, better known as Dom Pedro I, became the first emperor of Brazil and ruled from 1823 until 1831.