HOLIDAYS

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.