HOLIDAYS

The elders in Kiribati are an important part of society. Elder men are called Unimwane, and elder women are called Unaine. 

Rather than the more familiar high chief structure, many of the islands were ruled by councils of Unimwane who met in Mwaneaba (meeting houses) to discuss and address all kinds of social, economic and political issues. The decisions made by the Unimwane are believed to be the best because they are made after careful deliberation by the oldest, wisest and most experienced members of the community.

Even though many decisions are now made by the courts and government of the country, the Unimwane association still plays an important role as a sounding board for many decisions.

Kiribati used to observe Unimwane on July 15th, followed a day later by Unaine Day.

Kiribati is the only country in the world to fall into all four hemispheres (northern, southern, eastern, and western).

Comoros is a series of three islands (Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli) located in the Indian Ocean off the eastern coast of Africa.

The islands first encountered Europeans when Portuguese explorers at the start of the 16th century, though it was France who established colonial rule on Mayotte (the westernmost of the islands) in 1841 when a local king ceded the island to France. Political infighting amongst the Islanders meant that resistance to the French appropriation was limited and by 1908 France had unified the islands under one administration.

In 1912 the islands became part of the colony of Madagascar. Madagascar gained its independence from France in 1960, with Comoros given autonomy a year later.

Probably the most famous rediscovered animal ever is the coelacanth fish. This creature was thought to have been extinct for 60 million years until it was found at the start of the 20th century in Comoros.

After an agreement was reached with France in 1973, referendums for independence were held on the four main islands, with Mayotte voting against independence from France.

On July 6th 1975, the Comorian parliament of the other three islands passed a unilateral resolution declaring independence, with Ahmed Abdallah becoming the first president.

Having gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenia was still using the old 1978 Soviet constitution.

A new constitution was required. While a first draft was presented in 1992, internal political struggles in Armenia meant that the new constitution was not put to a national referendum until July 5th 1995.

The constitution established Armenia as a democratic, sovereign, social, and constitutional state with Yerevan defined as the state’s capital.

Since 1995, the constitution has been amended twice following national referendums in 2005 and 2015.

In 2018, a Velvet Revolution took place in Armenia with a younger generation, headed by Nikol Pashinyan, coming to power. The plan was to change the constitution again. A national referendum was planned for April 2020, though that is now on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since 2017, after an amendment made to the Law on Holidays and Memorial Days, July 5th is also the Day of State Symbols. The state symbols are the flag, the emblem and the anthem.

The independence or national days of most ex-Soviet states takes place on the date that marks that country’s independence after the fall of the Soviet Union in the early nineties. 

In Belarus, this was the case in 1990 when the Supreme Council of Belarus declared the country to be a sovereign nation free from the USSR on 27 July 1990. This date was celebrated as the Independence Day of Belarus until 1996.

In 1996, Alexander Lukashenko, country’s first President oversaw a referendum in which nearly 90% of Belarusians voted to celebrate Independence Day on 3 July. The date was chosen to honour those who fought to free the capital, Minsk from Nazi German occupation during the Great Patriotic War (Second World War).

When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, Belarus was the first to bear the brunt of the attack. On 24 June, Minsk came under massive artillery shelling and air strikes from nearly 150 bombers.

Despite resistance from local fighters, the Germans seized Minsk on 28 June 1941. Not accepting the occupation, the residents began a resistance movement that lasted 1,100 days. The efforts of the citizens helped the armies of the 1st and 3rd Belarusian Fronts with the support of the partisans liberate the Belarusian capital from the invaders on 3 July 1944.

Belarus paid a high price for the freedom; a third of the population was killed during the war.

Independence Day is a tribute to the heroism and endurance of Minskers in their struggle to bring freedom to Belarus.

Located in the south Caribbean Sea, Curaçao is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Designed by Martin Den Dulk, the country’s flag was adopted on July 2nd 1984,.

The blue symbolizes the sky and sea, and the yellow stripe, the sunshine that bathes the island. The two stars represent the islands Curacao and Klein Curacao.

The words of the original ‘Anthem of Curaçao’ were written by Friar Radulphus in 1898. Until a new melody was written for it in 1930, the words were sung to the tune of the Dutch National anthem. In 1978 the lyrics were rewritten, as the original lyrics were seen as a bit ‘colonial’.

Flag Day is celebrated with official ceremonies and cultural events at Plaza Brion and the Village of Barber. 

In 1960, CAR gained its independence from France and shook off its colonial yoke. Since them, the country has lurched from one bad government to another with short periods of stability overshadowed by longer periods of conflict.

Today, as one of the ten poorest countries in the world, CAR holds some unwanted records as the unhealthiest country and the worst country to be young in. Despite this, the people are noted for their good nature, warmth, and generosity.

In the face of such adversity, it is no surprise that religion is an important part of life. Nearly 90% of the population is Christian, with just over half being Protestant. 

Prayer Day was instigated to harness this strong religious aspect. There are a few Prayer Days on the holiday calendar of several African nations. Many exist to give thanks for peaceful and prosperous times and perhaps in future years, CAR can look back and consider Prayer Day as thanksgiving and not a cry for help.

French Polynesia is an overseas collectivity of France and its only overseas country. It consists of over 100 islands and atolls in the South Pacific Ocean with Tahiti being the most populated.

The first European to visit the islands was Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. Over the centuries, the Dutch, British and Spanish all visited the area.

French Catholic missionaries arrived on Tahiti in 1834 and were promptly expelled in 1836. This led to Tahiti and Tahuata being declared a French protectorate in 1842, to allow Catholic missionaries to work undisturbed.

Even though French Polynesia achieved self-rule in September 1984, the date of this holiday commemorates the annexation of the Kingdom of Tahiti and the turnover of native sovereignty by King Pōmare V to France on this day in 1880.

The start of the 1990s saw the collapse of the Soviet Union. On 24 August 1991, the Ukrainian government adopted the Act of Declaration of Constitution of Ukraine, which resulted in a referendum was that over 92% in favour of their independence.

Following the independence of Ukraine, a new constitution was drafted to replace Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Ukrainian SSR which had been adopted in 1978.

The new Ukrainian Constitution (State Basic Law) was adopted in 1996 at the 5th session of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) of Ukraine of the 2nd convocation. 315 out of 450 deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament voted in favour of the new constitution. The Constitution of Ukraine went into effect on the day of its adoption on June 28th 1996.

The adoption of the constitution established a legal foundation of independent Ukraine. It was considered progressive in terms of human rights and freedoms for Ukrainians. The Constitution defined the strong presidential power, guaranteed the rights of private property, introduced new symbols of the state, and defined the status of the Ukrainian language as the only official language. 

Ukraine was the last of the countries from the former Soviet Union to adopt a constitution.

In the early 19th century, Madagascar was united and ruled as the Kingdom of Madagascar. Seen as a key strategic location by both France and Britain, France invaded Madagascar in 1883, eventually removing the monarchy and quashing resistance and imposing colonial rule in 1897.

During the second world war, the Vichy government of France unsuccessfully fought the British for the control of Madagascar. The actions of the French galvanised the growing call for independence, leading to the Malagasy Uprising of 1947. (commemorated on Martyrs’ Day on March 29th)

Though the uprising was subdued by the French, it forced the French to establish reformed institutions in 1956 and paved the way for Madagascar to move towards independence without the need for more violent insurrection.

The Malagasy Republic was proclaimed on October 14th 1958, as an autonomous state within the French Community. Soon after a constitution was adopted in 1959 and full independence as the Republic of Madagascar was gained on June 26th 1960.

Independence Day has been a public holiday ever since.

Madagascar is the world’s fourth-largest island behind Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo. It has been an island for about 88 million years, since it split from India after the supercontinent Gondwana had broken up.

Every year Independence is celebrated with lots of food, drinking and dancing with fireworks and firecrackers a common sight and sound. It is a patriotic time with the flag of Madagascar flown from houses and balconies across the towns and villages on the island.

Historically part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire until its collapse at the end of World War I, Slovenia was one of the six republics that formed Yugoslavia.

In December 1990, the Slovenian independence referendum resulted in a 94.8% vote in favour of establishing an independent Slovenia.

The formal declaration of independence was on June 26th 1991. Still, since much of the legislation relating to independence was passed on June 25th, it is this date that is remembered and celebrated on Statehood Day.

The Declaration of Independence set a future course for the newly independent state. Independence was declared at a public event in Republic Square on June 26th 1991, when the flag of the Republic of Slovenia replaced the flag of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia in front of the parliament.

However, the festivities were short-lived as the proclamation started the Ten-Day war with Yugoslavia. Yugoslav army tanks headed from barracks in Slovenia and Croatia to Slovenia’s borders with Italy, Austria and Hungary, triggering a ten-day war of independence.

Following a ceasefire based on the July 7th 1991 Brijuni Declaration, brokered by the EU’s predecessor, and a subsequent three-month independence process moratorium, the last Yugoslav troops left Slovenia in October 1991.

Croatia also celebrates Statehood Day on the same day, as it was also a state created from the dissolution of Yugoslavia.

Jāņi marks the summer solstice and the shortest night of the year and it has become one of the most important holidays in Latvia. 

At the summer solstice, the northern hemisphere is tilted at its maximum angle towards the sun resulting in the maximum amount of hours of daylight. In astronomical terms, the longest day of the year takes places on either 20th June or 21st June. 

Since ancient times, this midsummer day has been observed and celebrated by many cultures. In the agricultural calendar, it was a time to celebrate the sowing of the crops and enjoy the short break before harvest began. In Northern Europe, its effects are more pronounced with very long days, which of course is contrasted six months later when the winter solstice (Ziemassvētki) results in very long nights in that part of the world.

With the Christianisation of Latvia, Jāņi was moved to St. John’s Day.

During the Soviet era, the celebration of ethnic holidays such as Jāņi were suppressed by the authorities as they were seen as nationalistic when the focus should be on the Soviet Union as a collective.

Since independence in 1990, the holiday has been reinstated and the (at least) two-day break for Ligo and St. John’s Day has proved a popular holiday period for Latvians to take some time off and enjoy the weather at this time of year.

ohn Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) was a Venetian explorer and navigator. Inspired by Columbus’ recent voyages to the west, Cabot received funding from Henry VII of England to explore for new lands in 1496. Cabot made his first expedition in the summer of 1496, leaving from Bristol, England, but he ran into bad weather and short of supplies, he turned back to England.

The second expedition left Bristol on 2 May 1497 in a ship called ‘Matthew’ and made landfall somewhere on the coast of North America on 24 June 1497 (St. John’s Day). This discovery marked the first Europeans to set foot on the North American continent since the Vikings in the 11th century.

Though historians have argued where exactly Cabot made landfall, in 1997 the Canadian and UK governments designated Cape Bonavista in Newfoundland as the official place of Cabot’s landing.

Discovery Day had been a statutory holiday from 1962 until 1992, when it was removed from the Shops Closing Act.

Since 1997, Discovery Day has also been known as Cabot 500 Day marking the 500th anniversary of the discovery.

On April 6th 1941, during the Second World War, the Wehrmacht (German armed forces) and their allies (Italy and Hungary) invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Meeting little in the way of organised resistance, within 11 days the country was fully under Axis control.

Despite this initial capitulation, it wasn’t long before the Yugoslavs started organising themselves and resistance movements started to emerge. On June 22nd 1941 in the Brezovica woods outside Sisak in central Croatia, the First Sisak Partisan Detachment was formed. This was the first military unit formed by a resistance movement in occupied Europe.

Of the 77 fighters who formed the first Partisan unit, 38 survived the war. Most of them were from the Sisak area and were mostly members of the Communist Party. 

The anti-fascist movement in Croatia grew from this first detachment into a nationwide resistance in which more than 500,000 Croatian citizens actively participated, including 230,000 armed fighters and is considered to be the most effective resistance movement active during the war.

The Yugoslav Resistance was led by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. Its commander was Marshal Josip Broz Tito, who went on to become the first president of Yugoslavia.

After it gained independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Croatian Parliament introduced Anti-Fascist Struggle Day as an official holiday in 1991. The Croatian Parliament introduced Anti-Fascist Resistance Day in 1991, replacing a similar holiday, the “Day of the Uprising of the People of Croatia,” celebrated on July 27 during the Socialist Republic of Croatia era. This earlier commemoration alluded to the Srb uprising, which, like the Anti-Fascist Struggle Day, is still remembered today by anti-fascist organizations and minority communities targeted during the second world war, though it is not an official holiday.

On June 17th 2021, the upper house (Senate of Chile, Senado in Spanish) unanimously passed the law that establishes that, from 2022, the day of the winter solstice will be a holiday in Chile. Monday June 21st 2021 was also declared a holiday.

Several countries in the Americas honour their indigenous populations on the winter solstice

In the Southern Hemisphere, the longest night of the year takes place on June 21st, the winter solstice. Since ancient times, knowledge of the changing seasons was vital to farmers in the region. The winter solstice marked a welcome end to Winter and also the start of the new agricultural season.

The word Solstice comes from the Latin ‘solstitium’ meaning ‘Sun stands still’ because the movement of the Sun’s path north or south appears to stop before changing direction.

The Winter Solstice has been a public holiday in Bolivia since 2010.

Note that the holiday on October 12, which also celebrates indigenous peoples remains as a public holiday. That date is the historical date of the arrival of Europeans to the new world when Christoph Columbus landed in the Bahamas on October 12th 1492.

Queen Mother Norodom Monineath was born on June 18th 1936 in Saigon, when it was part of French Indochina. Her birth name was Paule-Monique Izzi and her father was French.

She was queen consort of Cambodia from 1952 to 1955 and again from 1993 to 2004, as the wife of King Norodom Sihanouk.

She first met Norodom Sihanouk in 1951 when he awarded her first prize in a beauty contest. They married the following year.

King Norodom Sihanouk abdicated in 2004, with his son becoming his successor, making Norodom Monineath the Queen Mother.

The Queen Mother’s duties include receiving Khmer and foreign dignitaries. Her Majesty is involved in several charitable activities, such as the Samdech Euv Team, established by His Late Majesty the King Father to help the less fortunate of their compatriots with the building of hospitals, clinics, schools, fishponds and houses. In recent years, she has raised funds and built two hospitals in Phnom Penh.

Iceland was proclaimed an independent republic on June 17th 1944.

Iceland actually gained independence from Denmark much earlier, on December 1st 1918 with the signing of the Act of Union with Denmark. The Act recognised Iceland as an independent state under the Danish crown.

The formation of the republic in 1944 was based on a clause in the 1918 Act which allowed for a change to the relationship between Iceland and Denmark in 1943.

Due to the German occupation of Denmark in 1943, a vote on the revision to the Act was delayed until after the Second World War finished.

The referendum was held in at the end of May 1944. Voters were asked whether the Union with Denmark should be abolished and whether to adopt a new republican constitution. Both measures were approved with more than 98% in favour and a voter turnout of 98.4%.

Although he would have preferred a different outcome in the referendum, King Christian X of Denmark sent a letter on June 17th 1944 congratulating Icelanders on forming their Republic.

The June 17th date was already a significant date in Iceland’s history as it is the birthday of Jón Sigurdsson who was the leader of the 19th century Icelandic independence movement which led to the 1918 Act of Union. Sigurdsson died in Copenhagen in 1879.

June 17th, was therefore chosen as Iceland’s National Holiday as a fitting date to mark the Independence from Denmark, the proclamation of the Icelandic republic and to recognize Jón Sigurdsson’s efforts toward Icelandic independence.

The day has been a legal public holiday since 1971, though it had been a tradition for most employers to give their workers a day off since 1945. 

Martín Miguel de Güemes was born in Salta to a wealthy on February 8th 1785.

After the 1810 May Revolution, Güemes was given command of a guerrilla force of gauchos, that became known as “Los Gauchos de Güemes,”. During the early years of the war of independence, their mission was to defend northwestern Argentina against Spanish invasions from royalist Peru.

He played an important role in the Battle of Suipacha in November 1810, which was the first military victory for Argentine patriots in the war.

Güemes was a haemophiliac (see beard, above) who had suffered a serious throat infection in his early twenties that left him with difficulties in speaking in later life.

His success in repelling Spanish attacks, helped the fledgeling revolutionary government become established in Buenos Aires. It also helped give General José de San Martín the time to raise his “Army of the Andes”, which he marched over the mountains to win decisive victories in Chile and Peru.

The “Hero of the Gauchos” died on June 17th 1821, after having been shot in the back 10 days earlier.

The Young Mizo Association (YMA) is the largest non-profit, secular and non-governmental organisation of the Mizo people. 

There are over 250,000 members of the YMA, with over 700 branches all over Mizoram and beyond to the states of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura. 

The YMA was formed on June 15th 1935, by the Welsh Christian missionaries based on similar organisations in the UK. The original name was the Young Lushai Association. The name was changed to the “Young Mizo Association” in 1947. 

The YMA has three aims and objectives:

1. Good use of leisure,
2. Development of the Mizo society, and
3. Revere Christian ethics.

On April 2nd 1982, Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands. Argentina asserted that the islands are Argentine territory.

Three days later, the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force before making an amphibious assault on the islands. 

The conflict lasted just over ten weeks and ended with an Argentine surrender on June 14th, returning the islands to British control. 

In total, 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel, and three Falkland Islanders died during the hostilities.

Saint Anthony of Padua (August 15th 1195 – June 13th 1231) was a Portuguese Catholic priest and Franciscan friar who became a saint in 1232 and was made a Doctor of the Church in 1946.

Also known as Anthony of Lisbon, he is the patron saint of Portugal as well as the patron saint of people who lose things and of children.

St. Anthony of Padua was born in Lisbon, Portugal to a wealthy family; his father was a captain in the Royal army. He was ordained as a priest and became inspired after meeting five Franciscan friars who were on their way to Muslim Morocco to preach the Gospel. A few months later he discovered that the monks were martyred and he joined the Franciscan order to follow in their path, adopting the name of Anthony, after Anthony the Great, who was one of the first monks and noted for his travels in desert lands.

Anthony’s life was changed when he was almost accidentally forced into giving a sermon. This uncovered his great gift for making speeches which led to Saint Francis asking him to travel around Italy preaching the Gospel which he did. He converted many people and became famed for his sermons.

Many miracles are assigned to Saint Anthony and he is often referred to as the ‘The Saint of Miracles’ or ‘the Wonder Worker’.

He was canonized less than a year after his death by Pope Gregory IX on May 30th 1232. This is the second-fastest canonization ever.