1118-Latvia
Nov 18, 🇱🇻 Latvia: National Day
Latvian Independence Day commemorates the declaration of independence of the Republic of Latvia from German and Russian occupation on November 18th 1918 after the end of the first world war.
The country remained an independent state until the Second World War, when forces from the Soviet Union occupied the country in June 1940. Like the other Baltic republics, full independence from Soviet Russia occurred on August 21st 1991.
Read more at http://bit.ly/357a3t5
1118_Morocco National Day
Nov 18, 🇲🇦 Morocco: Independence Day
This is Morocco's National Day and commemorates independence from France on Nov 18th 1956. Today, government institutions and banks will close. Shops, cafes, and restaurants will be open and buses will run as normal.
Read more at http://bit.ly/2Dv7jvc
Nov 11, 🇵🇱 Poland: Independence Day
Happy Independence Day #Poland! 'Narodowe Święto Niepodległości' commemorates the re-establishment of the state of Poland at the end of World War I in 1918.
For 123 years prior to 1918, Poland had been partitioned under the rule of Prussia, Austria, and Russia.
On 11 November 1918, the day that World War I ended, this partition was removed and Poland was granted its independence.
Read more at http://bit.ly/2qBfvSS
History of the Holidays_ Nov 5, Bonfire Night
Nov 5, 🇬🇧 England: Guy Fawkes' Night 🎆 [Not a public holiday]
Guy Fawkes Night is held annually on November 5th. It may also be called Fireworks Night or Bonfire Night. It commemorates the arrest of Guy Fawkes and the failure of the so-called 'Gunpowder plot' to blow up the English Houses of Parliament in 1605. Within months Parliament established 5 November as a national day of thanksgiving and it was illegal not to join in the celebrations. The act remained in force until 1859. It is no longer a public holiday, though fireworks displays and bonfire parties are still common across England.
Read more athttp://bit.ly/2JDUf7F
History of the Holidays_ Nov1, All Saints' Day
Nov 1, All Saints Day
A Public Holiday in nearly 50 countries, All Saints’ Day is celebrated on November 1st as a commemoration day for all Christian saints. It may also be known as All Hallows' Day, Solemnity of All Saints, Hallowmas, or Feast of Saints.
The origin of All Saints' Day may date back to a Greek Christian tradition from the 4th century, when a festival was held to honour saints and martyrs on the Sunday following Pentecost.
The first recorded All Saints’ Day occurred on May 13th 609 CE when Pope Boniface IV accepted the Pantheon in Rome as a gift from the Emperor Phocas. The Pope dedicated the day as a holiday to honour the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs. In 835 CE, during the reign of Pope Gregory III, the festival was moved to November 1st and was expanded to include the honouring of all saints.
It is likely that November 1st was intentionally chosen to replace the pagan feast of the dead, Samhain. The night before Samhain was a time when evil spirits roamed the land looking for humans. To confuse the spirits, people would dress up as creatures. This tradition carried on after November 1st became a Christian festival, hence the name of Halloween - which is a shortened version of All Hallows' Eve.
Read more at http://bit.ly/2r0ytFY
Nov 1, 🇮🇳 India (many regions), 🇫🇯 Fiji, 🇲🇲 Myanmar, 🇸🇷 Suriname: Diwali
Happy #Diwali!! Some countries will celebrate Diwali with a holiday today.
Read more at http://bit.ly/2odoX12
Oct 31_ Halloween History 🎃
October 31, #Halloween 👻🎃
Not a Public Holiday
Ireland is the birthplace of the Halloween festival as Halloween takes its roots from the old Celtic festival Samhain Eve, when it was believed that the link between the worlds of living and dead was at its strongest. Samhain means Summer's End and was essentially a harvest festival and a time to ask for supernatural support to get through the coming winter.
Many of the Celtic Halloween traditions live on in Ireland today and were brought to America by Irish immigrants in the nineteenth century.
Nowadays, Halloween has grown to become the second largest commercial holiday in the United States.
Read more at http://bit.ly/31RN2s8
Holidays in a Hurry - Diwali
Oct 31, 🇮🇳 India, 🇬🇾 Guyana, 🇲🇾 Malaysia, 🇲🇺 Mauritius, 🇸🇬 Singapore, 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka, 🇹🇹 Trinidad & Tobago: Diwali
Happy #Diwali!! In these countries and for Hindus around the world, celebrates the triumph of good over evil, purity over impurity, light over darkness.
The Festival of Lights takes place on the darkest night (first night of the new moon) in the month of Kartik in the Hindu calendar.
Read more at http://bit.ly/2odoX12
October 29th_ Turkish Republic Day
Oct 29, 🇹🇷 Turkey: Republic Day
Republic Day (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Bayramı) is the National Day of Turkey, and is always celebrated on October 29th. The holiday commemorates the proclamation of the Turkish republic on October 29th 1923.
Following the defeat of the Ottomans in World War I, the allies had occupied Turkey as part of the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. An uprising of Turkish nationalists led to the Turkish war of independence (1919 -1923). The allies left Turkish regions in July 1923. Mustafa Kemal, the leader of the Turkish troops was named the first president on 29 October 29th 1923 when the Turkish republic was proclaimed in the new capital, Ankara.
Read more at http://bit.ly/2gFSOYs
1027-St. Vincent
Oct 27, 🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Independence Day
On October 27th 1979, following a referendum, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines became the last of the Windward Islands to gain independence from the UK.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a southern Caribbean nation consisting of 32 islands, of which nine are inhabited.
The first contact with Europeans took place on January 22nd 1498 when Christopher Columbus sighted the main island naming it after Saint Vincent whose feast day is January 22nd.
The Spanish didn't settle and over the centuries, possession of the islands was disputed by the British, French and Spanish and nobly resisted by the Caribs who had lived on the islands since before the arrival of the colonists.
Britain won the European rights to the islands under the Treaty of Versailles in 1783, with a plantation economy based on sugar and slave trading emerging in the 19th century.
Read more at http://bit.ly/2DaFcls
October 26th_ Austrian National Day
Austria's National Day on October 26th commemorates the Declaration of Neutrality enacted on this day in 1955.
#dyk - The Austrian flag is one of the oldest national flags. The red and white stripes are first recorded in 1191, when Duke Leopold V fought in the siege of Acre during the Third Crusade.
The declaration was a direct result of the allied occupation by the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and France between 1945 and 1955. The Soviet Union would not have agreed to the signing of a State Treaty in May 1955 if Austria had not committed itself to declare its neutrality after the allied forces had left the country. The final foreign troops left Austria on October 25th 1955.
Read more at http://bit.ly/2ETSaFI
canadian-thanksgiving
Oct 14, 🇨🇦 Canada: Thanksgiving (except New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island)
On Thanksgiving, Canadians give thanks for a successful year and harvest.
The Thanksgiving holiday tradition in Canada dates back to when the English explorer, Martin Frobisher, came upon the land we now know as Canada while searching for a Northern passage to the Orient.
When Frobisher arrived in Canada on his third voyage in 1578, he held a formal ceremony where he gave thanks for surviving the long journey - one of his ships had been lost on the way. Frobisher celebrated with salt beef and peas. South of the border, it would be another 43 years before the Pilgrims sat down to celebrate their first Thanksgiving meal.
Thanksgiving became a nationally recognised holiday in Canada in 1879.
Read more at http://bit.ly/2MAZPcH
