Showing posts with label Martyrs Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Martyrs Day. Show all posts

June 3 - Martyrs Day in Uganda

Posted on June 3, 2019

Martyrs Day Commemoration
There's no way a Martyrs Day can be anything but solemn - rather than the happier celebration Ugandans will be able to hold in a few days, on National Heroes Day. On this date in 1886, a lot of people were executed at the orders of Mwanga II, the King of Buganda. Actually, the King of Buganda was executing people over a two-year period, with the result of 45 martyrs being put to death.

Why? you may ask. Well...the reasons were messy and at least somewhat uncertain, but they were partly political, partly religious, and partly because the king was angry when people disobeyed his orders. At that time and place (and many others, in the course of world history), the king didn't have to justify killing his subjects - he could basically order the death of anyone, anytime, for any or no reason.

Turning to happier topics...

Uganda has the source of the longest river in the world, the Nile, at Jinja. The latter is called the adventure capital of Uganda because of the white water rafting...


Lake Bunyonyi is believed to be the second deepest lake in Africa, and it is special because of the 29 jungle-covered islands. Aren't they pretty?





Uganda is known for its mountain gorillas, because they are both magnificent and highly endangered - and because Uganda has about half of the world's mountain gorilla population!

Uganda also has other big mammals people like to visit Africa to see in the wild - AND a lot lot lot lot lot of birds! This nation is less than the size of Michigan - and has only a teeny-tiny percentage of Earth's land mass - but it is home to about 11% of the world's birds!!!








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January 29 - Martyrs Day in Nepal

Posted on January 29, 2019

Here is another day to memorialize the people who did good things, who were courageous, who were wrongfully killed. Nepal considers its first martyr to be Lakhan Thapa Magar, who bravely resisted a cruel dictator who grabbed power by violence and massacre.





Nepal is unusual in a couple of ways. First, it has the only non-rectangular flag...









Second, even though Nepal is now a secular nation (with most people in the nation practicing Hinduism or Buddhism), the cow is considered a national animal that is illegal to kill! So...there are a lot of cows wandering about.

Mount Everest, THE #1 highest
mountain in the world,
is located in Nepal, along with
#s 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10.
Eight of the ten highest mountains in the world are in Nepal - even though it is between Iowa and Illinois in size. 

For comparison, there are zero of the world's 100 highest mountains in Iowa or Illinois.

Indeed, there are zero of the world's 100 highest mountains in all of North America, or South America, or Europe, or Africa! They're all in Asia!

Again, even though it is so small (see above), there are 10 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. For comparison, there are zero World Heritage Sites in Iowa and only one in Illinois.

Buddha's birthplace
Nepal is famously gorgeous:









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April 9 - Martyrs' Day in Tunisia

Posted on April 9, 2018


The thing about Martyrs' Days is, they're always solemn occasions. They're all about honoring people who died in the cause of _____ [fill in the blank].

 In today's case, Tunisians are honoring those who died fighting for their independence from France, which the nation finally won in 1956.

 April 9 was chosen because on April 9, 1938, a group of independent-minded Tunisians led by a lawyer named Habib Bourguiba clashed with French troops. Hundreds of Tunisians were injured and at least 22 died.

 Of course, eventually Tunisians did prevail, and the nation is now independent. It's also...

 ...The northernmost nation of Africa. It juts a bit farther north into the Mediterranean Sea than its neighbors Algeria and Libya.


...Home of a lot of Carthaginian and Roman ruins.
Above and below, Carthage

Above and below, Roman ruins


 ...The location of several Star Wars sets. 




The desert planet Tataooine was inspired by (and partially filmed in) Tataouine, Tunisia. 

Star Wars fans can stay in a hotel that was once the filming location of Luke Skywalker's home. The bar has a lot of Star Wars memorabilia for sale and a menu inspired by the movies.


Ben's hermitage is used by fishermen as storage.

Toshi Station is actually a temple. 

Tatooine slave quarters are actually a grain storage facility.

The exterior of Luke's home now sits empty in the desert.

Mos Epsa was also a set that was built out in the middle of a desert, and Tunisians have mostly left it alone because they like the tourism dollars that it can earn. 


...The movie set location for Raiders of the Lost Ark and a few other films, as well as Star Wars. Raiders crew members had to remove 300 TV antennas for a rooftop scene (the film was set in 1936), and then of course, when they were done with the scene, they had to reattach all those antennas.



Also on this date:
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