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

January 26 - Republic Day in India

   Posted on January 26, 2022


This is an update of my post published on January 26, 2011:




Parades! Pageantry! Presidential speeches!

Today is one of the most important national holidays in India. It commemorates the day when the constitution came into force, in 1950, finally realizing the dreams of freedom fighters and patriots.

Unless the pandemic cancels the usual activities for a second year, the President, Prime Minister, and governmental Ministers will host the Indonesian President and others at a grand parade in India's capital city, New Delhi. There India's military strength will be shown off. The President will likely award medals of valor, there will be a 21-gun salute, and members of the armed forces will march by (or, in the case of the Air Force, fly by). This will be followed by moving displays or tableaux of school children and dancers from all over the country. The parade and pageants will be televised.






Celebrate India!

Learn about Ancient India from Mr. Donn,  and learn about modern India here. 

You can also watch some of the YouTube videos on “Incredible India. (They are all made by different people, I think, and they have very different but wonderful vibes. Here is one.)


Activity Village has some India-themed crafts for little kids, and here is an article about handicrafts in India.





 





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December 2 - Republic Day in Laos

Posted on December 2, 2020

Republishing my earliest December 2 write-up:

Laos is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It lies between Thailand and Vietnam. Today's public holiday is sometimes called “Independence Day.”




The people of Laos have had to endure a lot of very rough times, including being colonized by Siam and then France, being occupied by Japan during World War II, and being bombed (largely by the U.S.) during the Vietnam War. On this date in 1975, communist forces (part of which came from other countries) forced the Lao King Savang Vatthana to give up his throne, and the communist leader Pathet Lao declared the country to be the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

During French control of the country, a silent “S” was added to the name Lao, because the French language does that sort of thing. Most people in Laos pronounce the name of their country and people Lao, without the “S.” That is also the proper word when describing aspects of life: Lao festivals, Lao culture, and so forth.

Learn about Laos with this virtual tour. You can see 360-degree views of a variety of places! One Lao-American girl says about Laos, “It's poor, but it's beautiful.”


Eat sticky rice. This is perhaps the most important food of Lao cuisine (and is also popular in Thailand). Also known as “sweet rice” or “glutinous rice,” sticky rice can be found in Asian food stores.

After it is steamed (or you can cheat and boil it), sticky rice can be formed into small balls with your fingers and used to soak up various dipping sauces. Here is a website with instructions of some easy ways to make sticky rice.

In the West there are not too many Lao restaurants, and many of the ingredients of authentic recipes are unfamiliar to most of us—things like "pepper wood," “monkey vegetable,” and Mekong mushrooms—but substitutions can be found. Here is a recipe changed to be more accessible to the West: Lao Tomato Salsa.




Listen to some Lao kids singing.




Do some coloring pages.

Learn about gibbons. These small apes are great at singing and swinging.



Some people call their singing “howling,” and of course the swinging they do is through trees (in the jungle) or on bars (in a zoo).

Did you know that there are tree-top accommodations for tourists inside the Bokeo Nature Reserve in Laos? From the “hotel” you can explore the forest canopy—and hopefully get to know some gibbons—by way of a cable network! But if you can't get to Laos today, check out this website, listen to a gibbon “sing,” and watch a gibbon swing.






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November 28 - Republic Day in Chad

Posted on November 28, 2020

Did you know that the nation of Chad has relatively untapped reserves of oil, uranium, and gold? It seems that it would be a rich nation, with all those (and more) resources, but actually it is one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world!

You can see that Chad is land-locked.


Today is NOT Chad's Independence Day. That is on August 11, and it commemorates the African nation's independence from France in 1960.

Today, instead, commemorates November 28, 1958, when Chad gained "autonomous status" and was able to set up a republican government. But the government has been run for the last 30 years by a former general who gained power by overthrowing the president he was supposed to serve. There is a lot of political instability, attempted coups, violence, and human rights violations.




One thing that might lead to some of the lack of unity is that Chad has a lot of different ethnic groups and languages. Most everybody speaks two or more languages - with one of them being one of the two official languages (Arabic or French) - and there are more than 100 different languages and even more named ethnic groups. The names of these various ethnic groups are not familiar to me: Sara, Kanembu, Masalit, Bidio, Dadjo, Tama, Tupuri, and many more!

Above, two Kanembu brothers.
Below, an Ouaddaian girl.


Of course there are natural beauties in every country!





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