Every Day Is Special: hurricanes

Showing posts with label hurricanes. Show all posts

October 14 - Conch Cracking Festival? Well...Probably Not...

Posted October 14, 2019

Last month the Bahamas were hit with a devastating hurricane named Dorian - and satellite photos suggested that most of the homes in McClean's Town were destroyed!

Which surely means that the planned Conch Cracking Festival will not happen...right?

In the past, the Conch Cracking Festival was a sort of homecoming event: a way of celebrating local history, showcasing local talent in the conching business, and bringing Bahamians together to celebrate all things Bahamian!

The main event is a conch cracking competition - which means seeing who is fastest at removing the conch animal from its shell. The winner gets a trophy and prize money, plus of course bragging rights.

Because people come from all over the Bahamas to participate or watch - and some people come from the U.S., Canada, or elsewhere in the world... (There's a visitor category in the conch-cracking competition.)

Well, McClean's Town is struggling with clearing away debris, clearing roads, reestablishing infrastructure. Almost everybody is displaced because their homes were damaged or destroyed. How could this town host a festival of any sort?

On the other hand, if people who already had travel plans in place showed up with emergency supplies and a willingness to pitch in with the work needed to help town residents... maybe that could work?

Also on this date:

World Standards Day

Nyerere Day in Tanzania

Anniversary of the October Revolution in Yemen

Birthday of Quaker and Pennsylvania founder William Penn

Birthday of author / illustrator Lois Lenski

Earth Science Week October 14 - 20

(Second full week of October)

Birthday of U.S. President Eisenhower

Columbus Day, aka Discovery Day

(Second Monday of October)

National Day of Mourning, aka

Indigenous People's Day, aka

Dia de la Raza
(Second Monday of October)

Native American Day in South Dakota

(Second Monday of October)

Petkovden in Bulgaria

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

November holidays
November birthdays
Historical anniversaries in November

November 1 – Liberty Day in the U.S. Virgin Islands

Posted on November 1, 2017

Today is a celebration of David Hamilton Jackson, who was really important in the history of the Danish West Indies.

And, since the Danish West Indies are history, themselves, he is also important in the history of the U.S. Virgin Islands!

Back in the early 1900s, some Caribbean islands were ruled by Denmark - specifically, by the King of Denmark. A teacher / bookkeeper / clerk named David Hamilton Jackson was unhappy about a law that barred any independent newspapers in the Danish West Indies. He was even more unhappy about the strict censorship enforced on all publications in the islands. Jackson was bold enough to travel all the way to Denmark to petition the King for freedom of press.

And he was successful!

When Jackson returned, he started an independent newspaper, which he called The Herald. Today is the anniversary of the 1915 printing of the first edition of this newspaper.

Other very important things that Jackson did included working for workers' rights and other civil rights and organizing the islands' first trade union. He lobbied for the islands to be transferred to American control, rather than continuing as Danish territories, and when that actually happened, Jackson worked to make sure the islanders became U.S. citizens.

Today is also called D. Hamilton Jackson Day and Bull and Bread Day.

Check out some of the loveliness that is the U.S. Virgin Islands:

St. Thomas

St. John

St. Croix

Unfortunately, this September Hurricane Irma was devastating to the U.S. Virgin Islands. A lot of people are suffering, and a lot of the former loveliness is damaged or destroyed.