Showing posts with label British. Show all posts
Showing posts with label British. Show all posts

May 30 – Anguilla Day

Posted on May 30, 2019


Parades and races are popular patriotic activities, it seems - and today it's the British overseas territory of Anguilla that's parade-marching and music-making and speed-sailing.

Anguilla is an island in the Caribbean, and one of the popular Anguilla Day activities is a Round-the-Island Boat Race. 





The island of Anguilla, which is about 16 miles (26 km) long and 3 miles (almost 5 km) wide (at its widest point), is the major part of the Anguilla overseas territory, but there are also smaller islands and teeny cays included in the territory. None of these small isles are inhabited.

The name Anguilla means "eel" and was probably given to the island by Christopher Columbus. The other names for the island include Snake Island. The island is supposed to be shaped a bit like a snake - but I'm not sure I see the resemblance. 

Speaking of snakes, I read about another reptile that is important in Anguilla: iguanas. 

The species of iguana that is native to Anguilla is the Lesser Antilles iguana. It is found on six Caribbean islands and nowhere else in the world - and it is critically endangered.



One reason that the Lesser Antilles iguana is endangered is that a closely related species, the green iguana, arrived on the island in the late 1990s atop some logs that had been uprooted and flung into the ocean by a hurricane. 

I assumed that the green iguana was out-competing the Lesser Antilles iguana, and I was right - but apparently the bigger threat is that the two species are mating and interbreeding. So...they are making a new species? Or sub-species?

The guideline that we often think of as a definition of a species is that members of one species almost never mate with members of another species...and if they do, the resulting baby creature is sterile and can't grow up and have babies of its own. 

But there are lots of examples of creatures of different (but closely related) species mating and having viable offspring. In simpler terms, sometimes a creature of Species X really does mate with a creature of Species Y, and the baby (which we will call Z) really can grow up and mate with Xs, Ys, or other Zs, and have babies...

And so evolution - the slow and gradual change in populations of living things, and the development of new species of living things - marches on...

By the way, Anguilla is of course known for its glorious beaches...



...but also has some cool caves called Iguana Caves!






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December 19 – National Heroes and Heroines Day in Anguilla

Posted on December 19, 2016

When I read that today is one of the most important holidays in Anguilla, I confidently turned to access the post I wrote about Anguilla in the recent past...and then I realized that I never, ever wrote about Anguilla here on Every Day Is Special.

Indeed, I realized that I had mixed up Anguilla with Antigua, of Antigua and Barbuda. 

Anguilla is circled on this globe.
It's pretty small.
Anguilla is a Caribbean island that, along with a bunch of smaller, uninhabited islands and cays, is a British overseas territory rather than an independent nation. It's part of the island group called the Lesser Antilles

(Antigua is ALSO a Caribbean island, one of the Lesser Antilles, and it was ALSO colonized by the British; however, since 1981 Antigua and Barbuda have been an independent nation.)

So...getting back to Anguilla...

This holiday used to be called Separation Day, and it celebrated the separation of this island from a few other Caribbean islands. Anguilla was bundled together with three other islands, over time, but became a separate British dependency on this date in 1980.

When the holiday changed to be dedicated to Anguilla's heroes, people began to hold memorial services for those heroes as well as organizing festivities to celebrate the day.

Most Anguillians are black descendants of enslaved people. The most common language is a creole of West African languages and English, and the cuisine and culture have West African and British influences (along with French and others).



Here are some especially Anguillian things about Anguilla:

Boat racing is the national sport! There are several large boat races, one of which has racers circling the entire island. The sailboats are unusual in that they don’t have decks — the sailors stand on the curved bottoms of the boat! I read that, when getting close to the finish line, the racers throw out sandbags that had acted as ballast — and sometimes even ditch some of the crew to make the boats race just a little faster!

(I’m not sure if the crew members who go overboard swim to shore or get picked up by motorboats — but I did read that fans often follow the race in motorboats or even by keeping up with their cars on the island roads!)



Beach barbecues are popular, either for-profit pop-ups or families picnicking. Ribs and fries are popular fare.

Many houses in Anguilla are unfinished — even the ones that look finished are often unfinished. This is because, by and large, Anguillians do not borrow money to build or add on to their houses, but rather save up money and then build / add on. That way of life is considered a happy way of living within your means, and living less stressfully, but still looking forward to a better future.

In this photo, the finished-looking house has pieces of metal sticking out of the roof. This rebar is there to anchor a planned second story, when the family can afford it.




  And, of course, the beaches are lovely!


Also on this date:

































It's still time for Las Posadas!




Anniversary of Samuel Clemens's first patent




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November 22 – A Canadian Revolutionary War?

Posted on November 22, 2015

Quick, who's the Head of State of Canada?

If you're scratching your head, trying to decide if you have ever even heard the name of Canada's Prime Minister, don't bother – because he's not the official Head of State. (The current PM is Justin Trudeau, by the way. He just took over from former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.)

If you are thinking that the title “Governor General of Canada” sounds like a Head-of-State kind of job – especially since the Governor General is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian military! – and you're wondering who has that title right now, don't bother, because he is not the official Head of State, either. (The current Governor General is David Lloyd Johnston.)

So, who is the Head of State of Canada?

Good old Queen Elizabeth II, who also of course serves as Queen and Head of State of the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and twelve other, smaller nations, and who is Head of the Commonwealth.



But...

Did you know that, on this date in 1837, a Scottish-born journalist named William Lyon Mackenzie published an article calling for a rebellion against the British?

Soon the planned rebellion broke out – but it didn't turn out the same way as the earlier, similar rebellion of 13 colonies against the British. The latter resulted in the American Revolutionary War and the wholly independent nation of the United States of America.

Canada's rebellion resulted in defeat for the rebels. And the result of that defeat was continued union with Britain and her other colonies. 

Of course, Canada is independent now – mostly. It is still one of the Commonwealth Realms, and the Governor General still represents the Queen in the Canadian government, and (as I said) Queen Elizabeth II is still considered the reigning monarch and the official Head of State.

Note that the blue nations are Commonwealth Realms, and the red nations are FORMER Commonwealth Realms. You can see from this that, despite the fact that Canada is now an independent nation, it's still not quite as independent as India, the Republic of Ireland, and several other nations are...






 
Why rebel?


The Upper Canada Rebellion that Mackenzie fomented was partly a rebellion against an oligarchy. The word oligarchy means “command by the few.” The Canadian colonies were being ruled by a small group of men called the Family Compact. They dominated the government AND the financial institutions of “Upper Canada” (which is now Ontario) AND the religious institutions of the region. And, yes, this sort of domination was as corrupt as it sounds -- apparently the Family Compact ruled the government so that they themselves became richer.


Of course, there were other reasons that Mackenzie and other revolutionary leaders wanted to break away. Certainly part of it was the revolutionary fever sweeping the world – with the U.S., France, Haiti, Ireland, and the colonies of “Spanish America” (Mexico and Argentina and all nations in between) all breaking ties with their colonizers, or kicking out their kings and queens in favor of people-power and republicanism!


I wonder...

What do you suppose would be different in the world if Canadian nationalists had succeeded in their 1937 rebellion?


Also on this date:











































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