December 26 - Boxing Day in Great Britain and many other nations

Posted on December 26, 2020

This is an update of my December 26, 2009, post:

Especially common in countries that were once part of the British Empire, this bank and public holiday originally came from the tradition of giving Christmas boxes to people of "lower class." For example, merchants would give gifts to tradespeople; alms boxes in churches would be opened, and the contents would be distributed to the poor; and masters would give servants the day off and a Christmas box (gift).

Nowadays, many people use the day to make yearly donations to charities, but the day has also become associated, for many people, with shopping and sales.

Boxing Day in the U.K. will NOT look like this, not this year!
Global pandemic makes this sort of mob scene dang

Various countries have taken Boxing Day and given it their own twist - although the celebrations will be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, this year: 

Annual Sports Day – Falkland Islands
The sports played on this day include horse racing, bull riding, and sheepdog trials.

Day of Goodwill – South Africa
In 1980 Boxing Day was changed to Day of Goodwill so that South Africans could continue the “spirit of Christmas” to everyone in the country.

Family Day – Namibia, Zimbabwe, and other African nations
On this day, families play games together, feast, and remember their ancestors.

Junkanoo – British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas
This is a street parade with music. It is named after an African slave master and trader named “John Canoe,” and the festival celebrated the slaves' freedom.

Contribute!

You could continue the tradition of giving to the less fortunate by gathering boxes of canned goods for a soup kitchen, used clothes and blankets for a homeless shelter, and new cleaning supplies for a family aid organization—just to give a few examples. 

Or how about honoring people who have served the community? Make up boxes (care packages) for our overseas troops, and make boxes of homemade goodies for fire fighters.

Also on this date:

St. Stephen's Day

 

National Candy Cane Day

Anniversary of a Curie discovery

Anniversary of the commissioning of a hospital ship

Second Day of Christmas

Boxing Day

(original post)

Anniversary of the patent for the Frisbee

Kwanza (from 12/26/11 to 1/1/12)

Day of Goodwill in South Africa

Independence and Unity Day in Slovenia

Junkanoo

 Wren Day

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest pages on:

• December holidays
• December birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in December

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• January holidays 
• January birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in January
  

October 21 - St. Ursula's Day in the British Virgin Islands

Posted October 21, 2018

Today is the feast day of a Catholic Saint, Saint Ursula.

Why do the British Virgin Islands celebrate this day? Well, Christopher Columbus sailed around the previously unknown-to-the-Old-World islands, giving out Spanish names like candy (and of course not caring a bit that these places already had names in various Native American languages!).

Ursula with just a few of her virgins...

When he came across one particular group of islands, he named the entire group Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Virgenes. That means "Saint Ursula and her 11,000 Virgins."

And now you see where the name "Virgin Islands" comes from!

The British Virgin Islands include more than 60 islands, about 15 of which are inhabited. 

St. Ursula's Day is celebrated by some people with a yacht race. And some people celebrate with religious services, although few people on the islands are Catholic.

Check out the British Virgin Islands - their location, their beaches, their shipwrecks, their coral reefs, their marinas, their loveliness:

Also on this date:

Anniversary of the first Apple Day in the U.K. 

Singer Celia Cruz's birthday

G4G Day

Antilles Day (?)

Reptile Awareness Day

Remembrance Day in Serbia

Armed Forces Day in Honduras

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• October holidays
• October birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in October

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• November holidays
• November birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in November
  
  
  

July 1 – Great Day for Patriotic Holidays!

Posted on July 1, 2014

In addition to Canada Day and Independence Day in Burundi (see below), there are a LOT of national days today:

The British Virgin Islands are celebrating their 1967 autonomy from the United Kingdom.

Hong Kong is celebrating the 1997 switch from British to Chinese control.

Madeira Day celebrates the island's 1976 autonomy from Portugal.

Rwanda is celebrating its 1962 independence from Belgium.

And Somalia is celebrating the 1960 Formation of the Somali Republic.

So – wow!

Did you know...?

The British Virgin Islands include around 60 Caribbean Islands, including 15 inhabited islands. At least six of the islands are owned by an individual or one family!

British Virgin Island

Even though citizens of the British Virgin Islands are considered citizens of the European Union, the nation uses the U.S. dollar.

Hong Kong, located on a peninsula and islands at the southeastern part of China, became the first Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China in 1997. 

It's considered a city-state AND a part of China; Hong Kong maintains a different political system from mainland China.

Hong Kong's location

Madeira is the red dot. Portugal is the orangish-
peachish nation northeast of Madeira;
Africa, of course, is the bulging continent
southeast of Madeira.

The island of Madeira is was claimed by Portugal waaaaay back in 1419 and was settled the next year. It's closer to Africa than to Portugal.

Madeira has the largest fireworks show in the world every New Year's Eve. (Guinness World Records backs up the claim.)

Madeira

I always think of the African nation of Rwanda as the site of civil war and of the horrific 1994 genocide (one group of Rwandans killed up to a million members of another group), so I was surprised to read that tourism is a fast-growing part of an improving economy. Apparently a lot of tourists are willing to pay big bucks to see mountain gorillas in their natural habitat.

Even in places that have
seen great tragedy, people
manage to carve out
times of happiness.

One of the traditional art forms of Rwanda is cow dung art. (And, yes, dung does mean poop.)

Rwanda's cow dung art

Somalia used to be divided in two – the part that was a protectorate of Britain, and the part that was a protectorate of Italy. The latter portion became more independent quicker and ended up with a stronger economy – and this inequality hurt the nation was the two were reunited in one Somali Republic.

Somalia has the longest coastline of any of the countries on mainland Africa.

Somalia

Also on this date:

Dancer / choreographer Twyla Tharp's birthday 

Independence Day in Burundi 

Canada Day

Anniversary of the first public zoo in the US

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• July holidays
• July birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in July

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• August holidays 
• August birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in August