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

May 31 - Memorial Day in the U.S. AND Castille-La Mancha Day in Spain

Posted on May 31, 2021 

This is an update of my post published on May 31, 2010:



Memorial Day in the U.S. is a day to honor men and women who have died in the military services. 

Memorial Day got its start immediately after the Civil War in 1865. In Charleston, South Carolina, there was a racecourse that had been used by the Confederate army to imprison captured Union soldiers - and it was also used as a mass grave for Union soldiers who had died there. As soon as the war was over, a group of formerly enslaved people took it upon themselves to dig up the Union soldiers' bodies from the mass grave and to rebury them in more dignified individual graves with markers. It was hard work, and undoubtedly disgusting, but they got the task done in just 10 days—including building a 10-foot-tall fence around the new Union graveyard. 

On May 1, 1865, about ten thousand people (mostly Black residents) came to the graveyard to form a parade, listen to sermons, and sing together - all in honor of the fallen soldiers.


Other folks in other towns started their own traditions of  having a particular day to honor those who died in the Civil War. Women in Columbus, Mississippi, probably didn't know about the Charlestown event when they decorated graves in April of 1866. General John A. Logan might not have known about either of these events when he urged people to decorate the graves of Union soldiers on May 30, 1968. Logan's effort was more widespread - not focused on just one town - and he went on to asking Congress to make Decoration Day (as it was then called) a legal holiday.

Eventually Congress did recognize Decoration / Memorial Day, and after World War I the category of honorees was broadened to include all who die in the military services.



Castille-La Mancha Day in Spain is a regional holiday. I mentioned in an earlier post that Spain is largely divided into semi-autonomous regions, and this is one of them. The largest city in this region is Toledo, but the area is probably best known as the setting for the famous novel Don Quixote. According to Wikipedia, the area is also known for its sunflowers, olive yards, and windmills.




The people of Castille-La Mancha celebrate the day with sporting events, art shows, musical performances, local movie showings, taste-testing and wine-tasting, and presentations about local scientists. Very cool!

Celebrate the Day's Holidays!

Here is a jigsaw puzzle of a Memorial Day scene.

Do you want to try a new game? A teacher named Carlos Velazquez, of Spain, has gathered together many “street games” that kids play in Spain.

Here is a simplified version of the story of Don Quixote.


Many towns and cities have a local memorial (or two) that is dedicated to those who gave up their life doing military service. Can you find out if yours does? Visit it today.

Here is a quick tour through Castille-La Mancha.


I loved this feature of the Toledo Cathedral - a breakthrough spot on the cathedral ceiling, through which you can see a higher, brighter, more heavenly spot.
Note the ring of angels and others surrounding the hole, which is called
El Transparente.



There is an extensive amount of stuff on the web about war and peace and memorials. Here is one website that gathers together some of those resources.




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March 29 - Memorial Day in Madagascar

 Posted on March 29, 2021

This is an update of my post published on March 29, 2010:


This is a patriotic holiday for the island nation off the southeastern coast of Africa. It commemorates a 1947 attempt to win independence from France and the horrible response by French soldiers: a massacre of rebels and innocent bystanders. That's simply tragic. But the good news is that Madagascar did later peacefully gain independence from France and was proclaimed the Malagasy Republic in 1958. It was renamed Madagascar in 1975.

Madagascar is one of the largest islands in the world, and it has lots of very interesting plants and animals, most of which are not found elsewhere in the world.


Madagascar is pictured here in red.

See if you can figure out which of the “facts” below are ACTUAL facts (in other words, true), and which are false:

1A. Madagascar is the second largest island in the world, being smaller than only the island of Greenland.
OR
1B. Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world, following Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo. 
Madagascar

2A. The main reason that Madagascar's animals and plants are so different from those found elsewhere is that this island split off from Africa (or, rather, from the super-continent that existed way back then, Gondwana) about 160 million years ago, and then split off from India 80 to 100 million years ago—so there was a long period of time during which plants and animals could evolve in their separate paths from the mainland animals.
OR
2B. Madagascar's animals and plants are so diverse because the island enjoyed milder climate and warmer temperatures, brought courtesy of ocean currents, than did the continental areas. With this favorable climate, the plants and animals evolved much faster and became specialized into many different species.
Madagascar

3A. People are thought to have first come to Madagascar around 2,000 B.C., when the ocean channel that separates Madagascar from Africa disappeared, making a short-lived land bridge that people crossed on foot.
OR
3B. Scientists estimate that humans reached Madagascar between 200 and 500 A.D.; it is thought that the first settlers arrived by outrigger sailing canoes from Borneo, and that Bantu peoples crossed the Mozambique Channel by boat soon after. 


4A. The unique animals in Madagascar include koalas, rheas (these large birds, similar to ostriches, died out in the 1900s), and primates called baboons.
OR
4B. Some of the animals that are unique to Madagascar include primates called lemurs, elephant birds (which were similar to—but larger than—ostriches, but which became extinct in the 1600s), and meat-eating mammals called fossas.

 


Answers: The true facts are 1B, 2A, 3B, 4B.


1B: Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world, following Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo.



2A: The main reason that Madagascar's animals and plants are so different from those found elsewhere is that this island split off from Africa (or, rather, from the super-continent that existed way back then, Gondwana) about 160 million years ago, and then split off from India 80 to 100 million years ago—so there was a long period of time during which plants and animals could evolve in their separate paths from the mainland animals.





3B: Scientists estimate that humans reached Madagascar between 200 and 500 A.D.; it is thought that the first settlers arrived by outrigger sailing canoes from Borneo, and that Bantu peoples crossed the Mozambique Channel by boat soon after.




4 B: Some of the animals that are unique to Madagascar include primates called lemurs, elephant birds (which were similar to—but larger than—ostriches, but which became extinct in the 1600s), and meat-eating mammals called fossas.


Above and below, lemurs



Above, elephant bird (seen on left)
compared in size to the ostrich, human, 
and chicken.

Below, fossa. This mammal looks a bit
cat-like but is thought to be more closely related to
the mongoose.



Madagascar's bugs are unique, too!
Check out the Sunset Moth, the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, and the Malagasy Jewel Beetle.








Draw or paint a Sunset Moth. A time-lapse painting of this moth can be found here.


Do you like snakes?
Madagascar is home to more than 80 kinds of snakes, but none of them pose much danger to humans. (In the surrounding ocean are two poisonous sea snakes, though!)



Make a cardboard snake that shows how flexible these creatures are.


Learn about a child's life in Madagascar.
Torina is a girl who lives on Madagascar. Check out the book written about her by clicking “View Sample Pages” and then clicking “Next” in the upper right corner of each page. I bet your life is very different from Torina's!






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