July 6 - Statehood Day in Lithuania

Posted on July 6, 2019

Lithuania, like so many other nations, broke away from the USSR in 1990-1991, so I thought "Statehood Day" was the celebration of that event. However, the events that gave rise to modern, independent Lithuanian are celebrated by another holiday: Day of Restitution of Independence of Lithuania, on March 11. (And Lithuania had earlier declared itself independent, at the end of World War I, on February 16, 1918, giving rise to yet another patriotic holiday: Day of Restoration of the State of Lithuania!)

So...what is Statehood Day all about?

It's about events long, long ago!

Waaaayyyy back at the onset of Lithuania's existence as a nation, in the 1200s!

A Grand Duke named Mindaugas (who was probably born around 1200) rose to power using methods that are yicky but were normal way back then:

- By marrying women who would help form alliances with rival realms, and...

- By conquering other people's lands, and...

- By banishing or murdering those who wished to push him out of power, and set up their own rule.

On this date in 1253, Mindaugas was crowned King of Lithuania. He ruled from 300,000 to 400,000 people. 

Soon (in the 1300s) Lithuania became the largest nation in Europe. Called the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, this nation included present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia.

So Statehood Day looks back to when Lithuania was first united together as a nation, to its time as the biggest and possibly most powerful force in the region. Of course, it was later swallowed up by other empires, but that's why Lithuanians also celebration restoration and restitution!

Another thing Lithuanians can celebrate: their beautiful nation!

Also on this date:

Jan Hus Day in Czechia

Independence Day in Comoros

Republic Day in Malawi

Anniversary of Althea Gibson's win at Wimbledon

Artist Frida Kahlo's birthday

Eino Leino Day in Finland

Lobster Carnival in Nova Scotia

(July 5 - 7, 2019)

Birthday of U.S. President George W. Bush

International Cherry Pit-Spitting Day

(First Saturday in July)

Le Tour de France Day

Hop a Park Day

(First Saturday in July)

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

June 25 – Statehood Day in Slovenia

Posted June 25, 2013

When I was a kid, there was a nation called Yugoslavia on our maps and globes.

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was created out of the old Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. It existed most of the twentieth century (the 1900s), although it was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy during World War II. After the Nazi's (and the other Axis powers) lost the war, Yugoslavia was reinstated as a Communist nation, under the names the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia and then the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

But modern globes and maps have no trace of Yugoslavia. Instead, where that nation used to be are Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Slovenia. Seven small countries arising from just one country that was smaller than the U.S. state of Colorado!

Learn about Slovenia

Slovenia (which is a bit smaller than the U.S. state of New Jersey) has a bit of the Alps in the northern part of the country and a bit of shoreline along the Adriatic Sea. More than half of the country is forested, making the nation one of the most forested in Europe. Like Croatia, Slovenia has some of that awesome “Karst topography,” which means that an ancient bed of limestone has eroded into an area with underground rivers, gorges, and caves.

One of my favorite-looking cities in the world is Slovenia's capital, Ljubljana. I don't mean I like how the buildings and bridges of the city look—although they're perfectly wonderful, I'm sure!—but rather that I love the look of the name! If you want to hear how this city name is pronounced, listen to this. 

Alpine ibex

Even though it is pretty tiny, Slovenia has a lot of diversity of animals, due mostly to all the different sorts of landforms and the various altitudes. The wildlife in the country include everything from marmots, Alpine ibex, and chamois in the high mountains, to deer, roe deer, boar, edible dormouse, and hares, in the hills; from the strange olm in the caves to the bottlenose dolphin in the nearby Adriatic; from the Eurasian lynx to the red fox and European jackal —and my favorite, the adorable hedgehog!

Hedgehog

Not just the animals are varied: the Slovene people have absorbed influences from all over, and the culture is a bit of a mash-up of various traditions. Here is a New York Times slide show about Slovenia. 

And this tourism video is titled Slovenia: Diversity to Discover.

Also on this date:

Independence Day in Mozambique 

Anniversary of the capture of a “new” species

Croatia's Statehood Day

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest pages on June holidays, historical anniversaries in June, and June birthdays.

And here are my Pinterest pages on July holidays, historical anniversaries in July, and July birthdays.

July 13, 2012 - Statehood Day in Montenegro

Montenegro has an Independence Day (celebrating May 21, 2006, when a majority of Montenegrins voted to become an independent nation, separate from neighbors Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which with Montenegro made up Yugoslavia for several decades).

Montenegro is the orange splotch
in the lower third of the central
portion of the map. It is near
Greece and across the Adriatic
Sea from Italy.

Today isn't Montenegro's Independence Day. It doesn't celebrate statehood apart from the crumbling Yugoslavia. What Montenegrins celebrate today is the July 13, 1878, date when Montenegro was recognized as an independent country by the Berlin Congress, and (in my mind more important) the July 13, 1941, date when Montenegrins started a popular uprising against the Nazis and Mussolini's Fascist army, which had taken over the country during World War II.

Montenegro has rugged mountains, a coastline along the Adriatic Sea, and Karst landforms that include caves and sinkholes. Take a look at some of the gorgeous landscapes here and here.

Also on this date:

Obon, or Day of the Souls, in Japan 

Rubik's Cube inventor Erno Rubik's birthday 

June 25, 2011 - Statehood Day

– Croatia

A lot changed in Croatia in the year 1991. On May 19, there was a referendum about whether or not to break away from Yugoslavia. (About 94% of the population voted Yes, let's break away!) On June 25, the Croatian parliament declared Croatia's independence. And on October 8, parliament cut all remaining ties with Yugoslavia.

To commemorate this series of events, today is Statehood Day, and October 8 is Independence Day.

(In contrast, my own country, the United States, only celebrates declaring independence on July 4, 1776, not the date that the Revolutionary War ended and the U.S. actually became independent, September 3, 1783. The September date is the date that the American Revolutionary War was formally over, as the U.S. and Britain signed the Treaty of Paris. The bulk of the fighting was over on October 19, 1781, when Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. The U.S. could conceivably have national holidays on July 4, September 3, AND October 19...)

Back to Croatia...

Croatia is the home of the cravat, or necktie. This piece of clothing used to be part of the Croatian soldier's uniform, and it was seen and copied all over Europe in the early 1600s. The French king Louis XIV loved the cravat and adopted the fashion, and it became so popular it was commonplace.

Nowadays men can dress up or individualize their work clothes with ties—sometimes even wearing ties that are funny!

Another thing that apparently has its start in Croatia is the fountain pen.

For more...

To learn about the interesting karst geology of Croatia, check out this earlier post.