Every Day Is Special: Thanksgiving Day

Showing posts with label Thanksgiving Day. Show all posts

November 7 - Thanksgiving Day in Liberia

Posted on November 7, 2019

(First Thursday of November)

The only African nation that was founded by former slaves and free black people who immigrated from the U.S. to Africa, Liberia has many influences from 19th-Century America. One influence is having a harvest holiday called Thanksgiving - although the Liberian Thanksgiving is earlier in the month than is the U.S. Thanksgiving.

Many Liberians take harvested foods to church or other religious services and, after the service, auction them off. It's also a day for gathering with family to eat together - that sounds familiar! - although apparently Thanksgiving isn't as big a deal in Liberia as it is in the United States.

Liberians have some important things to be thankful for: after years of military coups, political instability, and civil war, Liberians have recently enjoyed several elections that were judged free and fair, and in 2018 the nation experienced its first fully democratic and peaceful transition of power in almost three quarters of a century!

Check out some glimpses of Liberia:

Bushrod Island

Kpatawee Waterfalls

A traditional dance

A posh resort in the nation's capital, Monrovia

Wait! This is a road???

Sapo National Park

A huge termite mound

Also on this date:

October Revolution Day in Belarus

New Era Day in Tunisia

NOT a patriotic holiday in Bangladesh

Physicist Marie Curie's birthday

Physicist Lise Meitner's birthday

Anniversary of the collapse of a bridge

Singer Lorde's birthday

National Cat Week

(First full week of November)

Railroader Day in Mexico

Nobel winners' birthdays

Men Make Dinner Day

(First Thursday of November)

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

November holidays
November birthdays
Historical anniversaries in November

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

December holidays
December birthdays
Historical anniversaries in December

October 25 – Thanksgiving Day in Grenada

Posted on October 25, 2015

To me, this is a tricky one:

This public holiday commemorates the day that the U.S. and Caribbean military forces did a military intervention in Grenada.

You could say it was an invasion. You could say that it was a liberation.

At the time, the U.N., Britain, and Canada criticized the invasion/whatever-you-want-to-call-it. It was called by some a “flagrant violation of international law.”

And yet, many people in Grenada welcomed the invaders/liberators, and several officials of Grenada and other Caribbean nations requested the intervention, and the nation apparently really does celebrate the anniversary!

The background is complex, and I do not intend to do the history justice – instead, I will simplistically say that an elected government was taken over by communists in a coup, that no elections were held and no adversarial political parties were allowed for four years, and that that communist government was taken over in another coup by even more hardline communist forces. After the second coup, several government officials were executed, and the island was put under martial law.

When U.S. and Caribbean Regional Security System forces invaded, on this date in 1983, the former democratic constitution was put into place again. The U.S. troops withdrew less than two months after the intervention, and soon elections were held.

Ahhh! Beautiful!

Grenada is a great tourist spot. Its capital, St. George's, is seen by some as the most beautiful port town in the entire Caribbean. Grenada also has some wonderful beaches, great dive spots, amazing waterfalls, and of course – what Grenada is known for – a surprisingly large position in the world spice market for such a small island!

Check it out:

St. George's University