Sizdah be dar

The 2nd of April is celebrated in Iranian society as Sizdah be dar, the last day of the New Year celebration.  The day takes it's roots from the time of the Persian Empire and signaled a return to normal life after the 12 previous days, which have been devoted to the New Year.  Each day in the Persian calender was devoted to a deity and this particular day was to the god of rain, so it is still thought of as a good day to pray for rain. 

Normally this is a time to pack a picnic and go to a park for day.  It is believed that laughter and fun can drive away evil spirits and this is a good way to do so.  Toward the end of the day it is traditional to throw peices of sabzeh in to a near by river.  Sabzeth is lentils or sprouted wheat and may have been planted at the beginning of the New Year celebration.

Just as a side reference the 2nd of April corresponds to the 13th of Farvardin and Sizdah means 13 and de bar means "to get ride of", so this means to get ride of 13. 

Of course it will be a little late to take the day off, but try to take a moment or two to just enjoy today.

Links:

Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sizdah_be_dar

General:

 http://www.holidayforeveryday.com/?p=316

http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Celebrations/sizdah_bedar.htm

April Fool's Day

So today is of course April Fool's Day, I made the mistake of not doing my research early and do not as of now trust any resource. I really wanted to do a real write up as I have a feeling this is seldom done but the more I thought about this day the more it occurs to me that any real history is going to be hard to find by the nature of the holiday.

Some of the theories that I ran across are:

1) In the mid 1500's France was switching to the new calendar system and recognizing the new year on January 1st instead of the first day of spring. Of course that does not fall on April 1 so does not really explain it.

2) There was a Roman Emperor who's court jester requested that he have a day to rule. The Emperor, being very fond of this jester, agreed and has been passed down.

3) Pagan practitioners wanting to fool the evil spirits.

But as I said I just do not trust any of the sources as I looked at them on March 31st.

One thing I believe to be correct is that April Fool's is not only celebrated in Europe or countries descended from Europe. I found this awhile ago that China also has a tradition of pulling pranks on the 1st of April. Though it is more the telling of "white lies".

I do have a quick story of when I convinced a co-worker that spaghetti comes from trees. There was a full history of how Marco Polo brought it back from China and the climate in Italy was just perfect for the transplanted tree. To add to the authenticity I explained that the green spaghetti was due to it being fresh and even that orange being from the fall. To my dismay I found out 10 years later that the BBC had beat me to the punch by many years.

Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_fool%27s

General:

Any thing I put here would be pointless.

One link I will add is from a friend of mine who sent me this

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080328-april-fools.html

Thomas Mundy Peterson Day

March 31 is Thomas Mundy Peterson Day in New Jersey, celebrated in honor of his being the first African-American to vote. 

After just one month of the 15th amendment, the right of every male citizen of the United States to vote, Thomas Person voted in Perth Amboy, NJ.  In 1884 the citizens of New Jersey presented Mr. Peterson with a voting metal to commemorate this historic event.  Also March 31st was established as a day to recognize the right of all people to vote and named after Thomas.

Later Thomas Mundy Peterson was also the first African-American to hold and elected office as well as server on a jury.

With all the problems in today's politics I hope people will take a moment to look back and remember the troubles that many people faced to be allowed the right to vote, not just in the United States with both suffrage and civil rights but going back to even the Magna Carta and further back, it has been a long road and we need not forget the travel.

Links
Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mundy_Peterson

General
http://www.answers.com/topic/thomas-mundy-peterson
http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume4/september05/primsource.cfm
http://www.npl.org/Pages/ProgramsExhibits/Exhibits/aafirsts.html

Sorry, no post today

I am having computer problems today and can not post at the moment.  Hope to have it fixed soon.

Teacher Appreciation Day

Unfortunately due to my lack of time and the newness of this blog I am having a little difficulty getting a lot of information on some of the holidays that I am spotlighting.

March 28th is Teacher Appreciation Day in the Czech Republic. As I previously mentioned, I was unable to find when or why this day was chosen. It is well celebrated, which I feel is a very good thing, teachers need to be elevated to a much higher status with in our societies.

Link:

http://www.teacher-appreciation.info/Teachers_Day/Czech-Republic.asp