Grækarismessa

 On Faroe Island, an autonomous province of the Kingdom of Denmark, celebrated March 12 as Grækarismessa.  This is the day that the national bird of the island returns, according to tradition.  Marking the first day of spring, it was established by the campaigning of Sverri Patursson.  A native to the island, he was a journalist who had a deep passion for birds.

Link:

Wiki of Faroe Island http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faroe_Islands



General

http://www.faroeartstamps.fo/?side=23b6c355d29d3b21505c0735c7e1cc9c

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%25C3%25A6karismessa&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=3&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DGr%25C3%25A6karismessa%2B%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

Pi Day, Links from the Podcast

Pi Day    (I messed up the date on the title of this podcast, it should have been March 14th, sorry)

Links:

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

Pi Day. org http://www.piday.org/

International Pi Day http://www.pidayinternational.org/

Exploratorium http://www.exploratorium.edu/pi/pi99.html

Johnny Appleseed Day

One of the great legends of the United States is that of Johnny Appleseed, born John Chapman in 1774.  Like many other larger then life figures he may be seen as not having been a real person but in fact he was.  All indications point to him having been an extremely altruistic person, who never settled down to live in a house and would give all but the worst clothes he was given to those in need.  Johnny was said to always walk in bare feet, even during the winter months. 

Though he is thought of just walking around trowing apple seeds on the ground he in fact was very careful in his cultivating of apple trees.  He built nurseries in many different areas and would leave them to be managed by locale people who were to sell the trees to others near by.  He apparently did not insist on actually receiving payment for these sales and what profit he did make went back to buying more supplies so he could continue both his delivering of apple trees and his missionary work.  Johnny spent all his time going from place to place building these nurseries and bringing the words of the bible with him.  His faith was so strong that he was a vegetarian and there are a number of stories that where he would suffer for the comfort of an animal.  The most extreme that I found was that he noticed mosquitoes where flying into the flames of a fire he built and he immediately poured water on the fire to prevent the death of "one of Gods creatures".

The reason for March 11th being the day to remember Johnny Appleseed is this may have been the day of his death.  Though that is in question it does coincide with the planting season of the apple tree which I find to be quite appropriate considering his life.  Others do observe September 26th, being this is his birthday.

Links:

Wiki on Johnny Appleseed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Appleseed

General

http://virtualology.com/americanwest/JohnnyAppleseed.net/

Győr Spring Festival

I had a hard time coming up with todays, I might even be wrong on the year this is being celebrated in but am going for it anyway.

The Győr Spring Festival is part of the National Budapest Spring Festival in Hungry.  Like most spring festivals it is to celebrate the ending of winter and the coming of spring.  There is symbolic burning of winter and dancing around fires. 

The festival seems to center around artisitc and musical displays.

Links:

General

http://www.xpatloop.com/news/18169

http://www.fesztivalirodagyor.hu/festival/2006/tavasz_en_program.html

Baron Bliss Day

In the country of Belize, on the 9th of March, Baron Bliss day is celebrated.  He is known as the largest benefactor to the Belizens, having bequeathed almost 2 million dollars in his will in 1927 ($23,244,583.38 in today's dollars according to The Inflation Calculator)

Baron Bliss, Henry Edward Ernest Bliss, was born in England in 1869.  There seems to be little information on his early life and the sources I found disagree on some of the details.  One thing I believe can be said is he was married and that he made a significant amount of money on his own.  Baron Bliss seems to have been disinherited from his family though his title is supposedly from a connection to Sir John Moore and he styled himself as the Fourth Baron of the former Portugal Kingdom.  Another fact that seems constant is he was a very ill man and is one of the reasons that he left Great Britain.  He spent about five years in the Bahamas before tiring of the life there and moving on, eventually ending up in Belize then known as British Honduras.  He was there for only two months before he passed away but in that time changed his will to leave the vast majority of his estate to the people of Belize.  This was to be used for the betterment of the people there for whom he is said to have grown very fond of even though he never set foot on the soil there.  The will was very precise in the use of the money, both in what to use it for and what not to use it for.  Along with that he instructed that no American be on the board of trustees or work for the trust.  I have to assume that this means United States citizen and not just some one from America.  This provision was included with no reason and nothing I have found suggests one.  This is one of the great mysteries of the will.

Shortly after his death, March 9th was declared a national holiday, Belize City celebrating with a regalia, part of which is funded from the trust.  In smaller villages toy boats are sometimes made to hold miniature regalia's as well.  He is still fondly remembered for his incredible generosity and has parks as well as a lighthouse named in his honor.  Beneath the light house are where his remains are buried, so that he is over looking the harbor where he spent his last days and caused him to give so much to the people of Belize.

Links:

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

General

 http://sanpedrosun.net/old/98-91.html

http://www.mayabelize.ca/belize/baron-bliss-day.shtml

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=15969399

http://ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/bliss.html