Festival of the Crosses

“La Fiesta de las Cruces” (The Festival of the Crosses) also known as “Cruz de Mayo” is celebrated in Spain on 3rd May.

Like some other Christian Festivals, it has pagan roots. During this festival, crosses made of flowers are installed in the city’s main squares and streets. Even the balconies of houses are decorated with floral crosses. These floral crosses are further decorated with other ornaments such as candlesticks and scarves.

Although celebrated in many places of Spain, the cities of Granada and Cordoba are specially known for their remarkable display of floral crosses. A competition is held to pick the best floral cross later in the day.

No festival is complete without some sort of merry making and to complement this festival, temporary bars are set up where the locals gather to enjoy a few glasses of wine and tapas. Every Spanish festival features flamenco dancing and “La Fiesta de Las Cruces” is no exception. Dancing continues till the wee hours of the morning.

Festival of the crosses is a festival that brings a lot of tourists to Spain. It is a reason of visiting Spain for many tourists. Spain has a very deep rooted culture. Any festival of Spain with the colors of its culture becomes popular world wide, and Festival of Crosses is no exception.

Press Freedom Day

The 3rd of May has been celebrated as world’s Press Freedom Day. This freedom was given to the journalists as per the universal declaration of Human Rights, authorized and given to them by UN General Assembly in 1993. The declaration says that the primary right of freedom to press is to search for, to get and give information and ideas through the means of any media and regardless of barriers.

Freedom of expression means that any reporter has the right to transparently deal with the story or the case in order to look into the case from all the sides and aspects. Freedom of expression not only leads to the awareness of general public at large, but also to put the criminal or the guilty one to the deserving punishment.

Freedom of expression does not leave any influential body or celebrity undercover, hence a person on higher position or a man from the general masses can be put as an open book in front of the media through which he can be seen by the whole nation and internationally, hence the first punishment which a criminal or a wrong doer gets is DEFAMATION.

By giving freedom to journalists, their lives are safe because it becomes the duty of the journalist to put the story in front of the masses; hence a journalist can perform his or her duty honestly and the life cannot be endangered as it was before this law.

Where freedom is given to journalists, in the same time, the journalists also consider the two main points in their mind:

1. Not to create hype.

2. Privacy of celebrities (not in the sense of defaming them and thus catering the public to their respective media means at large.

Thus freedom of press is, in actuality, a symbol of a well educated and sophisticated human society.

International Day of Nursing

The 12th of May is also the anniversary of the birth of FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE who is considered to be the founder of modern nursing. Every year, the INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF NURSES produces a kit known as International Nurses’ Day Kit which contains materials of education for general masses.

Each year this day is celebrated with a new theme, e.g. safe motherhood, environment, services to community, as well as topics related to community medicine too.

With the passage of time and awareness in the public, nowadays nursing is considered to be a noble profession in the third world countries; gone are the days when a nurse hides her profession and prefers to call herself as a midwife. A doctor diagnoses and operates, whereas the rest of the matter has been put to the nurse: regular observations, reading and preparing charts, taking blood pressure, giving medicines and drips, changing bandages are some of her daily routine tasks. This noble profession not only puts a nurse to work as a next to a doctor but to a caretaker of the patient as well.

Nowadays nurses are also working with the poor to eradicate poverty, fighting and helping in creating awareness about AIDS. A professional and a well trained, experienced nursing staff can give the first aid and can save lives of many people who are far away from the hospitals or cannot get the medical attention immediately, especially in casualties.

Hence, the aftermath of the nursing profession is that, it is not a celebration of just the 12th of May but of the thousands of days since the nursing has been originated as a profession, caring, helping and looking after the sick people and thus symbolizes the welfare of the human society.

Hina Matsuri: The Japanese Doll Festival

Every year on 3rd March, the Japanese celebrate the Hina Matsuri or the Doll Festival. Also known as the girls’ day, people all over Japan pray for the health happiness and prosperity of the girls.

This century’s old tradition is based on the belief that dolls could carry away the bad omens, sickness, evil spirits and troubles which could befall on the little ladies. The dolls are displayed in houses, streets, shrines and even stations. A traditional Hina doll set comprises of 15 dolls arranged in seven tiers on a red carpet or red silk. The dolls are attired in ancient royal costumes. The uppermost tier holds the emperor and the empress. The 2nd one displays three ladies in waiting. Five musicians are on the third tier. Two ministers occupy the fourth level. The lower levels belong to the retainers and guards. Articles of use such as furniture, utensils etc are also displayed on the lower tiers.

After the display, the dolls are released in a river so that they take away with them all the troubles and ailments. A popular superstition among the Japanese is that if the dolls are displayed for more than three days, the girls will face problems in getting married. Special food like rice cakes and non alcoholic wine are prepared and served on this festival.

International Sun Day

The 3rd of May is known as the International Sun Day, a day in which the scientists from NASA briefly go through the research about the relation between the Sun and the Earth and their coordination. It is sponsored and organized by NASA. This forum is also meant to educate and create awareness about the changing temperatures and weather conditions on earth with respect to the heat of the sun and approached also the March, Equinox; equinox means, as per the Longman dictionary, either of the two times in the year – March 21 and September 22 – when all places in the world have the day and the night of equal lengths. This symposium also looks into other celestial events as solar eclipses, the transit of Venus, and the role of electromagnetic force in every day’s life, hence helping in predicting the future movements of the sun and the weather in the space.

The International Labor Day

The International Labor Day also called May Day is celebrated to honor the struggle of the working class who protested against the unfair treatment meted out towards them.

In the late nineteenth century, the Labor Unions in the USA passed a resolution demanding the working hours to be restricted to 8 hours. The laborers were forced to work ten, twelve or even fourteen hours a day and the demand for shorter working hours gained momentum. The workers went on a strike and held rallies. To counter act this movement, the government used violence and the police opened fire on the strikers killing four and wounding several. A rally was held the next day by the strikers to condemn the incidence however someone from the rally threw a bomb at the police contingent which resulted in the death of one policeman and caused injuries to many. The police responded by opening fire causing more casualties.

The sacrifices and struggles of the workers later bore fruit and the workers all over the world not only got their desired 8 hours working day but 1st May was also declared a public holiday to signify its importance. Ironically, Labor Day is not celebrated in the USA on 1st May.

May Day is celebrated by holding rallies and speeches and paying homage to those who strives for better working conditions.

The Chiang Mai Flower Festival, Thailand

Get drowned in the intoxicating scents and exotic sights of flowers this February at the Chiang Mai Flower Festival in Thailand.

Chiang Mai is a town in the North of Thailand and is popularly known as the Rose of the North because of the wide variety of exotic flowers found here. The cool temperate climate of the place is ideal for the growth of flowers such as tulips, chrysanthemum, carnations which were originally imported from abroad besides the locally grown rose, and wide variety of orchids. Here you will find 3000 species of orchid, the damask rose, a special variety of rose and yellow and white chrysanthemums besides a host of other species of flowers. Flowers are in full bloom in February which sees an end of the winter season.

The three day festival begins with a beauty pageant where Miss Flower Bloom and Miss International Flower Bloom are chosen.

The main feature of the festival is the floral parade which takes place on the second day. Beautifully decorated floral floats most of them based on Buddhist themes with dancing Thai girls clad in traditional clothes are the highlights of the parade. As the floats pass at a snail’s pace; you will get plenty of time to photograph the marvel of nature (flowers) displayed by human intelligence.

On the third day winners of the best flowers in the show are chosen. You can also buy rare species of flowering plants at reasonable rates. You can savor Thai Cuisine at the various food stalls and buy handicrafts made by the locals.

Festival of Candelaria

Puno is a quiet town in Peru better known for its scenic beauty. Puno rings with festivity, color and music as the town celebrates the Candelaria festival.

This colorful festival is a blend of Catholic and pagan customs. It is celebrated to honor the Virgin de la Candelaria (Virgin of Candles) in a traditional pre Columbian style. Town people along with 200 dancers and musicians dance along the streets of the town dressed in colorful costumes. The statue of the saint is carried through the town in a procession including priests and altar boys. The procession is doused with holy water as it passes by the cathedral. Spectacular parades, masks and fireworks are a regular feature of the 18 day festival.

The first nine days are spent decorating the church and arranging banquets and fireworks. The later celebrations are more influenced by pagan rituals and are related to the farming and mining activities of the town. The main dance of the festival is the Devil Dance or the Diablada. It is said that a group of miners trapped in cave created this dance and left themselves at the mercy of the Virgin of Candelaria. In the end, the celebrant head towards the graveyard to honor the dead.

ANZAC DAY: A Day to Honor the Fallen Heroes

The ANZAC Day is celebrated in Australia and New Zealand to honor those who lost their lives in the Gallipoli expedition during World War 1.

ANZAC is the acronym for Australia and New Zealand. The two countries were a part of the allied forces and had sent their soldiers to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula and then ultimately Constantinople the capital of the Turkish Ottoman Empire; an ally of the Germans.

The forces landed on Gallipoli on 25th April; the allies’ plan which seemed simple backfired and the ANZAC forces faced stiff resistance from the Turks. Eight months later the expedition was called off and the forces were evacuated. There was a heavy loss of life on both sides. An estimate of 8,000 Australian soldiers and 2,700 New Zealand soldiers were killed.

Although the expedition failed miserably, it ignited a sense of pride among the two nations and the whole world appreciated their bravery, commitment and loyalty. In 1916, 25th April was officially recognized as the ANZAC Day.

In Australia, commemorative services are held at dawn and are mostly attended by war veterans and the family members of the soldiers. Later in the day, a ceremony takes place at the Australian War Memorial which is attended by the Prime Minister and other government dignitaries. Main features of the memorial services are lying of wreath, prayers, a recitation, a few minutes silence. The service usually ends with Reveille, the bugler’s call to wake up and the national anthem.

In New Zealand Dawn Parades and other memorial services in which the New Zealand Defence Forces, New Zealand Police, Scouting New Zealand and Girl guiding New Zealand and other uniformed service men participate. Red paper poppies are distributed and worn as a symbol of remembrance.

Hamauri: Purify yourself the Japanese Way

The island of Okinawa has always maintained its individuality. When the rest of Japan celebrates Hina Matsuri, the doll festival for little girls; Okinawa holds a cleansing festival for all the women of the island.

Hamauri is a ritual observed mostly in Okinawa Japan where women go to the beach early in the morning to cleanse themselves of bad omens and purify themselves spiritually.

Held in early March, the young girls and women head for the beach early in the morning and wait for the high tide. When the tide comes, the salty sea water must touch their foreheads three times. This ceremony is called the Ubinari and it purifies the ladies as the receding sea water takes away their bad tidings and misfortunes leaving them with the blessings of good health and good luck. The ladies then stroll along the white sandy beach, another ritual which purifies them. Later in the day they are joined by their families and together they look for shells, octopus, crabs and the other creatures which the tide has brought along with it. A good catch obviously means a good year.

On the lighter side, it is a day for some fun and food with rice cakes being the special dish for the occasions.

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