Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (on May 25 in 2009). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in military service to their country. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the civil war), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action.
As the death toll in southwest China rose to almost 32,500, the government today ordered a three-day period of national mourning for the victims of the country’s worst earthquake in three decades.
The 2008 Sichuan earthquake (simplified Chinese: 四川大地震; traditional Chinese: 四川大地震; pinyin: Sìchuān dà dìzhèn), or Great Sichuan Earthquake, measured at 8.0 Ms and 7.9 Mw occurred at 14:28:01.42 CST (06:28:01.42 UTC) on May 12, 2008 in Sichuan province of China and by any name killed at least 69,000, less than three months before China hosted the world in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
It was also known as the Wenchuan earthquake (simplified Chinese: 汶川大地震; traditional Chinese: 汶川大地震; pinyin: Wènchuān dà dìzhèn), after the earthquake’s epicenter in Wenchuan County, Sichuan province. The epicenter was 80 kilometres (50 mi) west-northwest of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, with a depth of 19 kilometres (12 mi). The earthquake was also felt in nearby countries and felt as far away as both Beijing and Shanghai — 1,500 kilometres (932 mi) and 1,700 kilometres (1,056 mi) away — where office buildings swayed with the tremor.
Mother’s Day is May 11
Show your appreciation with beautiful flowers.
It’s Mother’s Day! Celebrate with breakfast in bed for her.
The modern Mother’s Day holiday was created by Anna Jarvis as a day for each family to honor its mother,[1] and it’s now celebrated on various days in many places around the world. It complements Father’s Day, the celebration honoring fathers.
This holiday is relatively modern, being created at the start of the 20th century, and should not be confused with the early pagan and Christian traditions honoring mothers, or with the 16th century celebration of Mothering Sunday, which is also known as Mother’s Day in the UK.
In most countries the Mother’s Day celebration is a recent holiday derived from the original US celebration. Exceptions are, for example, the Mothering Sunday holiday in the UK.
The Israeli Declaration of Independence (Hebrew: הכרזת העצמאות, Hakhrazat HaAtzma’ut or Hebrew: מגילת העצמאות Megilat HaAtzma’ut), made on 14 May 1948 (5 Iyar, 5708), the day the British Mandate expired, was the official announcement that the new Jewish state named the State of Israel had been formally established in parts of what was known as the British Mandate for Palestine and on land where, in antiquity, the Kingdoms of Israel, Judah and Judea had once been.
In Israel the event is celebrated annually with the national holiday Yom Ha’atzmaut (Hebrew: יום העצמאות, lit. Independence Day), the timing of which is based on the Hebrew calendar date of the declaration (5, Iyar, 5708). Palestinians commemorate the event as Nakba Day (Arabic: يوم النكبة, Yawm al-nakba, lit. Catastrophe Day) on 15 May every year.
Kodomo no Hi (こどもの日 meaning “Children’s Day“) is a Japanese national holiday which takes place annually on May 5, the fifth day of the fifth month, and is part of the Golden Week. It is a day set aside to respect children’s personalities and to celebrate their happiness. It was designated a National holiday by the Japanese government in 1948.
Jin Jing (Chinese: 金晶; Pinyin: Jīn Jīng; born in 1981 in Hefei, Anhui, China) is a Chinese female Paralympic fencer. She was a torchbearer carrying the Olympic torch amid political protests during the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay in Paris, France. According to ABC News, she fended off protestors who “threw themselves” at her; most were wrestled away by French police but at least one reached her wheelchair and tried to wrench the torch away. Jin has gained national fame in China because of the incident, but was attacked on Chinese internet bulletin boards for her stance in the following call to boycott French retailer Carrefour that resulted from public anger toward France. In contrast, Western media concentrated on how the incident involving Jin Jing ignited Chinese nationalism and claimed that the incident was exploited for propaganda purposes by the state media.
Holiday Logos is proudly powered by
WordPress
Entries (RSS)
and
