did you know many other countries actually celebrate Intl. Women's Day?

[ensho]

I didn't. why didn't I know this?


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1241


First Lady marks International Women’s Day with Hillary ‘President’ joke


-snip-

Monday marked the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. The day doesn't get a great deal of attention within the United States, but many other countries honor it with a national holiday. Nations that officially honor it are far flung, ranging from China and Russia to Macedonia and Vietnam. Some countries will encourage men to lavish gifts on the women in their lives, in the tradition of greeting-card holidays like Father's Day and Mother's Day. Other countries promote women-only commemorations of the day, with all-female parties and dinners.

-snip-

Still, as the more sober event at the State Department drove home, International Women's Day is still an occasion of danger, rather then levity, in some parts of the world. In 2007, numerous men and women were beaten and arrested by government officials in Iran for merely planning to celebrate the holiday.
-------------------------


I wish our media had shown us some of the celebrations around the world.

[asdjrocky]

I celebrate it everyday.

Women are my favorite people.

[Brickbat]

1. I lived in Russia and celebrated Women's Day there. I've brought it back and mark it here by

writing short notes to the women in my life thanking them for what they've done for me. Sometimes I buy myself flowers on March 8.

[ensho]

2. how very nice your are - hugs

nt

[Brickbat]

3. The power of short notes is huge -- I highly recommend everyone use them.

And not just for Women's Day! :)

[DURHAM D]

4. I received email notes from female friends in Estonia, Italy and Spain

wishing me a happy day and wanting to know how I was celebrating. Unfortunately my response was totally lame compared to what they had planned.

[leftstreet]

5. It's a public holiday in several countries

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women's_Day#Women.27s_Day_in_modern_culture

Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkin Faso, Cambodia, China, Croatia, Cuba, Gerogia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar, Moldova, Mongolia, Montnegro, Nepal, Rusia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Zambia

.............

The first IWD was observed on 28 February 1909 in the United States following a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. Among other relevant historic events, it came to commemorate the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. The idea of having an international women's day was first put forward at the turn of the 20th century amid rapid world industrialization and economic expansion that led to protests over working conditions.

In 1910 the first international women's conference was held in Copenhagen (in the labour-movement building located at Jagtvej 69, which until recently housed Ungdomshuset) by the Second International and an 'International Women's Day' was established, which was submitted by the important German Socialist Clara Zetkin, although no date was specified. The following year, 1911, IWD was marked by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, on March 19. However, soon thereafter, on March 25, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City killed over 140 garment workers. A lack of safety measures was blamed for the high death toll. Furthermore, on the eve of World War I, women across Europe held peace rallies on 8 March 1913. In the West, International Women's Day was commemorated during the 1910s and 1920s, but dwindled. It was revived by the rise of feminism in the 1960s.

Demonstrations marking International Women's Day in Russia proved to be the first stage of the Russian Revolution of 1917.

K&R

[Echo In Light]

10. Thanks for that

[Jokerman]

12. "a declaration by the Socialist Party of America"

"Demonstrations marking International Women's Day in Russia proved to be the first stage of the Russian Revolution of 1917."

That explains why the wing-nuts want nothing to do with the holiday right there. Most of them soil themselves at any mention of socialism.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. What about Boys Day and Girls Day? Do they count?

[ensho]

7. and your point is?

nt

[LiberalEsto]

8. Yes. I led a church service on March 8 last year

I occasionally serve as a lay leader in our UU church. Last year I decided to do a service about International Women's Day to educate people about this holiday and about women's rights in general. I know it's celebrated in Estonia because I have relatives there, but had no idea it was so widely celebrated around the world until I began doing research for the sermon.

I believe that one reason that it's so heavily played down in the U.S. is that during the Cold War, we were taught in school to hate and fear everything about the Soviet Union. The USSR and other Communist countries made a big deal of celebrating International Women's Day, so the American media ignored it.

The same thing with May Day -- it's a big thing in many parts of Europe, being an old pagan holiday. Communist countries made May 1 a workers' holiday with huge parades, so Americans and the American media stopped paying attention to our May Day traditions. Even lovely traditions like the yearly May festival and Maypole dances that took place at my elementary school when I was in first and second grades. Kids also used to bring handmade paper May baskets filled with flowers to relatives and neighbors. In the late 1960s when we were protesting the Vietnam War, America's right wingers made May 1 into Law Day, a festival of right-wing speeches about the need to obey the law (in other words, don't protest, you damned dirty hippies, or we'll toss your asses in jail).

[ensho]

9. kick

nt

[femrap]

11. k and r

I had no idea it was celebrated to such a high level in other countries. I will make sure I do something special next year.

It really is a slap in the face here in the US, isn't it?

I will continue to blame the patriarchy.

[malaise]

13. The day is celebrated right across the Caribbean

:hi:

[reggie the dog]

14. France does

[bananas]

15. k&r - from +7 to +5

Some DUers must really hate women to unrec this thread.

[KitSileya]

16. It's not a public holiday in Norway,

but there's generally a parade with signs where different women's groups and unions participate, and pretty much every woman congratulate other women on the day.