Year: 2016

This is one of the most important Japanese Buddhist traditions to honor and commemorate the spirits of his or her respective ancestors.

Traditionally, Obon used to be observed on the 15^th day of the seventh month of the Lunar Calendar but now it is also celebrated on different dates in different places of Japan.

But generally, majority of the regions observe Obon on the 15^th of August even though eastern Japan celebrates it around 15^th of July. It typically starts on the 13^th of August and continues till the 16^th of the same month.

These three days are officially not listed as public holidays but it’s a custom to give people leave during this time. This festival is being celebrated in Japan every year since a time as long as 500 years and involves a traditional dance form known as Bon-Odori.

It is said that during this time, the spirits of the ancestors seek their way back home to meet their loved ones. This festival has thus progressed to be a perfect opportunity for people to host family reunions during which they return to their ancestral homes and pray for their ancestors.

• Origin And History

Obon is a shortened version of Ullambana which is the Sanskrit term for “hanging upside down” and refers to great suffering. The traditional dance form Bon Odori native to this festival has its roots in the legend of Maha Maudgalyayana  (Mokuren) who was a disciple of Lord Buddha and had put his superpowers to use to watch his dead mother. When he came to know that his mother had fallen into a torturous realm and was going through immense suffering, he went on to take the advice of his teacher on how to free his mother from the realm.

According to Buddha’s instructions, he made offerings to the Buddhist monks who had returned from their summer retreat on the 15^th day of the 7^th Lunar month and he got what he wanted. On seeing his mother’s retreat, he danced out of mirth and joy from which the Bon Odori or Bon dance was born. Till today, this dance is performed on this day to remember and appreciate the sacrifices made by the ancestors in their lifetime.

• Celebration

• On this day, the Japanese people get rid of all the dirt from their houses and offer a variety of food items like many vegetables and fruits in front of a Buddhist altar or Butsudan in respect of their ancestors.

• The altars are decorated with Chochin lanterns and flower designs.

• On the opening day of Obon, houses are found to be brightly lit with Chochin lanterns and graves of the deceased are visited by family members to escort their spirits back home.

• This tradition is called mukae-bon. Fires are lit at the entrances of houses called mukae-bi to guide the ancestors’ home.

• On the final day of the festival, people accompany the spirits back to their graves with the help of hanging Chochin lanterns with the family’s emblem on it. This ritual is known as okuri-bon and closing fires at the entrances are called okuri-bi.

• Incense sticks are also lit in the houses and cemeteries during Obon.

• The tradition of floating lanterns down a river with a lighted candle inside known as Toro Nagashi is prevalent during this festival.

• The most famous feature of Obon celebrations is the Nenbutsu folk dance Bon Odori to welcome the spirits of the dead. Japanese taiko drums keep up the beat and the participants wear ‘yukata’ meaning cotton summer kimonos.

• They dance around a wooden stage called “yagura” made especially for this event.

• Other Obon celebrations include carnivals with games, rides and summer festival food like watermelons.

• Not being a Japanese national holiday, most people take leave during this time.

International Youth Day is a day of spreading awareness and is an initiation of the United Nations.

The main purpose behind the observance of this day is to highlight a certain set of legal and cultural issues associated with today’s youths and to draw attention towards them.

This day was observed for the first time on 12th August in the year 2000. Since then the International Youths Day has been observed every year on 12th of August. This day also gives an opportunity to recognize and appreciate the efforts of the youths of all over the world in strengthening and giving boost to the global society.

Another purpose of celebrating this day is to promote various ways to engage the young generation in various activities and to make them actively involved in rendering positive contributions to the society. Though this day is an initiation of the United Nations, it is not an official holiday.

History-
According to the United Nations, individuals belonging to the age group ranging from 15 years to 24 years can be referred to as “youths” and they constitute around one-sixth of the world’s population. A large proportion of them lives in the developing nations and thus their population are expected to rise steeply in the upcoming years.

The initiation of the International Youth Day was done by young men and women in the year 1991 as they had gathered for the very first session of World Youth Forum organized by the United Nations in Vienna, Austria. The Forum recommended for the declaration of a special day called the International Youth Day for promotional and fund raising purposes so that it could provide support to the United Nations Youth Fund along with youth organizations.

A resolution declaring 12th of August as the International Youth Day was embraced in the year 1998 at the time of World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth. The recommendation was approved later in the year 1999 by United Nations General Assembly. This day was observed for the very first time in the year 2000.

Significance-
The International Youth Day focuses on protecting the basic rights of the young individuals. It ensures that the youths have complete access to proper education, job opportunities, proper healthcare and complete participation in public events.

It makes people understand that in today’s world it is extremely important for every nation to fulfill the basic needs of young people as the future of that nation would lie in their hands. The youths are the source of energy, innovation, foresight and creativity and thus UN states that the member nations must use all possible means to harness and foster the youth power. It is an effort to make the youths actively participate and bring about positive changes in the social front.

Celebration-
Various events and activities are conducted all over the world on this particular day in order to promote the various benefits received by different communities due to the positive contributions made by the youths. This event puts forward a global platform on which many countries from all over the world participate actively.

The events may include conferences on present day issues like unemployment and education and various other activities like sport events, concerts promoting youths of the world, exhibitions showcasing achievements made by the youths and parades. Various workshops and cultural events are also held on this day and meetings, which involve youth organizations and local and national government officials, are also conducted on this particular day.

The Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival is one of the most significant and famous festival celebrated in Myanmar, earlier known as Burma.

This is an annual festival that continues for eighteen days at a stretch and is held at the Inle Lake. People from all over the world along with the locals gather in front of the lake to witness the grandeur of this festival.

The Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda is the most esteemed monastery in that region. The monastery has five images of Buddha which are fully covered in leaf of gold and cannot be seen by the visitors.

Murals depicting Buddhist folklores and stories are done on the walls of this temple and right in the centre of the building lays a golden stupa which has a decorative hti on the top of it.

Occurrence-

It is an eighteen days festival and is held every year on the Inle Lake. This festival is celebrated usually between the months of September and October which falls during the month of Thadingyut, which is the seventh Burmese month. The date of Phaung Daw Oo Festival depends upon the Burmese lunar calendar and it is the most significant festival in Shan state. This annual eighteen day festival begins on the first day on which the waxing of the moon starts and ends three days after the full moon appears in the month of Thadingyut. As the festival dates are determined from the Lunar calendar, its corresponding dates on the Georgian calendar might differ every year.

The festival-

The Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival is a procession of boats in which the four ancient Buddha images out of the five are moved from their shrine which is located in Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda and put on Royal Karaweik barge, which is a type of a flat-bottomed long boat. This barge is pulled by other long boats which have about a hundred leg rowers who are dressed in exotic costumes.

The Royal Karaweik barge stops at all the fourteen villages which surround the Inle Lake and the four Buddha images are kept at the main monastery of each village for a night as a part of the ritual. Each of the village welcomes the images and celebrates its one night stop with pomp. The mesmerizing sight of the images being rowed around on the shimmering barge pulled by boats manned by rowers dressed in colorful clothes against the backdrop of the Lake is absolutely stunning.

Till the middle of 1960’s all the five ancient images of Lord Buddha were carried around in the boat procession on the Inle Lake. However, in the year of 1965, the boat overturned and all the five images fell into the water. The onlookers dived into the lake to recover the images but could find only four of them. They kept on searching for the fifth one but it was nowhere to be found. With heavy hearts they returned back to the Pagoda only to find the lost Buddha image magically placed on the shrine.

From that incident, only the four images of Lord Buddha are carried around on the barge during this festival while the fifth one remains at the Pagoda. Long boat races are one of the main highlights of this festival. The rowers’ row with an oar attached to one of their legs while standing upright. Martial arts and special Shan dances takes place on the ceremonial boats to entertain the onlookers.

The Mexican Independence Day is an official holiday in Mexico which commemorates the day on which Cry of Dolores or Grito de Dolores was uttered for the first time from Dolores Hidalgo, which is a small town in Mexico, on the 16^th of September in 1810.

This event marked the starting of Mexican War of Independence against the Spaniards. The word “Grito” was the declaration of Mexican War of Independence by a Roman Catholic priest, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. Since the year 1825, this day has been celebrated as the Mexican Independence Day.

History-

Several Criollos people and Hidalgo were a part of the planned revolt against the colonial government of Spain during which a few plotters of the revolt were killed.

Afraid the he would be arrested by the government, Hidalgo ordered his brother, Mauricio, along with Mariano Abasolo and Ignacio Allende to accompany several other armed men. They were given the responsibility of making the sheriff release all the inmates who supported independence on the wee hours of 16^th September.

They had set around eighty of the inmates free. On 16^th September in the year 1810, Hidalgo commanded all the church bells to be rung to gather his followers at 2:30 a.m. With Juan Aldama and Ignacio Allende by his sides, Hidalgo addressed his followers with a speech and urged them to start a revolt against the colonial government.

The first major step towards revolt, the Siege of Guanajuato, took place exactly four days after Hidalgo’s address to his fellowmen. On 28^th September 1821, that is a decade after the War of Independence, Mexico’s independence was declared from its colonial ruler, Spain, in Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire. Insurgents like Vicente Guerrero along with the former royal officer, Augustin de Iturbide, were the ones who achieved independence of Mexico but Hidalgo is considered to be the father of Mexico.

Celebration-

From the latter half of the 20^th century, Hidalgo’s cry of Dolores has become symbolic of the Mexican Independence Day. Every year at 11:00 p.m. in the evening, the President of Mexico rings bell at the National Palace situated in the Mexico City after which it is customary for him to repeat Grito Mexicano, which is a shout of patriotism, based on the Grito de Dolores.

It consists of the names of all the patriotic heroes who were responsible for achievement of Mexico’s independence. He ends the speech by shouting out the words “Viva Mexico” three times to the crowd gathered in Zocalo or the Plaza de la Constitucion, one of the biggest plazas in the world, from the balcony of the National Palace.

After the threefold cheer, the President rings the bell of the Palace again and waves the national flag while the public gathered to witness the event cheers and applauses. This is followed by the mass singing and playing the tune of the Mexican national anthem. It is played by the military band of the Mexican Armed Forces. About half a million of people, including the Mexicans and visitors from all over the world, gather to witness and be a part of this event on this special day.

On the next day morning, which is the Independence Day, the national parade done by the military men in the honor of this day begins in Zocalo and its neighborhood region. This military parade goes by the Hidalgo Memorial, El Angel Memorial and several other places on its way before coming to a halt at the main boulevard of Mexico City, Paseo de la Reforma. A similar type of celebration and observance takes place in towns and cities of Mexico and even in the Mexican Consulates and Embassies that are located throughout the world on 15^th as well as 16^th of September.

The mayor of the towns and cities rings a bell and addresses the people gathered by giving a traditional speech which includes taking the names of all the patriots and heroes who brought about independence in Mexico. The speech again ends by shouting out “Viva Mexico” three times after which he rings the bell again and waves the National flag towards the public.

After this the mass gathered hums the tune of the national anthem in the honor of that day. In state capitals these are carried out by the Governors and for oversees celebrations it is done by the Consuls or the Ambassadors. This day is also celebrated in schools, colleges and other working institutions throughout the country. It was a tradition to re-enact the Grito at the Dolores Hidalgo and not at the National Palace by the Mexican President in the last year in his office back in the 19^th century.

Even though President Calderon was officiated at Grito in Dolores Hidalgo, he was the first one to launch the bicentennial celebrations in 2010 on the balcony of the National Palace on the night of 15^th September. Due to this, the commemoration of 2012 was held at the balcony of National Palace instead of the Grito. Thus he became the third President to break the tradition. The September 16^th or the following day is the day on which Mexico attained independence and is a patriotic holiday which is called Fiesta Patria.

Parades, beating of drums and bugles, patriotic programs, competition of marching bands and various other events which are even broadcasted by the media take place on Independence Day. The public celebrates this special day by going to parties and feasts, by playing music and also by bursting firecrackers. It is a day of celebration for the Mexicans and they are seen to be in jovial mood. Decorations mainly using the colors of the Mexican flag, red, white and green, are done in towns and cities of Mexico. Horns and whistles are blown and people throw confetti in the crowd to celebrate this festive occasion. The phrases like Viva Mexico are often heard being shouted amidst the mass gathered on this day.