Day 8 March holiday history. International Women's Day - the history and traditions of the holiday. Holiday of Ukraine - Land Surveyor's Day
At the beginning of spring, on March 8, a wonderful spring holiday International Women's Day or World Women's Day. On this day, the holiday of Ukraine is also celebrated - the Day of the Land Surveyor.
International holiday - Women's Day
This holiday is celebrated by all women, during this holiday the achievements of women in the economic, political and social fields are remembered.
In our time, the celebration of Women's Day does not aim to establish equality, this day is simply considered a wonderful day of spring and female beauty, spiritual wisdom and tenderness.
Women's Day on March 8 is celebrated by the entire United Nations, and in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Armenia, this day is also national holiday.
The leader of the women's group from the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Clara Zetkin, in 1910, at the 2nd International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, put forward the idea of celebrating International Women's Day.
Clara Zetkin suggested that in order to fight for women's rights, Women's Day should be celebrated in every country on the same day every year.
The official holiday "International Women's Day" became in 1975 by decision of the UN.
Today, International Women's Day is primarily a holiday of spring and attention to women. On this day, representatives of the strong half of humanity delight their relatives and beloved women with gifts and care.
Holiday of Ukraine - Land Surveyor's Day
Land Surveyor's Day or Land Surveyor's Day is Ukrainian professional holiday, which has been celebrated annually since 2000 every second Saturday in March. The time for celebrating this day was established by the Decree of the President of Ukraine on December 11, 1999 "On the Day of the Land Surveyor". This year, the Land Surveyor's Day celebration fell on March 8th. The land management of Ukraine ensures the protection of land resources, creates a favorable ecological environment and forms a rational system of land use.
Unusual holidays
Spring Wings Day
Today is an unusual holiday - the Day of the Wings of Spring. On the wings of a warm wind, spring comes to us.
How to celebrate this holiday? Yes, very simple.
Spring has come, just enjoy the first warmth and clear sun. Can you on festive table On March 8, prepare a spring dish - larks or "wings of spring".
Larks Ingredients:
500 g flour, 1/2 cup milk, 1 sachet (7 g) dry yeast (or 40 g yeast), 80 g butter, 2 yolks, 1 egg, 2 tbsp. sugar, salt, beaten egg with a teaspoon of sugar (for greasing pastries), a handful of raisins for decoration
Cooking method:
Prepare the dough, add softened butter, stiff, egg and remaining flour to the dough, knead the dough, let the dough rise in a warm place for an hour, then knead the dough with your hands and let it stand for another half an hour or an hour.
Divide the finished dough into 10 equal balls, roll each ball into a bundle 15 cm long and tie each bundle with a knot, give one end the shape of a bird's head, sculpting a beak with your fingers, flatten the other end of the bundle and seat the "bird" of the lark on a baking sheet. Let the dough sit for another 25-30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Brush the surface of the pastry with beaten egg. Bake the larks until golden color 15-20 minutes.
Holiday according to the folk calendar
Polikarpov day
On this day, the people honored the memory of St. Polycarp, who was a disciple of the Apostle John and who later became the Bishop of Smyrna. Polycarp was often called "the leader of Asia in Christianity".
On March 8, on Polikarpov Day, unmarried girls in Rus' tidied up their dresses and were sad, because if the girl did not have time to get married before Shrovetide, then they were already waiting for the end of spring. There was such a saying among the people: "Clean up, girl, chests, close the outfits."
The girls, of course, did not waste time in vain anyway, and after this holiday they tried to attract suitors. To do this, they used different rituals.
On Polikarpov’s day, the girls waited until the young month rose in the sky, and then, when they saw him, they spun on the heel of their right foot and said: “Young month, wind around me suitors, as I wind around you.” Unnoticed by everyone, the girls threw rubbish from the street into the house, while saying: “I drive into my hut not thieves, but good fellows. Come to me suitors from other people's yards.
They said about the magpies on Polycarp: “The magpie in the forest began to nest”, “It's time for the magpies to get out into the forest, and the black grouse to sing.”
Name day March 8 Alexander, Alexei, Ivan, Clement, Kuzma, Mikhail, Moses, Nicholas, Polycarp, Sergei, Fedor.
March 7th in history
1965 - International Women's Day March 8 became a non-working day.
1968 - The Soviet diesel submarine K-129 sank in the Pacific Ocean during a combat patrol. According to various sources, from 98 to 105 sailors died.
1969 - Egypt broke the truce with Israel.
1975 - The Soviet submarine PL-574 with nuclear missiles sank in the Pacific Ocean.
1976 - The largest known stone meteorite weighing 1774 kg fell into China.
1982 - P. Todorovsky's film "Beloved Woman of the Mechanic Gavrilov" with L. Gurchenko in the title role was released.
1983 - Reagan at the national convention of evangelicals called the Soviet Union the center of evil in modern world, a genuine "evil empire", claiming that peace can only be achieved through force.
1984 - P.L. died. Kapitsa, Soviet physicist, academician, twice Hero of Socialist Labor.
1988 - The Ovechkin family from Irkutsk hijacks a plane and tries to escape from the USSR, the storming of the plane leads to casualties.
1992 - Sergey Vladimirovich Obraztsov (b. 1901), Russian Soviet director, actor, writer, artist, head of the Central Puppet Theater died.
Without which holiday is it difficult to imagine the beginning of spring? Of course, without March 8. The history of the creation of the holiday on March 8 has already been forgotten by many of us. Over time, it lost its social and political significance. Now this day simply symbolizes respect, love and tenderness, which, undoubtedly, all the fair sex on the planet deserve: mothers, grandmothers, daughters, wives and sisters.
The origin of the holiday on March 8 is not known to everyone. Most of us only know about the official version. However, there is more than one story of the creation of the holiday on March 8. And each of them has a right to exist. In which of these versions to believe, everyone decides for himself.
Official version
According to the official version of the USSR, the origin of the March 8 holiday is associated with a protest march organized by textile factory workers. Women came out to protest against harsh working conditions and low wages.
It is noteworthy that the newspapers of those years did not publish a single article about such strikes. Later, historians managed to find out that in 1857, March 8 fell on a Sunday. It may seem strange that women went on strike on the day off.
There is another story. On March 8, Clara Zetkin spoke at a women's forum in Copenhagen calling for the establishment of a German communist meant that on March 8, women would be able to organize marches and rallies, thereby drawing public attention to their own problems. The date was set up for a strike by those same textile workers, which in reality never happened.
In the USSR, this holiday appeared thanks to the friend of Clara Zetkin, the fiery revolutionary Alexandra Kollontai. So in 1921 in our country, Women's Day for the first time became official holiday.
Legend of the Jewish Queen
The opinions of historians about the origin of Clara Zetkin are divided. No one can say for sure whether she was Jewish. Some sources say that Clara was born into a Jewish family. Others claim that her father was German.
Clara Zetkin's desire to associate the holiday with the date of March 8 ambiguously indicates that she still had Jewish roots, since March 8 is celebrated on the ancient Jewish holiday - Purim.
What other versions of the creation of the holiday on March 8 are there? The history of the holiday may be connected with the history of the Jewish people. According to legend, Queen Esther, who was the beloved of King Xerxes, saved the Jews from extermination with the help of her charms. The Persian king intended to kill all the Jews, but the beautiful Esther was able to convince him not to kill the Jewish people, but, on the contrary, to exterminate all enemies, including the Persians.
Praising the queen, the Jews began to celebrate Purim. The date of the celebration has always been different and fell on the end of February - the beginning of March. However, in 1910, this day fell on March 8th.
Women of the ancient profession
According to the third version, the origin of the March 8 holiday is scandalous and unpleasant for women who are looking forward to this day.
According to some reports, in 1857, the women of New York did organize a protest, but they were not textile workers, but representatives ancient profession who demanded to pay wages sailors who used their services, since the latter could not pay for them.
March 8, 1894 female lung behavior again held a demonstration, but in Paris. They demanded recognition of their rights on an equal basis with other workers who are engaged in sewing clothes and baking bread, and also asked to organize trade unions for them. The following year, rallies were held in Chicago and New York.
It is noteworthy that Clara Zetkin herself participated in such actions. For example, in 1910, she and her friend took prostitutes to the streets of Germany with a demand to stop the excesses of the police. In the Soviet version, public women had to be replaced by "workers".
Why was it necessary to implement March 8?
The history of International Women's Day in Russia has a political character. March 8 is essentially an ordinary political campaign carried out by the Social Democrats. At the beginning of the 20th century, they actively protested to attract public attention. To do this, they took to the streets with posters promoting socialist appeals. This was to the advantage of the leaders of the Social Democratic Party, since progressive women were in solidarity with the party.
This is probably why Stalin ordered the recognition of March 8 as Women's Day. Because it was impossible to link the date with historical events, we had to slightly correct the story. If the leader said - it was necessary to carry out.
Women from Venus
The traditions associated with the International are no less interesting than the origin of the March 8 holiday. For example, on this day it is customary to wear purple ribbons.
And this is not surprising, because this color represents Venus, who is considered the patroness of all women. That is why all the famous ladies (politicians, teachers, medical workers, journalists, actresses and athletes) put on ribbons purple when they take part in the events on March 8. As a rule, they take part in political rallies, women's conferences or theater performances, fairs and even fashion shows.
The meaning of the holiday
There is no city where March 8 is not celebrated. For many, the history of the origin of the holiday embodies the indomitable spirit of women fighting for equality and their own. For others, this holiday has long lost its political overtones and has become an excellent occasion to express love and respect for the fair sex.
On the day, words of congratulations on March 8 are heard everywhere. In any organization, company or educational institution, employees are honored, they are given flowers and gifts. Along with this, official events are held in the cities on the day of March 8. In Moscow, the Kremlin annually hosts a festive concert.
How is March 8 celebrated in Russia?
On the day of March 8, all women forget about household chores. All housework (cleaning, cooking, laundry) is postponed. Often, men take on all the worries in order to once a year feel the full complexity of the daily tasks that our women cope with. On this day, every representative of the fair sex should hear words of congratulations on March 8.
This holiday does not cease to be the most long-awaited for all women. On March 8, it is customary to congratulate not only close people, but also colleagues, neighbors, shop employees, doctors and teachers.
Do not skimp on kind words on this wonderful day. After all, without women, life on Earth would have ceased to exist!
Ecology of knowledge: The official version says that the tradition of celebrating March 8 is associated with the “march of empty pans”, which was supposedly held on this day in 1857 by textile workers in New York. They protested against unacceptable working conditions and low wages.
Who took to the streets of New York - textile workers or prostitutes?
Version one, official: "Working Women's Solidarity Day"
The official version says that the tradition of celebrating March 8 is associated with the “march of empty pots”, allegedly held on this day in 1857 by New York textile workers. They protested against unacceptable working conditions and low wages.
It is interesting that in the then press there was not a single note about such a strike. And historians have found out that March 8, 1857 was Sunday. It is very strange to go on strike on the weekend.
In 1910, at a women's forum in Copenhagen, the German communist Clara Zetkin called on the world to establish an "international women's day on March 8". She meant that on this day women would organize rallies and processions, and thus "draw public attention to their problems."
Initially, the holiday was called "international day of solidarity of women in the struggle for their rights." The date of March 8 was summed up under the very strike of textile workers, which in fact never happened. More precisely, it was, but it was not the textile workers who were on strike at that time. But more on that later.
This "holiday" was actively promoted by Zetkin's accomplice, the fiery revolutionary Alexandra Kolontai. The one that conquered the Soviet Union with the “great phrase”: “You need to surrender to the first man you meet as easily as drinking a glass of water.” March 8 became an official holiday in Russia in 1921.
Version two, Jewish: praise of the Jewish queen
Historians still "argue" whether Clara Zetkin was Jewish. Some sources claim that she was born in the family of a Jewish shoemaker, while others - a German teacher. However, Zetkin's desire to connect March 8, with the Jewish holiday of Purim, ambiguously hints at the fact that it was.
So, the second version says that Zetkin wanted to connect the history of Women's Day with the history of the Jewish people. According to legend, the beloved of the Persian king Xerxes, Esther, saved the Jewish people from extermination, using her charms.
Xerxes wanted to exterminate all the Jews, but Esther convinced him not only not to kill the Jews, but, on the contrary, to destroy all enemies of the Jews, including the Persians themselves. It happened on the 13th day of Arda according to the Jewish calendar (this month falls at the end of February - the beginning of March). Praising Esther, the Jews began to celebrate Purim (the day of the massacre of the Persians). The date of the "celebration" was sliding, but in 1910 it fell on March 8th.
Version three, about prostitutes
The third version of the origin of the holiday is perhaps the most scandalous for everyone who is looking forward to the "International Women's Day" with trepidation.
In 1857, in New York, women did protest, but they were not textile workers, but prostitutes. Women of the oldest profession demanded to pay salaries to sailors who used their services, but did not have money to pay prostitutes.
On March 8, 1894, prostitutes again demonstrated in Paris. This time they demanded recognition of their rights on an equal footing with those who sew clothes or bake bread, and the establishment of special trade unions.
This was repeated in 1895 in Chicago, and in 1896 in New York - shortly before the memorable convention of suffragettes in 1910, where it was decided to declare this day "women's" and "international", as suggested by Zetkin.
Clara Zetkin herself carried out similar actions. All in the same 1910, together with her accomplice Rosa Luxembourg, she brought prostitutes to the streets of German cities demanding "to stop police excesses." But in the Soviet version, prostitutes were replaced with "working women." published
Today it seems to us that this bright holiday, saturated with the first spring sun and warmth, has always existed. And if representatives of the older generation still remember the meaning of the name "International Women's Day", and some have not forgotten the name of the one who came up with March 8, then young people know almost nothing about him. School history lessons of the beginning of the 20th century are remembered, perhaps, by a few. Meanwhile, the history of the origin of the women's holiday is far from being as romantic as we would like. But there is a very specific name behind it, and, in fact, the foundation of this day is the story of the life of one woman, the one who invented the March 8 holiday 100 years ago.
Clara Zetkin - revolutionary and just a womanOn March 8, 1857, a demonstration was held in New York by women workers of textile and shoe factories, who demanded a reduction in the working day (at that time 16 hours) and better working conditions. And half a century later women's holiday timed to this event. The date is clear, but who came up with the holiday on March 8, you ask. So, the year 1857 is also significant because it was then that the daughter Clara was born in the family of a modest rural teacher from Saxony named Eisman.
It is not known how the fate of a smart and respectable girl would have developed if, as a student of a pedagogical educational institution, she had not met the emigrant socialists and had not been carried away by their ideas. Among the participants in the youth circle was her future husband, the Russian Jew Osip Zetkin, who fled to Germany from the persecution of the tsarist authorities. Clara Zetkin joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany, became one of the activists of its left wing. Having shocked her relatives and friends a lot, the girl left her family forever for ideological reasons, for which she received the nickname "wild Clara".
In 1882, the one who later came up with March 8 was forced, following Osip, to emigrate to Paris, where she became the common-law wife of a revolutionary (they never officially got married). In marriage, they had two sons, Maxim and Kostya, and in 1889 Clara's beloved husband died of tuberculosis. In order to somehow survive, a woman writes articles, translates, teaches and even earns money as a laundress. She is active in politics, becoming one of the founders of the Second International. Known as a theorist of the socialist movement in Europe, Clara Zetkin also became famous as a fighter for the rights of women, who sought to provide them with universal suffrage and soften labor laws.
Soon the opportunity arose to return to his native Germany. Here she not only continued her difficult struggle, but also became close to Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, who became her close friend, but also married the artist Georg Friedrich Zundel, who was 18 years younger than Clara. Years later, a rather unusual union of a revolutionary and a talented painter will fall apart due to different attitude to the First World War, and the difference in age will play its fatal role. For Clara Zetkin, this will be a serious blow.
Already a middle-aged, but still energetic lady, she is now organizing the Communist Party of Germany. Since 1920, she has been the oldest member of the Reichstag, the head of the International Organization for Relief of Revolutionaries, and one of the leaders of the Comintern. With the coming to power of the Nazi Party of Germany, in 1932, Clara Zetkin emigrated to the USSR, where she soon died at the age of 75.
The history and name of the holiday on March 8
As for the March 8 holiday itself, here it is necessary to mention the International Conference of Socialist Women, which was held on August 27, 1910 in 
Copenhagen. It is significant that Clara Zetkin made a proposal to establish an international day for the struggle for women's rights. The idea was supported, and starting from next year, in many European countries in the spring there were annual events dedicated to the upholding of political, economic and social freedoms by women, as well as the struggle for peace. True, the date of March 8 was fixed only in 1914.
In the UN calendar of memorable dates, the name of the holiday on March 8 sounds like “Day for Women's Rights and International Peace”, and it is not a holiday at all. In all states that still celebrate it, this event is of an exclusively political nature. The status of a holiday and a day off on March 8 was received only in the Soviet Union and already in 1965, turning into a day of honoring all the fair sex. Gradually, it finally lost its ideological connotation, the one who invented the holiday on March 8 was also forgotten, and in most post-Soviet countries it is still celebrated today as a day of spring, beauty and femininity.