Celebrating Cultures across the University of Birmingham
Bastille Day celebrates the storming of the Bastille – a military fortress and prison – on July 14, 1789, in a violent uprising that was a turning point in the French Revolution. Holding gunpowder and other supplies valuable to revolutionaries, the Bastille also symbolized the callous tyranny of the French monarchy, especially King Louis XVI … Continue reading “Le quatorze juillet”
Asalha Puja falls on the sixth lunar month (typically July), and commemorates Buddha’s first sermon after enlightenment which took place in the Deer Park in Benares (Varanasi), India. The festival offers a chance for Buddhists to reflect on the sermon’s four noble truths: there is suffering, suffering is caused by attachment, there is a plane … Continue reading “Asalha Puja (13 July)”
World Chocolate Day is an annual global celebration of chocolate, taking place on 7 July, which is thought to be the anniversary of the introduction of chocolate to Europe in 1550. (Personally, every day is World Chocolate Day for me. We used to regularly use the machine below as children, pestering our Mum and Dad … Continue reading “World Chocolate Day (7 July)”
Known as ‘День Конституції’, this holiday is celebrated to mark Ukraine’s adoption of a new constitution in 1996. After gaining independence in 1991, following the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the Constitution of Independent Ukraine was adopted on 28 June 1996. The adoption of the constitution established a legal foundation of independent Ukraine and … Continue reading “Ukraine Constitution Day 28 June”
This year marks the 5th national Windrush Day and 74 years since more than 500 Commonwealth citizens from the Caribbean, upon the request of the British Government, arrived at Tilbury Docks, Essex, to help rebuild Britain after World War II. An estimated half a million people made their way to England. Since the SS Empire Windrush … Continue reading “Windrush Day 22 June”
Shavuot is one of the Jewish harvest festivals, also known as the festival or feast of ‘Weeks’. It takes place seven weeks (fifty days) after the first day of the spring festival of Passover and this year starts on the evening of 4 June, ending on the evening on 6 June. Originally an agricultural festival, … Continue reading “Shavu’ot”
Festa della Repubblica is celebrated on 2 June each year and marks the referendum of 1946, which resulted in the creation of the Italian republic. Italy became a nation on 17 March 1861, when most of the states of the region were united under King Victor Emmanuel II, hitherto king of Sardinia. On 2 June … Continue reading “Festa della Repubblica”
The Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II is being celebrated on Saturday 4 June to mark the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne on 6 February 1952 (my Dad was one of the policemen on the Mall that day, Ed.). It is the first time that any British monarch has celebrated a platinum jubilee. The four-day … Continue reading “Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee”
Today (24/5/22) marks 50 years since the opening of the iconic Spaghetti Junction (Gravelly Hill interchange). It covers 30 acres (12 ha), serves 18 routes and includes 4 km (2.5 mi) of slip roads, but only 1 km (0.6 mi) of the M6 itself. Across five different levels, it has 559 concrete columns, reaching up to 24.4 m (80 ft). The engineers had … Continue reading “Spaghetti Junction at 50”
22 May marks the 50th anniversary of the death of English actress of stage, television and film, Dame Margaret Rutherford (1892-1972). For many she is the archetypal Miss Marple (she played the role in four films loosely based on Agatha Christie’s writings) but was also known for comedy roles. She played Miss Prism in John … Continue reading “Margaret Rutherford 50th anniversary”
