Celebrating Cultures across the University of Birmingham
Navratri (meaning ‘nine nights’) is a Hindu festival celebrated every autumn. It is usually held at harvest time. Lasting for nine days, Navaratri celebrates good triumphing over evil. During the festival, three goddesses are worshipped: Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. The first three nights are dedicated to Durga (the mother goddess representing power), the next three … Continue reading “Navratri (26/9-5/10)”
21 August marks the centenary of the birth of Aubrey Beardsley whose highly distinctive work in black and white made him one of the best known Art Nouveau artists. Aubrey Beardsley shocked and delighted late-Victorian London with his sinuous black and white drawings inspired by Japanese woodcuts. He explored the erotic and the elegant, the … Continue reading “150th anniversary of the birth of Aubrey Beardsley”
Krishna Janmashtami also called Gokulashtami is an annual Hindu festival celebrating the birth of Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Vishnu. Devotees keep fast on the day of Krishna Janmashtami and offer prayer to the deity for good health and happiness. Hindus believe that on this day, Lord Vishnu, the preserver or sustainer of life, was incarnated … Continue reading “Krishna Janmashtami (18-19 August)”
Raksha Bandhan (or Rakhi) is a Hindu festival, taking place on the full moon in the month of Sravana, which celebrates brotherhood and love. The word Raksha means protection, whilst Bandhan is the verb to tie. On this day, sisters tie rakhi (a bracelet made of interwoven red and gold threads) on the wrists of their brothers to protect … Continue reading “Raksha Bandhan 11 August”
2 August marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Alexander Graham Bell. With the perfect surname for someone who invented the first practical telephone, as well as the refinement of the phonograph, Alexander Graham Bell was a Scottish-born American inventor, scientist, and teacher of the deaf. His mother was almost deaf, and his father … Continue reading “Alexander Graham Bell”
Black Country Day 14 July – this day was chosen as it is considered to be the date of the inception of the Newcomen engine, the first commercially successful engine. Invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, it was first installed at Coneygree Coal Works in Tipton and was used to pump water out of mines. A replica … Continue reading “Black Country Day 14 July”
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”
