Occasional Digest

Iran had been an absolute monarchy ruled by the Pahlavi dynasty since 1925. In the 1960s, a series of reforms intended to modernise Iran had failed to improve the economic conditions. Large-scale rioting took place following the arrest of the cleric, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who had made a speech attacking the Shah. Khomeini was sent into exile in November 1964.

In 1978, resistance against the rule of the Shah intensified, with marches, demonstration, and strikes paralysing the country. Recognising that he had lost control and suffering from ill-health, the Shah left Iran on January 16th 1979.

On February 1st 1979, Khomeini made a triumphal return to Iran and led the campaign to overthrow the remnants of the Shah’s rule.

Ten days later, the Pahlavi royal regime was defeated when Iran’s military declared itself “neutral” after rebel troops overwhelmed those still loyal to the Shah.

Two months later, the new government held a referendum on establishing the Islamic Republic based on a new constitution replacing the Persian monarchy that had ruled for 2,500 years. This event is marked by another public holiday, Islamic Republic Day.

Khomeini served as Supreme Leader of Iran from 1979 to his death in June 1989.

The 10-day period from the return of Imam Khomeini until the revolution’s victory is celebrated annually in Iran and is known as the Ten-Day Fajr (Dawn).

Paul was being transported to Rome as a prisoner on a ship that had sailed from Adramyttium in modern-day Turkey. On the journey, the ship had been damaged by storms and was driven aground in Malta.

Paul was made welcome by the islanders. When making a fire, Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake and the locals were astonished that he suffered no ill-effects.

Paul then healed the father of an island official, after which many islanders would come to Paul to receive healing.

While under guard as a Roman prisoner, Paul stayed on Malta for three months, leaving for Rome on a ship that had sheltered in Malta over the winter.

Paul is the patron saint of Malta…. and snakebite victims.

The day is a time for family gatherings and observed by religious ceremonies and processions, particularly at the Church of St. Paul Shipwrecked in Valletta.

The Royal Hobart Regatta is a series of aquatic competitions and displays held annually in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia and is Tasmania’s oldest sporting event.

The event runs for three days, ending on the second Monday in February, and dominates the whole river for the duration of the event.

The Monday is a public holiday in southern and eastern Tasmania. The areas are South of and including Oatlands and Swansea excluding Bronte Park, Catagunya, Strathgordon, Tarraleah, Wayatinah & West Coast.

On December 1st 1838, the first Hobart Town Anniversary Regatta was held in Hobart, Tasmania to celebrate the Tasmanian Anniversary of the 17th-century European discovery of the island by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who made the first reported European sighting of the island on November 24th 1642.

This holiday commemorates the death of France Prešeren (1800 – 1849), a Slovene poet who is regarded as the greatest Slovene classical author. The day also serves as a time to reflect on all Slovene cultural achievements.

Prešeren was noted for his sonnets and his poem Zdravljica (A Toast) was adopted as Slovenia’s national anthem.

During World war II, Slovene artists had been repressed and were forbidden from expressing themselves while Slovenia was occupied. This led to the anniversary of Prešeren’s death becoming a focal point for remembering Slovenian culture. After the end of the war, the day was first proclaimed as a cultural holiday in 1945.

It was a public holiday during the era of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia within the SFR Yugoslavia but was declared a work-free holiday only in 1991, the year the country declared independence.

Before the Europeans arrived in the Americas, Grenada was home to the Indigenous peoples. Christopher Columbus sighted it during his third voyage to the Americas in 1498.

Grenada had been occupied by various European nations since the start colonization of the new world in the sixteenth century. In 1649, France took full control of the island becoming one of the wealthiest colonies due to its sugar production.

Following French defeat in the Seven Years’ war, the Paris of Treaty ceded Grenada to Great Britain in 1763. Having overcome a brief rebellion by pro-French forces, Grenada remained a British colony for over two hundred years.

Movements toward independence had begun in the 1950s and in March 1967, Grenada became an Associated State and was granted full autonomy over its internal affairs.

Independence from the United Kingdom was granted on 7 February 1974. Eric Gairy became the first Prime Minister of Grenada.

Grenada produces a third of the world’s nutmeg. The odd-looking blob on the left of the flag? That’s a nutmeg kernel.

The Treaty made New Zealand a part of the British Empire, guaranteed Māori rights to their land and gave Māori the rights of British citizens.

The treaty was signed in Waitangi, a town in the Bay of Islands, by a group of Maori chiefs and the British Government, as represented by Lieutenant-Governor Hobson.

In February 1840, it was at Te Tii marae where Ngāpuhi (the largest Māori iwi – tribe) hosted around 10,000 Māori to debate the agreement for several days. On February 6th, Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed by around 40 Māori rangatira (chiefs) and representatives of the British Crown outside British Government Representative James Busby’s house (now known as Treaty House) on the Waitangi grounds.

The treaty (‘te Tiriti’) was subsequently signed by another 500 Māori chiefs in various locations throughout the country.

The Māori are the Indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand, which they called Aotearoa (“land of the long white cloud”). They arrived from Polynesian islands sometime before 1300 AD. They are the first known inhabitants before the Europeans arrived in the early 1800s.

Burundi gained full independence from Belgium in 1962. This began a period of instability in the fledgling landlocked nation.

It moved from a constitutional monarchy to a republic and lurched into civil war and ethnic cleansing. In 1987, Major Pierre Buyoya led a military coup d’état to overthrow Col. Bagaza, who himself had come to power in a military coup.

Before returning to a democratically elected government, Buyoya instigated a Charter of National Unity. The charter was intended to abolish ethnic discrimination and give a mandate for the government to write a new constitution.

A referendum on the charter was held in Burundi in February 1991. It was approved by 89.77% of voters with a 96% turnout.

Following the referendum, work began on the drafting of a new constitution which was approved in a referendum and promulgated on March 13th 1992.

Following the referendum, President Buyoya declared February 5th as National Unity Day in an attempt to reconcile the warring ethnic groups of the Tutsi and the Hutu.

At the time, the new constitution did little to dampen the ethnic tensions in the country with the newly-elected President being assassinated in 1993 and widespread ethnic killing of Tutsis taking place a year later.

And even though there are still some ethnic tensions in the country, the public holiday endures as the attempt to introduce the Charter of National Unity is seen as an important milestone on Burundi’s journey to peaceful modernity.

Portuguese colonisation of this west African country began with coastal settlements and trading posts founded in the 16th century., though it wasn’t until the 1920s when Portugal could claim control of the whole region now known as Angola.

By the start of the 1960s, several African nations had gained independence from colonial control, such as Ghana and Angola’s neighbour, Congo. While the movement for African nationalism seemed unstoppable, one European nation instead tightened its grip on its overseas colonies – Portugal.

With the demand for Angolan nationalism increasing, tensions over the forced cultivation of cotton erupted into violence in February 1961.

In Luanda, On the morning of February 4th, black militants ambushed a police patrol-car and stormed the Civil Jail of São Paulo, the Military Detection House and police barracks, to attempt to free political prisoners that were being held in those facilities.

This marked the start of the Angolan War of Independence which would continue as part of the Portuguese Colonial War until April 1974, when a new more-liberal regime came to power in Portugal and declared a cease-fire.

Europeans first visited Mozambique during the voyages of the Portuguese explorer, Vasco Da Gama at the end of the fifteenth century. By 1530, Portugal had established a strong presence in the region effectively controlling the area.

In September 1964, growing unrest amongst many Mozambicans together with similar movements in other Portuguese territories led to the start of an armed guerrilla campaign against the Portuguese.

The anticolonial struggle was led by Eduardo Mondlane of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo).

Frelimo launched a guerrilla war against targets in northern Mozambique, claiming to have established its own administrative, educational, and economic networks in the northern districts.

On February 3rd 1969, a bomb was planted in a book sent to Mondlane at the FRELIMO Headquarters in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. When he opened the package, it exploded and killed him. Although nobody was ever charged with the killing, most historians believe that it was the work of the Portuguese government rather than political in-fighting within Frelimo.

It is estimated that up to 10,000 Mozambiquans died in the conflict that lasted almost ten years, before a ceasefire with Portugal in 1974. Mozambique gained its independence the following year.

St. Brigid is one of the three Patron Saints of Ireland, the other two are St. Columba and of course, St.Patrick.

Brigid is a Catholic and Orthodox saint. She was a pupil of St. Patrick and became famous for her kindness, mercy, and her miracles. In addition, Brigitte founded Ireland’s most famous mixed (male and female) monastery in County Kildare.

In The Life of Brigid, her biographer, Cogitosus, recorded that Brigid formed an alliance with the hermit Conleth and, together, they created a double monastery from the Early Christian tradition. She was abbess and he was bishop. Within 100 years of her death, there was a thriving, egalitarian monastery of men and women, living and practicing their spirituality equally, side by side.

Perhaps the most famous story about St. Brigid surrounds the legend of her cloak. When Brigid was refused by the King of Leinster the land to build a convent, she asked if she could have as much land as her cloak would cover. The King allowed this, but was surprised to see Brigid’s cloak grow and grow, as four of her friends took a corner each and walked pulled the cloak to cover many acres. The King then granted St. Brigid the land, and any other supplies she required, before converting to Christianity soon after.

According to another legend, Brigid gave her father’s jeweled sword to a needy man for him to barter for food.

Brigid was believed to have been buried at her monastic church in Kildare. Around the ninth century, her remains were moved to the northern town of Downpatrick in hopes of avoiding the pillages of Vikings and others. That shrine was later destroyed by English troops during the Protestant Reformation.