Lima Foundation Week Peru - J a n 1 8
The city of Lima, the capital of Peru, was founded by Francisco Pizarro on 18 January 1535 and given the name City of the Kings. Nevertheless, with time its original name persisted, which may come from one of two sources: Either the Aymara language lima-limaq(meaning "yellow flower"), or the Spanish pronunciation of the Quechuan word rimaq (meaning "talker", and actually written and pronounced limaq in the nearby Quechua I languages). It is worth noting that the same Quechuan word is also the source of the name given to the river that feeds the city, the Rimac river (pronounced as in the politically dominant Quechua II languages, with an "r" instead of an "l"). Early maps of Peru show the two names displayed jointly. In 1988, UNESCO declared the historic center of Lima a World Heritage Site for its originality and high concentration of historic monuments constructed in the time of Spanish presence.
Epiphany- 19 Jan Ethiopia, Georgia
In the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the feast is known as Timkat and is celebrated on the day that the Gregorian calendar calls January 19, but on January 20 in years when Enkutatash in the Ethiopian calendar falls on Gregorian September 12 (i.e. when the following February in the Gregorian calendar will have 29 days). The celebration of this feast features blessing of water and solemn processions with the sacred Tabot.
Army Day Laos - J a n 2 0
This celebrates the founding of the Lao People's Army in 1949 by Kaysone Phomvihane in the former revolutionary stronghold of Huaphan province.
Day of the Martyrs Azerbaijan - J a n 2 0
January 20 in Azerbaijan commemorates Black January in 1990, when Soviet troops entered the city of Baku and killed more than 180 civilians. It is celebrated as the rebirth of the Republic of Azerbaijan. It is also a remembrance of the victims of the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1988. This day in Azerbaijan is also known as Qara Yanvar (Day of National Mourning), Day of Shehids, or Remembrance Day.
History Black January was a retaliation of the Soviet Army in the city of
Baku against demands of independence from Armenians. A seven day pogrom—a riot against a particular race, religion or nationality—started in Baku, Azerbaijan on January 13, 1990. Up to 66 Armenians were killed by beating or knife wound in focused individual attacks. Most of them were part of the Azerbaijani Popular Front that demanded independence from the Soviet Union. Their houses were set on fire, and the local Soviet authorities did nothing to stop the attacking forces. Late at night, on January 19, over 26,000 Soviet troops entered Baku with the objective of crushing the Popular Front. They attacked protesters and shot at the crowds for three days. In the end, 93 Azerbaijanis and 29 Russian soldiers were killed. On January 22, the population of Baku came to the streets to bury the dead, and for 40 days they did not work in a protest of mourning. Citizens also remember the events of the Nagorno-Karabakh War, an armed conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994 in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. The parliament of Nagorno-Karabakh wanted to unite with Azerbaijan, and the majority of Armenians was in favor of independence. Inter-ethnic fighting ensued for years as both sides tried to eliminate each other from Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding mountains. Even today, the situation isn’t completely settled since the cease fire in 1994. Inflammatory accusations from both sides seem to still be triggering small conflicts in the zone.
Celebrations
On Martyrs Day in the Azerbaijan Republic the entire government, from the president and prime minister to members of the cabinet and leaders of the parliament, are joined by church officials to gather at the Azerbaijani Genocide Memorial in Baku. In a solemn procession they place flower wreaths at the memorial to commemorate those who died in 1990 during Black January. All over the world in Azerbaijani embassies and private communities, the events of Black January and the NagornoKarabakh War are recognized. Azerbaijanis regard this day as a day to rekindle their patriotism and celebrate their national history and identity as the country struggles to gain peace and economic stability.
National Heroes Day - Jan 20 Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde Islands
Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral (12 September 1924 – 20 January 1973) was a Guinea-Bissauan and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, writer, and a nationalist thinker and politician. Also known by his nom de guerre Abel Djassi, Cabral led the nationalist movement of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde Islands and the ensuing war of independence in Guinea-Bissau. He was assassinated on 20 January 1973, about 8 months before Guinea-Bissau's unilateral declaration of independence. While he was influenced by Marxism, he was not a Marxist.
Early years
He was born on September 12, 1924 in Bafatá, Guinea-Bissau, son of Cape Verdean father, Juvenal Lopes da Costa Cabral and Bissau-Guinean mother Iva Pinhel Évora. Cabral was educated at Liceu (Secondary School) Gil Eanes in the town of Mindelo, Cape Verde, and later at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia, in Lisbon (the capital of Portugal, which was then the colonial power ruling overGuinea-Bissau and Cape Verde). While an Agronomy student in Lisbon, he founded student movements dedicated to opposing the ruling dictatorship of Portugal and promoting the cause of liberation of the Portuguese colonies in Africa. He returned to Africa in the 1950s, and was instrumental in promoting the independence causes of the then Portuguese colonies. He was the founder (in 1956) of the PAIGC or Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde (Portuguese for African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde) and one of the founders of Movimento Popular Libertação de Angola (MPLA) (later in the same year), together with Agostinho Neto, whom he met in Portugal, and other Angolan nationalists.
War for independence From 1963 to his assassination in 1973, Cabral led the PAIGC's
guerrilla movement (in Portuguese Guinea) against the Portuguese regime, which evolved into one of the most successful wars of independence in African history. The goal of the conflict was to attain independence for both Portuguese Guinea and Cape Verde. Over the course of the conflict, as the movement captured territory from the Portuguese, Cabral became the de facto leader of a large portion of what became Guinea-Bissau. In preparation for the liberation war, Cabral set up training camps in neighboring Ghana with the permission of Kwame Nkrumah. Cabral trained his lieutenants through various techniques, including mock conversations to provide them with effective communication skills that would aid their efforts to mobilize Guinean tribal chiefs to support the PAIGC. Amílcar Cabral soon realized that the war effort could be sustained only if his troops could be fed and taught to live off the land alongside the larger populace. Being an agronomist, he taught his troops to teach local crop growers better farming techniques, so that they could increase productivity and be able to feed their own family and tribe, as well as the soldiers enlisted in the PAIGC's military wing. When not fighting, PAIGC soldiers would till and plow the fields alongside the local population. Cabral and the PAIGC also set up a trade-and-barter bazaar system that moved around the country and made staple goods available to the countryside at prices lower than that of colonial store owners. During the war, Cabral also set up a roving hospital and triage station to give medical care to wounded PAIGC's soldiers and quality-of-life care to the larger populace, relying on medical supplies garnered from the USSR and Sweden. The bazaars and triage stations were at first stationary until they came under frequent attack from Portuguese regime forces. In 1972, Cabral began to form a People's Assembly in preparation for the birth of an independent African nation, but disgruntled former PAIGC rival Inocêncio Kani, with the help of Portuguese agents operating within the PAIGC, shot and killed him before he could complete his project. The Portuguese regime's plan, which eventually went awry, was to enjoin the help of this former rival to arrest Amílcar Cabral and place him under the custody of Portuguese authorities. The assassination took place on 20 January 1973 inConakry, Guinea. His half-brother, Luís Cabral, became the leader of the GuineaBissau branch of the party and would eventually become President of Guinea-Bissau. More than a guerrilla leader, Cabral was highly regarded internationally as one of the most prominent African thinkers of the 20th century and for his intellectual contributions aimed at formulating a coherent cultural, philosophical and historical theoretical framework to justify and explain independence movements. This is reflected in his various writings and public interventions.
Tributes
...one of the most lucid and brilliant leaders in Africa, Comrade Amílcar Cabral, who instilled in us tremendous confidence in the future and the success of his struggle for liberation. ” — Fidel Castro, 1966 Tricontinental Conference in Havana, Cuba Cabral is considered a "revolutionary theoretician as significant as Frantz Fanon and Che Guevara", whose influence reverberated far beyond the African continent. Amílcar Cabral International Airport, Cape Verde's principal international airport at Sal, is named in his honor. There is also a football competition, the Amílcar Cabral Cup, in zone 2, named as a tribute to him. In addition, the only privately owned university in Guinea-Bissau is named after him— Amílcar Cabral University—and is in Bissau. Jorge Peixinho composed an elegyto Cabral in 1973.
Inauguration Day U.S. - J a n 2 0
The inauguration of the president of the United States takes place during the commencement of a new term of a president of the United States, which is every four years on January 20. Prior to the Twentieth Amendment, the date was March 4, the day of the year on which the Constitution of the United States first took effect in 1789; the last inauguration to take place on the older date was Franklin D. Roosevelt's first one on March 4, 1933. The day a presidential inauguration occurs is known as "Inauguration Day". The only inauguration element mandated by the United States Constitution is that the president make an oath or affirmation before that person can "enter on the Execution" of the office of the presidency. However, over the years, various traditions have arisen that have expanded the inauguration from a simple oath-taking ceremony to a day-long event, including parades, speeches, and balls. From the presidency of Andrew Jackson through that of Jimmy Carter, the primary Inauguration Day ceremony took place on the Capitol's East Portico. Since the 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan, the ceremony has been held at the Capitol's West Front. The inaugurations of William Howard Taft in 1909 and Reagan in 1985 were moved indoors at the Capitol due to cold weather. The War of 1812 and World War II caused two inaugurations to be held at other locations in Washington, D.C. Since Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth swore in President John Adams, no chief justice has missed an Inauguration Day. When Inauguration Day has fallen on a Sunday, the chief justice has administered the oath to the president either on inauguration day itself or on the Sunday privately and the following Monday publicly. The next scheduled public presidential inauguration ceremony, swearing-in Barack Obama to begin his second four-year term in office, will take place on Monday, January 21, 2013. The President will make a private oath of office on Sunday, January 20.
Errol Barrow Day Barbados - J a n 2 1
Errol Barrow Day is a Barbadian public holiday celebrated on 21 January, to commemorate the former Prime Minister of Barbados, who helped lead his country to independence from the United Kingdom. The date is the second public holiday of the calendar year and is the date of birth for the former leader. Errol Barrow died suddenly in 1987, and in 1989 his birthday was declared as the first public holiday to honour him. On that date, his portrait was placed on the new Barbadian $50 dollar note and the middle section of the Airport-West Coast Highway was officially named after him. Subsequently, he was further declared as one of Barbados' original National Heroes in 1998.
Feast of our Lady of Altagracia Dominican Republic - J a n 2 1
Día de la Altagracia, or Altagracia Day, is a day commemorating "Our Lady of Altagracia", patronal image (there is debate on this) and protector of the people of theDominican Republic. It is a feast day and annual public holiday on January 21. "Our Lady of Altagracia" is a portrait of the Virgin Mary painted in the 16th century. The portrait is kept in The Basilica of Our Lady of Altagracia in the city of Salvaleón in Higuey. The festival was originally held on August 15, but was moved to January 21 to celebrate victory over the French in 1690.
Economic Liberation Day Togo - J a n 2 4
On 24 January 1974, a Togo Air Force Douglas C-47 Skytrain carrying several notable political figures crashed at an isolated location near the village of Sarakawa in northern Togo. Gnassingbé Eyadéma, the President of Togo, was on board the aircraft, which was flying from Lomé to his native village, Pya. As the C-47 descended for landing, it crashed near Sarakawa.[1] Eyadéma survived, but his French pilot and three other passengers died. Eyadéma claimed the aircraft had been sabotaged after he had reneged on an agreement with a French company over the use of a phosphate mine. Eyadéma attributed his survival to mystical powers and declared 24 January to be "Economic Liberation Day." Eyadéma even changed his first name from Étienne to Gnassingbé to remember the date of the day he survived the crash. Following the incident, a monument was established by the Togolese government near the crash site. The monument features a statue of Eyadéma standing tall on top of a plinth, flanked by images of his generals who died in the crash. Eyadéma was not the sole survivor of the crash, but he deliberately misrepresented the details of the accident to make himself look like a hero with superhuman strength who miraculously survived the disaster when everyone else was killed. Eyadéma claimed that the crash was not an accident and was in fact a conspiracy to kill him, plotted by French imperialists who did not like his plan (announced on 10 January 1974) to nationalize the important phosphate mining company, the Compagnie Togolaise des Mines du Bénin (CTMB or Cotomib). His C-47 was replaced by a new presidential jet, a Gulfstream II, which was itself damaged beyond repair in a fatal accident in the same year. Eyadéma was not on board the jet at the time.