01 Dec: Central African Republic National Day, Chad Day of Liberty and Democracy, Portugal Restoration of Independence Day, Incwala Ceremony, Mavlana Whirling Dervishes Festival, Turkey
2 Dec: UAE National Day
Hot Air Balloon Festival Karnataka: For this we were able to buy one of those Chinese lanterns for £1 in our local cheap-stuff shop, but there are a lot of good websites on how to make your own if you’re feeling experimental.
Laos National Day: Laos began as the Kingdom of a Million Elephants – Lan Xang, what a great name – in the 14th century, when the prince Fa Ngum took over the Vientane (now the capital) with some Khmer (Cambodian) warriors. In 1548, King Setthathirat had the That Luang built, a gold-covered Buddhist stupa and is now the national symbol of Laos. The site had been a temple site since the 3rd century to house the breast bone of Buddha. In the 1760s, Burma and Siam annexed bits of Laos so it was divided into three. In the late 19th century, France protected Laos from a Chinese army of bandits, the Black Flag Army, and in return Laos became part of French Indochina. France rebuilt That Luang from a French explorer’s detailed drawings, as it had been destroyed by an earlier Thai invasion. In World War II the Japanese popped in for an occupation, but the French booted them back out. From 1953 Laos was independent, but almost immediately America offered to fund the Royalist army against the Laos Communist movement, Pathet Lao. Obviously this sparked a civil war, which ended in the Communists winning. Laos was also bombed and invaded by US and US-supported South Vietnamese when North Vietnam invaded and occupied it during the Vietnam War. In 1964-73, the US dropped some 250 million bombs on Laos trying to get North Vietnam out of it, with 80 million bombs not exploding and leaving Laos a minefield (well done there America). This is more bombs than were dropped on the whole world during World War II, so well done there as well America. From 1975 Laos became a socialist republic, controlled by Vietnam and supported by Russia. A lasting problem of the Vietnam War, aside from all the unexploded bombs, is Laos’s treatment of the Hmong people, who fought on behalf of the Royalists (i.e., against the Communists) and therefore the Laos socialist government felt they should all be hunted out and killed, just in case. The Hmongs mainly fled to Thailand, but when America and the UN persuaded Laos to take them back . The Hmongs said, no thanks. So then the US said they’d take 15,000 (they feel a bit responsible for them seeing as they were kind of fighting on the American side). So that only left something like 185,000 in Thailand, either hiding in monasteries or held in deportation centres. George Bush then amazingly stopped any more Hmongs from moving to America because they had been involved in armed conflict (even though they’d been fighting for the Americans – have I mentioned that?). Thailand continues to force the Hmongs back to Laos, where they claim they are attacked by the army. Not really a happy ending yet.
3 Dec: Ghana Farmers Day: On this day the best farmers in Ghana win amazing prizes (like a three-bedroomed house) to help promote and support farming in the country. Make a farm! You’ll need different enclosures; a cow for milking; a sheep for wool and a sheepdog to round them up; pigs for meat; chickens for eggs; maybe some hives for honey; and a farmer and farmer’s wife of course. There’s a cute one here made of recycling waste.
Saba National Day: Saba is mainly a volcano, owned by the Netherlands since 1816. It used to be a good place to hide if you were a Jamaican pirate – so play pirates. Or build a volcano out of baking soda or diet coke and mentos. Or make a fish mobile (maybe cut out fish like these), stick a straw in your mouth for a snorkel, and go scuba diving.
4 Dec: Tupou I Day (Tonga); Bona Dea rites (Ancient Rome)
Calendale: In Provence, Christmas celebrations run from 4 December (St Barbara’s Day) to 2 February (Candlemas)! On St Barbara’s Day, it’s traditional in many countries to plant wheat seeds in wet cotton wool. If they grow well by Christmas Day, the next year will be a good harvest; if they’ve rotted, the next year will be a bad wet year for the harvest. On this day Provence people also put up their Christmas tree and their nativity sets, which contain every kind of person you can think of.
Eid il-Burbara: In countries such as Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Palestine, St Barbara’s Day is called Eid il-Burbara and is a lot like Hallow’en. Children dress up and people give them sweet foods, like Burbura or Lebanese St Barbara cookies.
Thai Environment Day: What do your kids know about environmentally friendly behaviour, both in their own lives and on a global scale?
5 Dec: Haiti and Dominican Republic Discovery Day; California gold rush 1848 – try a gold panning game at home;
Thailand National Day: Thailand used to be called Siam. From the 1st to the 13th centuries it was part of the Khmer Empire (Cambodia). The first Thai kingdom was the Sukhothai kingdom from 1238; this was overtaken by the Ayutthaya kingdom, which became the most wealthy city in the East because it was so welcoming to foreign traders, especially the French merchants from Louis XIV. In 1765 a Burmese army popped in to destroy everything, like the libraries and art treasures and historical archives, so that’s a shame. After that King Rama I the Great established the Thai capital at Bangkok and rebuilt the economy by turning almost a third of his own people into slaves. In the 19th century Thailand managed to resist France and Britain, although Britain took its peninsula which is now part of Malaysia. During World War II Japan invaded to get to the Malay frontier, so Thailand let them through after Japan promised to help them get their land back from Britain and France. Thailand then declared war on the US and the UK (brave) but kept up a resistance movement against Japan. Japan made about 240,000 Asian labourers and Allied prisoners of war build a bridge from Thailand to Burma, during which 115,000 of them died from atrocious working conditions, so it is now called the Death Railway. After the war and during the Cold War, Thailand was on America’s side.
Thailand’s national religion is Buddhism, and their date is 543 years ahead of ours because they count from Buddha’s era rather than Jesus’. In Wat Panang Choen is the world’s biggest solid gold statue, a 19-metre high Buddha. Try making a 2D Buddha out of gold leaf or tinfoil. Popular sports in Thailand include Muay Thai boxing and Takraw. Try some Thai food.
St Nicholas Eve: make Stutenkerls and put your shoes out for St Nicholas (but watch out for Krampus).
6 Dec: St Nicholas Day; 2006 water found on Mars; Johann Christian Bach born 1642; Finland’s Independence Day
Spain Constitution Day: Spain was originally populated by Iberians, Basques and Celts; from 210 B.C. it became part of the Roman Empire. But when the Germanic Vandals and Suevi along with Iranian Alans (imagine a whole tribe of Alans! Terrifying.) were driven into Spain by the (also Germanic) Visigoths, the western Roman empire began to disintegrate. [V]Andalusia is named after the Vandals. In the 8th century Muslim North African Moorish conquered most of Spain. Their capital, Cordoba, was the wealthiest and most advanced city in Western Europe. The Reconquiesta was the Christian conquering of Muslim Iberia. During this time a kingdom called the Crown of Aragon flourished, ruling from the east of Spain across to Italy, and later joined with the Crown of Castile and then pushed the Muslim rulers out. Everyone was going to get along, honest, until the Spanish Inquisition told the Jews to convert to Catholicism or be expelled – then the Muslims too.
In 1492 Christopher Columbus found the New World on Spain’s behalf and Spain emerged as the first world power, leading Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries and owning bits of everywhere, like Belgium, France, Germany, Africa, the Americas, Italy, the Netherlands, etc. But the Spanish Hapsburg rulers of this empire, Charles I and Philip II, imposed harsh Roman Catholic rules on their lands and the Protestant Reformation against this caused revolts and wars and dragged the empire down. In particular it lost its bits of France, the Netherlands and Portugal. The Thirty Years’ War, which involved most of Europe ostensibly fighting over who should be Catholic and who should be Protestant, ruined Spain further. In the end, the civil war called the War of Spanish Secession put a French king on the throne, the Bourbon Philip V, uniting the remaining bits of Spain into a single state. It was no longer the top power in Europe.
After France overthrew its monarchy, Spain declared war on them… and lost. Napoleon persuaded Spain to join him in a declaration of war against Portugal and Britain. Then he took his army ‘through’ Spain to ‘invade’ Portugal…and conquered Spain on the way. Embarrasing. Spain started a war of independence against France and with Britain’s help and also with Napoleon greedily over-stretching himself with a war against Russia, France was booted out of Spain. Spain was left poor and unstable, so most of the Spanish Americas took the opportunity to declare their independence from Spain. In the 20th century Spain managed to colonise some bits of Africa – the Western Sahara, Morocco, Equitorial Guinea, but lost its monarchy and became a republic, which allowed the separate regions of Spain to have autonomy.
The Spanish Civil War (1936-9) was won by the facist Nazi-supporting side under Franco. Russia, America and Mexico had tried to help but Britain officially wasn’t bothered. Thanks to Franco likewise not being bothered about Britain or Nazis, Spain managed to keep out of World War II and so later wasn’t allowed in the UN, but gained American support as Franco was anti-Communist.
For some reason, even though Spain was a republic, Franco had passed a law that let him choose his successor who would also be king. But King Juan Carlos I (who is still king today) very kindly allowed a democratic parliament to run the country with him.
Altamira cave paintings; Santiago Compostela; Spanish Inquisition; School of Salamanca; Spanish Miracle; Don Quixote; Gaudi; Dali; Picasso; flamenco; Spanish guitar; paella; gazpacho; arroz negro (made with squid ink!); Castilian soup (ham and garlic); bull fighting; La Tomatina (a tomato fight involving like 9o,000 people); tapas; siestas; Spanish Tortilla; Guggenheim Museum; El Carnaval de Cádiz; Las Fallas; La Feria de Abril in Seville; Las Fiestas de San Fermín in Pamplona; La Feria de Malaga; La Virgen del Carmen, patroness of fishermen, with celebrations in all coastal towns on July 16th; saffron; mazapan; turron.
7 Dec: Armenian Earthquake Memorial Day, so learn about earthquakes; Marshall Islands Gospel Day; Gallileo orbits Jupiter 1995 – so learn about Jupiter.
Bernini born 1598: Bernini’s Baroque marble sculptures are incredible. Can you make ‘marble’ sculptures out of soap?
Dia de las Velitas: From sunset in Colombia it’s the Day of the Little Candles – when people cover everything in candles and lanterns.
La Quema del Diablo: At 6 p.m. people in Guatemala set fire to papier mache devils to symbolise a cleaning out of sins in readiness for the Virgin Mary’s immaculate conception.
08 Dec: Immaculate Conception?, Falklands Battle Day, Lady of Camarin Day, Panama Mothers’ Day
09 Dec: National Heroes Day (Antigua), Hannukah, Tanzania Independence and Republic Day
10 Dec: Human Rights Day, Sweden Nobel Day
11 Dec: Burkina Faso Proclamation of the Republic, Kiribati Human Rights Day
12 Dec: Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Turkmenistan Neutrality Day
13 Dec: Malta Republic Day, St Lucia National Day (and Sweden)
15 Dec: Bonaire Kingdom Day
16 Dec: Bahrain National Day, Victory Day (Bijoy Dibosh) (Bangladesh), Kazakhstan Independence Day, S. Africa Day of Reconciliation; Las Posadas;
17 Dec: Bhutan National Day; first performance of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony 1865; Beethoven born 1770; first day of Saturnalia.
Anniversary of the first powered flight by the Wright brothers 1903 (and Wright Brothers Day in the US)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5o-fhBKf8Y; an aeroplane snack; make paper aeroplanes; turn a cardboard box into an aeroplane or recycle a milk bottle; make aeroplane magnet/picture holders; try a straw plane.
18 Dec: Niger Republic Day, Qatar National Day
20 Dec: Macau Special Administrative Region Establishment Day
21 Dec: Winter Solstice (the shortest day of the year); Mayflower lands in Plymouth, Massachusetts – Forefathers Day; Ziemassvētki (Latvia); HMS Challenger expedition sets off from Portsmouth, discovering many new things about the ocean; São Tomé Day; start of Pancha Ganapati, a 5-day festival in honour of Ganesh.
Yule:Make a Yule log and some virgin mulled wine.
22 Dec: Dongzhi Festival
23 Dec: Japan Birthday of the Emperor; The Night Before Christmas is published (1823); Night of the Radishes;
24 Dec: Christmas Island discovered by Captain Cook (1777); the first performance of ‘Silent Night’ – in German (1888)’ King John of England born (1216); Italians have a Feast of the Seven Fishes; Nochebuena / Navidad (Spain)
25 Dec: Christmas (Le Gros Souper) around the world; Isaac Newton’s birthday (1642) – discovered gravity (other weird gravity experiments here, the three laws of motion (or do this terrifying demonstration of the first law), divided the visible spectrum into the seven-colour rainbow; developed a reflecting telescope, studied the speed of sound
26 Dec: St Stephen’s Day, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa (African Americans), the Second Day of Christmas, Australia Proclamation Day, S. Africa Day of Goodwill
27 Dec: Johannes Kepler born (1571); Louis Pasteur (1822), the Third Day of Christmas
N. Korea Constitution Day: Up to the beginning of the 20th century, Korea always tried to stay out of the West’s way, and so was known as the ‘Hermit Kingdom’. In 1910 Japan took Korea and ruled it by force for 35 years. After World War II, Japan surrendered to the Allies and Korea was divided between Russia and America. North Korea was, of course, the Russian side. Russia and America withdrew and tried to allow the two sides to govern themselves again – except of course the country had now been artificially divided and the North thought it should rule the South and the South thought it should rule the North. In 1950, after North Korea had repeatedly asked Russia “Can we invade yet? Can we invade yet? Can we invade yet?”, it began the Korean War with Russian and Chinese support. America, etc., supported South Korea. In 1953, after 2 million had died, an armistice was declared, but it was not until 2007 that both sides agreed that the war was officially over. In the 1990s it had a horrible famine, during which America was actually the biggest donater of foreign aid. Activities: The Mass Games.
28 Dec: The Lumiere brothers show the first cinema film in 1895 – make your own film with dolls for actors? South Australia Proclamation Day; the fourth day of Christmas.
29 Dec: Mongolian Independence Day; the fifth day of Christmas.
Ireland’s Constitution Day: Celtic or Iron-Age Ireland was from the 8th century B.C. Ptolemy, an Egyptian who wrote in Greek, called Ireland ‘Little Britain’, and England and Scotland were called ‘Great Britain’. St Patrick came over with Christianity in 431 A.D. and the druidic system collapsed. The Irish were a bunch of tribes until they established a High King of Ireland, who ruled from the Hill of Tara from the 7th century A.D. While the Dark Ages hit Europe, Irish monks and scholars continued to learn Greek and Latin and were very good at illuminating manuscripts (like the Book of Kells) and making jewellery. Then the Vikings came along pillaging and ruined everything. The Normans (who by then were also technically the English) came over in 1169 to invade but Henry II had to come round three years later to sort them out. After that Ireland successfully ignored England’s rule, which essentially extended only over the ‘Pale’, a bit of land around Dublin. However, Henry VII remembered, and reminded everyone, that he was King of Ireland and invaded. Tyrone’s Rebellion, or the Nine Years’ War, saw the Irish chieftains fight against him before fleeing to Europe. After that the English invaded more, took their land and even sent a lot into slavery in the West Indies! No wonder they hate us! England then enforced laws that didn’t allow Roman Catholics any rights at all, so only those that followed the Church of England could, e.g., inherit property or sit in Parliament, etc. In 1739-41 there was a horrible frost that ruined crops across Europe and caused a terrible famine in Ireland. From 1798 Ireland was allowed to make its own laws, but when Ireland tried to have a proper rebellion the English military squashed it and from 1801 declared Ireland was part of ‘the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland’. Catchy. In the 1840s the Great Famine was caused by a potato disease because so many Irish ate almost only potatoes. 1 million died and another 1 million emigrated. Ireland’s population is still less than it was before this famine. From then some Irish campaigned for ‘Home Rule’, where Ireland would be allowed to rule itself while remaining part of the United Kingdom. Ulster Unionists (who wanted to repeal the Act of Union that made Ireland part of the United Kingdom) were against this because they were Protestant and thought Home Rule would be dominated by the Catholics. England thought it had reached a compromise by allowing most of Ireland Home Rule except for Ulster, Northern Ireland. While England was busy in World War I, the Easter Rising was another rebellion trying to get England to give up Ireland. England responded by executing 15 leaders and imprisoning more than 1,000 people. This did not help our popularity. We then tried to impose conscription. After that, the Sinn Fein left-wing independent party (Gaelic for ‘we ourselves’) had overwhelming support from the Irish and declared Ireland to be an independent republic. Their army, the Irish Republican Army (IRA), fought against Britain for three years in a guerilla war called the Irish War of Independence (1919-21). England then allowed Ireland independence but offered Northern Ireland the chance to opt out and remain part of the UK, which they accepted. The Irish Republic became the Irish Free State… and then dissolved into civil war for a while, mainly out of opposition to the Anglo-Irish treaty which arranged all this but still wanted Irish people to swear allegiance to the English king. For a while Ireland was doing really well but the 2008-10 global recession left it pretty miserable. Northern Ireland, of course, has been divided by Roman Catholics wanting to join the rest of Ireland in independence and Protestants wanting to stay in the UK. The Protestants vote for the Ulster Unionist Party, who did something called ‘gerrymandering’, which is where you move the boundaries of electoral districts so you get a greater majority of the votes. From 1969 the Troubles began, where both sides were very violent to each other, and Britain removed Northern Ireland’s right to Home Rule, which surely annoyed everyone even more. The old Irish Republican Army, which wanted non-violent civil demonstrations for Catholic rights and against British rule, split into a new group, the Provisional IRA, who were super-violent. However, they were reacting to a violent time, and the Protestants were just as violent. The British army also behaved appallingly, picking on the Catholics more than the equally naughty Protestants and torturing and detaining them without trial. On Bloody Sunday in 1972 the British army shot dead 26 people who were conducting a peaceful unarmed protest. In the 1980s and ’90s the IRA blew up some very big bombs in Brighton, London and Manchester. In 1998 the Good Friday Agreement ended the fighting, restored Home Rule to Northern Ireland and the British army stopped having to support Northern Ireland’s police. This was back in the good old days of Labour before Tony Blair became a war criminal.
Ireland has amazing myths, legends and landscapes. Newgrange was thought to be the abode of the Tuatha de Danaan, which were a kind of fairy (but very tall and powerful) – we now know it is an incredible work by Neolithic people before Stonehenge or the Egyptian pyramids were thought of. The Giant’s Causeway was said to be built by Finn MacCool (great name) who built a causeway to Scotland, but a giant ripped it up so that Finn could not chase him. Blarney Castle holds the Blarney Stone, which if you kiss gives you the gift of eloquence and is also said to be the Lia Fail stone upon which Irish kings were crowned.
Older children might like to have a go at colouring in some Celtic knotwork or illuminating a letter or a poem for someone’s birthday. Read a children’s version of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Try some Riverdance, Gaelic football or hurling.
30 Dec: Rizal Day (Philippines); Rudyard Kipling’s birthday (1865), author of The Jungle Book and Just So Stories; Slovakia’s Independence Declaration Day; the sixth day of Christmas.
The Philippines are named after King Philip II of Spain. No one really knows whether the first human inhabitants of the Philippines evolved around there or moved in from Southeast Asia. By the 15th century Islam had arrived from Malaysia and Indonesia. In 1521 Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan discovered and claimed the islands for Spain, who later made Manila their capital of the East Asian colonies. In 1762 Britain sneaked in and occupied the islands for a couple of years during the Seven Years’ War. From the 1870s a nationalist movement began which led to the Revolution in 1896. One of the men who organised pro-nationalist propaganda in Spain was Jose Rizal, who was executed for his rebellion. In 1898 the Spanish-American War, in which America helped Cuba gain independence from Spain, reached the Philippines and Spain sold the islands to America for $20 million. The people of the Philippines thought this meant their independence, and declared themselves a Republic. America said no. The Philippines declared war on America. Yes, America won. In World War II Japan invaded and set up their own government and were as cruel as ever, leaving 1 million Philippinos dead when the Allies ousted them at the end of the war. In 1946 the Philippines finally gained independence. There were still a few Communist insurgents from the rebel army that had fought against Japan and now felt forgotten, but the main problem turned out to be the president himself, Ferdinand Marcos, who, when he realised his two terms were coming to an end, declared martial law so he could stay in power. His rival, Benigno Aquino, came back from exile in America to sort things out and was shot dead coming off the plane. Following some rigged elections against Aquino’s widow, Corazon, the Filipinos got a bit angry and Marcos fled to Hawaii, leaving Corazon in power. The Philippines is the second-largest producer of geothermal energy as it harnessed the power of its volcanoes, and it experiences around 20 small earthquakes a day. There are 175 languages spoken on the islands!
Activities: Try and describe what native Philippine animals might look like just going on their names: tamaraw of Mindoro, the Visayan spotted deer, the Philippine mouse deer, the Visayan warty pig, the Philippine flying lemur, the palm civet cat and the Phillipine tarsier. Then use Google images to see if you were close. Try some Original Pilipino Music.
31 Dec: Day of Azeri Solidarity; 1759 Guinness started brewing Guinness; in 1853 Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins hosts a dinner party inside a life-size model of an Iguanadon he’d made with Sir Richard Owen; in 1879 Thomas Eddison displays the first incandescent lightbulb; 1960 the farthing (1/4 penny) ceases to be legal tender in Britain; 1869 Henry Matisse born.
New Year’s Eve: Most Spanish-speaking countries celebrate by eating a grape with each of the twelve chimes of a clock’s bell during the midnight countdown, while making a wish with each one. Mexican families decorate homes and parties in colors that represent wishes for the upcoming year: red encourages an overall improvement of lifestyle and love, yellow encourages blessings of improved employment conditions, green for improved financial circumstances, and white for improved health. Mexican sweet bread is baked with a coin or charm hidden in the dough. When the bread is served, the recipient of the slice with the coin or charm is said to be blpessed with good luck in the New Year. Another tradition is to make a list of all the bad or unhappy events over the past 12 months; before midnight, this list is thrown into a fire, symbolizing the removal of negative energy from the new year.
In Austria, instead of singing Auld Lang Syne at midnight, they dance to Strauss’s Blue Danube. In Belgium children write beautifully decorated ‘New Year’s Day’ letters that they read out to their families wishing them health and happiness in the coming year and promising not to be as naughty as they were last year. Danish bake a Kransekrage. Finland and Germany melt lead and drop it into cold water to tell fortunes from the shapes. They eat a tiny marzipan pig for good luck. In Russia New Year’s Eve is very much like Christmas because the Communists banned Christmas (I know, right?). They remember the best bits of the last year and in the last 12 seconds make secret wishes for the next year. Spanish and Italians wear red underwear for good luck. Welsh give each other bread and cheese. In Brazil New Year’s Eve marks the start of the summer holidays! In Ecuador men dress as women (not kidding). In Guatemala adults exchange gifts as the Christ Child only brings presents to children on Christmas day. In Japan people prepare their homes for the toshigami, the god of the new year, with Kadomatsu (a plantpot arrangement of bamboo and pine) and Shimenawa (rice-stalk ropes to cordon off sacred areas). Pakistanis often accidentally shoot each other as they like to fire their guns into the air to express joy. Filipinos wear polka-dot clothes and serve circular fruits to attract money, and throw coins in the air at midnight.
Activities: Make New Year’s Eve cupcakes (add real sparklers for extra excitement; we tried melted white choc mixed with food colouring as I don’t know what candy coating is; you could also try arranging snipped-up strawberry/bubblegum laces in firework patterns) or make a calendar together out of last year’s photos. Older kids would probably love molybdomancy (divination with molten lead or pewter) because it’s so bloody dangerous, so that’s up to you.