March 1^st  is

Black Women in Jazz & the Arts Day

Peanut Butter Lover’s Day

World Compliment Day

Horse Protection Day

National Pig Day *

Zero Discrimination Day *
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MORE! Romulus, Dinah Shore and Elton John, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Christianity – Ash Wednesday – beginning of Lent; the ashes are a symbol of repentance, as Job repented “in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6)

Bosnia & Herzegovina – Independence Day

Marshall Islands – Nuclear Victims Memorial

Micronesia – Yap Day (Yapese Cultural Celebration)

Pakistan – Islamabad: ECO Summit 2017
(10-member Economic Cooperation Organization)

South Korea – Samil Day (Sam II) *

Spain – Balearic Islands:
Día de las Islas Baleares

Switzerland – Republic Day

Tonga – Queen Mother Memorial Day

Wales – St. David’s Day
(Patron Saint of Wales)
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On This Day in HISTORY

752 BC – Romulus, legendary King of Rome, is said to have celebrated the first Roman triumph after defeating neighboring Caenina, which had marched into Roman territory after Romulus proclaimed a festival of Neptune Equester, invited all the neighboring states to attend, and then during the festival the Romans grabbed ‘the virgins’ (were they wearing signs?) among the visitors, and drove the rest out of the city: The Rape of the Sabine women. The Rape (used here in the sense of abduction) was staged because Rome was very short of women, and negotiations for brides with the Sabines, the Caeninenses, the Crustumini, and Antemnates had failed. The historian Livy makes the unlikely claim that no direct sexual assault took place, but that Romulus offered the women free choice and promised them civic and property rights; if such promises were made, they don’t seem to have been kept (in the early days of Rome, a girl of 15-18 went directly from her father’s control to her husband’s, while the groom chosen for her was likely in his mid-to-late 20s; even though technically she could not be forced to marry, the repercussions of not consenting were too daunting for most young women to resist) Legend has it that when the Sabines marched on Rome, the captured Sabine women, now Roman brides, threw themselves between the warring armies, begging their fathers, brothers and husbands to make peace, so the Sabines merged with the Romans

293 – Emperor Diocletian and Maximian appoint Constantius Chlorus and Galerius  as Caesars: the Tetrarchy, Quattuor Principes Mundi (“Four Rulers of the World”)

1445 – (traditional) Sandro Botticelli, Italian Renaissance painter

1457 – The Unitas Fratrum is established in the village of Kunvald, on the Bohemian-Moravian borderland, the second oldest Protestant denomination

1498 – Vasco de Gama lands at what is now Mozambique on his way to India

1562 – Huguenots are massacred in Wassy, starting the First French War of Religion

1565 – The city of Rio de Janeiro is founded

1628 – Writs issued in February by Charles I of England mandate that every county in England (not just seaport towns) pay a ship tax by March 1

1692 – Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba are brought before local magistrates in Salem Village MA, beginning the Salem witch trials

1781 – Javiera Carrera born, Chilean activist in the War of Independence, credited with sewing the first national flag, called the “Mother of Chile”

1871 – The American Continental Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation.

1790 – Congress authorizes the first U.S. census

1803 – Ohio becomes the 17th U.S. state

1810 – Frédéric Chopin born, Poland’s greatest composer, child prodigy

1845 – U.S. President Tyler signs Congress’ resolution to annex the Republic of Texas

1862 – Prussia formally recognizes the Kingdom of Italy

1867 – Nebraska becomes the 37th U.S. state

1869 – Postage stamps with scenes are issued for the first time

1872 – U.S. Congress authorizes creation of Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first national park

1873 – E. Remington & Sons begin manufacturing the first practical typewriter

1880 – Lytton Strachey born, English biographer and critic

1900 – Giorgos Seferis born, Greek poet and diplomat

1904 – Glenn Miller born, American bandleader

1907 – In Odessa, Russia, there are only about 15,000 Jews after forced evacuations

1907 – In Spain, a royal decree abolishes civil marriages

1907 – In New York, the Salvation Army opens an anti-suicide bureau

1912 – Captain Albert Berry makes the first parachute jump from a moving airplane

1917 – Robert Lowell born, American poet

1917– Dinah Shore, singer and TV host

1919 – Samil Day* in South Korea, anniversary of the Samil Movement demonstrations across Korea rallying for independence from Japan, which had imposed annexation on the country in 1910; a proclamation of Korea’s independence is read by movement leaders, who then turn themselves into the Japanese police; days of continuing protests and marches follow, which are mostly non-violent by the Koreans, but are met with deadly force and thousands of arrests by the Japanese; the opposition falters, but muted opposition continues under a new Japanese governor who rolls back some restrictions, and allows limited Korean representation; the Korean Communist Party is founded in 1920, and splits off  from the Samil movement, eventually leading to dividing the country into North and South Korea

1992 – Yitzhak Rabin born, the Israeli prime minister, worked for peace with Palestinian and Arab neighbors

1927 – Harry Belafonte born, American pop music star and civil rights activist 

1928 – Paul Whiteman and his orchestra record “Ol’ Man River”

1937 – U.S. Steel raises workers’ wages to $5 a day

1937 – Connecticut issues the first permanent automobile license plates

1939 – Leo Brouwer born, Cuban composer-conductor and classical guitarist

1940 – The novel Native Son by Richard Wright is published

1941 – FM Radio begins in Nashville, TN, when station W47NV goes on the air

1941 – Duffy’s Tavern debuts on CBS Radio

1947 – The International Monetary Fund begins operations

1950 – Klaus Fuchs is convicted of giving U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union

1954 – U.S. announces it set off a hydrogen bomb test on the Pacific’s Bikini Atoll

1956 – Jan Van der Roost born, Belgian composer

1957 – The Everly Brothers  record “Bye Bye Love”

1957 – Chuck Berry released his hit single “School Days”

1961 – President John F. Kennedy issues an executive order creating the Peace Corps, enlisting volunteers as advisers, teachers and health workers in developing countries

1966 – The Soviet probe, Venera 3, crashed on Venus, the first unmanned spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet

1966 – Ghana orders all Soviet, East German and Chinese technicians to leave

1968 – Elton John’s first single, “I’ve Been Loving You,” is released in England

1970 – U.S. commercial whale hunting ends

1972 – National Pig Day * is started by sisters Ellen Stanley and Mary Lynne Rave , to celebrate all things porcine

1973 – Pink Floyd releases “Dark Side of the Moon”

1973 – The Robert Joffrey Dance Company opens the Deuce Coupe Ballet, with music by The Beach Boys

1974 – Seven people, including White House aides John D. Ehrlichman and  H.R. Haldeman, and former Attorney General John Mitchell,  are indicted for conspiring to obstruct justice after the Watergate break-in

1988 – Soviet troops are sent to Azerbaijan after riots between Armenians and Azerbaijanis

1989 – In Washington DC, Mayor Barry and the City council impose a curfew on minors

1991 – The movie The Doors premieres, starring Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison

1992 – Bosnian Muslims and Croats voted to secede from Yugoslavia.

1993 – The U.S. government announces the number of food stamp recipients reached a record number of 26.6 million

1994 – Israel releases about 500 Arab prisoners in an effort to placate Palestinians after the Hebron massacre

1995 – The European Parliament rejects legislation that would allow biotechnology companies to patent new life forms

1995 – Yahoo! is incorporated

2002 – Allied forces begin Operation Anaconda in eastern Afghanistan against Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters

2003 – In the U.S., approximately 180,000 personnel from 22 different organizations around the government became part of the Department of Homeland Security. This completed the largest government reorganization since the beginning of the Cold War

2003 – Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is captured by CIA and Pakistani agents near Islamabad; He is the suspected mastermind behind the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.

2005 –Supreme Court narrowly outlaws the death penalty for juvenile criminals

2014 – Zero Discrimination Day * is launched by UNAIDS to end discrimination in healthcare, education and employment
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Visuals

• Zero Discrimination Day logo
• International flags
• The Rape of the Sabine Women by Pietro da Cortona
• Primavera by Sandro Botticelli
• Lytton Strachey, writer quote
• Giorgos Seferis, influence quote
• “Children of Light” by Robert Lowell
• Richard Wright, dream quote

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