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Two high school art students draw forms using 3D models
Primary students paint on white paper
Five students jump for joy in the playground

This week's Holidays and Holy Days around the World

Special this week, we share a Housewarming in a South Asian Style

Our new Diploma Program Environmental Systems and Societies teacher (who also teaches two sections of 10th grade Chemistry), Ms. Parvathy Balaji, just moved into a new house and held a house warming based upon Hindu beliefs and traditions.
 
She describes the ceremony:

Here’s the exotic ritual with the cow where we are thankful for all the milk it provides - for sustenance and nourishment. This tradition has its roots from agriculture being a source for economic progress in India. Owning a cow and a piece of land was symbolic of prosperity and auspiciousness. So the cow enters the house first and makes a tour before the family steps in. We would have rituals for nature, earth, fire, planets and then we begin staying in the new home with a feast with near and dear ones.
 
You can rent a cow for this purpose, and the house is prepared in advance so that the cow does not damage the floors in its passage.
 
The last image shows a rangoli pattern that is hand drawn in rice flour for festivals.

 Housewarming with cow, feast, and rangoli pattern

World Humanitarian Day

August 19 is World Humanitarian Day.  According to the United Nations website, “On World Humanitarian Day (WHD) August 19, the world commemorates humanitarian workers killed and injured in the course of their work, and we honour all aid and health workers who continue, despite the odds, to provide life-saving support and protection to people most in need.  This year [2021] the theme is “#TheHumanRace: a global challenge for climate action in solidarity with people who need it the most.”  See here for more information on this year’s theme.

World Senior Citizens’ Day

August 21 is World Senior Citizens Day.  This day was first proclaimed as National Senior Citizens’ Day by Ronald Reagan in 1988, and proclaimed as World Senior Citizens’ Day by the UN General Assembly in 1990.  As Ronald Reagan stated in his proclamation: "For all that, they have achieved throughout their lives and for all that they continue to do, we owe our gratitude and sincere greetings to our senior citizens. We can show our gratitude and appreciation better by making sure our communities are good places. Age and maturity, places where older people can participate as much as possible and find the encouragement, acceptance, support and services they need to continue living a life of independence and dignity.”

Raksha Bandhan

Raksha Bandhan is a Hindu festival celebrating the relationship between brothers and sisters.  Also known as Rakhi Purnima or simply Rakhi, it is held every August.  This year (2021), Rakhi is observed on August 21.

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition

August 23 is the anniversary of the slave uprising in Haiti in 1791 which led to the first country in America (after the United States) to become independent of its colonial ruler. International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition memorializes the tragedy of the transatlantic slave trade, coinciding with the anniversary of the uprising in Santo Domingo (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic) that initiated its abolition.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Social Council (UNESCO) has chosen this date to remember the impact of the slave trade and celebrate its abolition.

Women’s Equality Day

August 26 is Women’s Equality Day, celebrating the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, expanding to right to vote to women.  Several states and territories had already extended suffrage to women (Wyoming was the first, in 1869), but when the U.S. Secretary of State, Bainbridge Colby, certified the ratification of the 19th Amendment on August 26, 1920, this became official throughout the United States.

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