Sunday, March 8, 2009

JUST A FABULOUS CELEBRATION . . .



Felice Festa della Donna a voi!!!



I received a chat on FB this morning from one of Meagan's friends in Italy who I met during my trip last year (yes, blogs and pics forthcoming one day *sigh*). Deejay is Italian and his chat was sent to wish me "Buon 8 marzo a voi" which translates to "Good 8 March to you." So very sweet that he remembered meeting me but "Good 8 March to you?"

Pardon my "duh-ness." Um. Yea. I had to go to my trusty-dusty Wikipedia.

It is International Women's Day today or, in Italy, The Festival of Women! This day is celebrated throughout the world . . . though not in the U.S. I find this interesting considering that several historical U.S. events projected this festival from a medieval tradition to a contemporary observance. Guess we have Valentine's Day, which is really commemorating a massacre -- what? And Mother's Day. I'm a mom. It's a tough job. We deserve to be honored for it. However, in the U.S., it seems, that is certainly enough woman celebrating. Is it time for kick-off yet?

There are relatively few sites (go figure) I found regarding this event. Modern festivals are held across many European countries and it is recognized worldwide as a day. The ancient festivals were dedicated to women and the new season/year -- spring -- and occurred around the end of February, beginning of March. The celebration's modern theme found its place on March 8 due to several historical events, primarily the New York textile factory fire of 1911 that killed 146 garment workers (most of whom were female Italian and Jewish immigrants). These women were locked in their building (with fabrics and GAS lamps) each day by management to assure their labors were completed. This event, resulting in the deaths of so many, prompted the formation of the first female union in the United States and was a catalyst in organized work place safety reform. The "Festival of Women" morphed into "International Women's Day" during this era.

Just another factoid: The Mimosa flower figures prominently in this celebration from it's ancient roots (HA! A pun!). It is the flower most often given to women on this day by the men in their lives. I think an Americanized version would certainly include the Mimosa!

Read more about the "Festival of Women" and "International Women's Day" here, here and here.



Soooooo . . .

. . . next year I will invite my fabulous and beautiful bosom (HA! Another pun!) buddies over for a celebration on March 8 to honor ourselves as women, complete with Mimosa's and Mimosa's!


Screw Valentine's Day!!!

1 comment:

  1. Very interesting! I didn't know that today was International Women's day.

    SWEET!

    ReplyDelete