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Started as a political event, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries (primarily Russia and the countries of former Soviet bloc).
In some celebrations, the day lost its political flavour, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love to the women around them in a way somewhat similar to Mother’s Day and St Valentine’s Day mixed together. In others, however, the political and human rights theme as designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner.The IWD is also celebrated as the first spring holiday, as in the listed countries the first day of March is considered the first day of the spring season.

History

The first IWD was observed on 28 February 1909 in the United States following a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. Among other relevant historic events, it commemorates the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (New York, 1911), where over 140 women lost their lives. The idea of having an international women’s day was first put forward at the turn of the 20th century amid rapid world industrialization and economic expansion that led to protests over working conditions. By urban legend, women from clothing and textile factories staged one such protest on 8 March 1857 in New York City. The garment workers were protesting against very poor working conditions and low wages. The protesters were attacked and dispersed by police. These women established their first labor union in the same month two years later.

More protests followed on 8 March in subsequent years, most notably in 1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. In 1910 the first international women’s conference was held in Copenhagen (in the labour-movement building located at Jagtvej 69, which until recently housed Ungdomshuset) by the Second International and an ‘International Women’s Day’ was established, which was submitted by the important German Socialist Clara Zetkin. The following year, IWD was marked by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. However, soon thereafter, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City killed over 140 garment workers. A lack of safety measures was blamed for the high death toll. Furthermore, on the eve of World War I, women across Europe held peace rallies on 8 March 1913. In the West, International Women’s Day was commemorated during the 1910s and 1920s, but dwindled. It was revived by the rise of feminism in the 1960s.

Demonstrations marking International Women’s Day in Russia proved to be the first stage of the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Following the October Revolution, the Bolshevik feminist Alexandra Kollontai persuaded Lenin to make it an official holiday in Russia, and it was established, but was a working day until 1965. On May 8, 1965 by the decree of the USSR Presidium of the Supreme Soviet International Women’s Day was declared as a non working day in the USSR “in commemoration of outstanding merits of the Soviet women in communistic construction, in the defense of their Motherland during the Great Patriotic War, their heroism and selflessness at the front and in rear, and also marking the big contribution of women to strengthening friendship between peoples and struggle for the peace.”

Women’s Day in modern culture

The day remains an official holiday in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam, and is observed by men giving the women in their lives – mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc., flowers and small gifts. In some countries it is also observed as an equivalent of Mother’s Day, where children also give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union celebrations of IWD were abandoned in Armenia. Instead April 7 was introduced as state holiday of ‘Beauty and Motherhood.’ The new holiday immediately got popular among Armenians, as it commemorates one of the main holidays of Armenian Church, Annunciation. However, people still kept celebrating IWD on March 8 as well. Public discussion held on the topic of two ‘Women’s Days’ in Armenia resulted in the recognition of the so called ‘Women’s Month’ which is the period between March 8 and April 7.

In Italy, to celebrate the day, men give yellow mimosas to women.Yellow mimosas and chocolate are also one of the most common March 8 presents in Russia.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia and Macedonia, the custom of giving women flowers still prevails. Women sometimes get gifts from their employers too. School children often bring gifts for their teachers as well.

In countries like Portugal, it is usual, at the night of 8 March, groups of women celebrate in “women-only” dinners and parties

In India, IWD holds a lot of significance. Many celebrations are held during the day. This portrays the power of women in the modern era and how vital their role is in the society.

In 1975, which had been designated as International Women’s Year, the United Nations gave official sanction to and began sponsoring International Women’s Day.

The 2005 Congress (conference) of the British Trades Union Congress overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling for IWD to be designated a public holiday in the United Kingdom.

February 29, 2008

The year 2008 is a leap year. If you look at a 2008 calendar, you will see that February has five Fridays–the month begins and ends on a Friday. Between the years 1904 and 2096, leap years that share the same day of week for each date repeat only every 28 years. The most recent year in which February comprised five Fridays was in and the next occurrence will be in February 29, the leap day has been associated with age-old traditions, superstitions and folklore.

What is a leap year?

A leap year is a year in which one extra day has been inserted, or intercalated, at the end of February. A leap year consists of 366 days, whereas other years, called common years, have 365 days.

Which years are leap years?

In the Gregorian calendar, the calendar used by most modern countries, the following three criteria determine which years will be leap years:

Every year that is divisible by four is a leap year;

Of those years, if it can be divided by 100, it is NOT a leap year, unless

The year is divisible by 400. Then it is a leap year.    

According to the above criteria, that means that years 2000 was somewhat special as it was the first instance when the third criterion was used in most parts of the world
In the Julian calendar–introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC and patterned after the Roman calendar–there was only one rule: any year divisible by four would be a leap year. This calendar was used before the Gregorian calendar was adopted.

Why are leap years needed?

Leap years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the earth’s revolutions around the sun.

Why the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar?

The Julian calendar introduced too many leap days, thus increasing the number of days between the vernal equinox of March 21, its scheduled date as noted in AD 325 during the Council of Nicaea. The introduction of the Gregorian calendar allowed for realignment with the equinox; however, a number of days had to be dropped when the change was made. Click on any one of the year links below for a better explanation of the calendars and the days that were dropped in order to make the switch to the Gregorian calendar.

The Gregorian calendar was first adopted in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain in 1582. This was done by dropping 10 days in October of that year.

.In Great Britain (and America), the Gregorian calendar would not be adopted until much later, in September 1752; 11 days were dropped.

Sweden (and Finland) had a “double” leap year in 1712. Two days were added to February–creating a date of February 30, 1712. (This was done because the leap year in 1700 was dropped and Sweden’s calendar was not synchronized with any other calendar. By adding an extra day in 1712, they were back on the Julian calendar.) Read more about February 30

.The Julian calendar is currently (between the years 1901 and 2099) 13 days ahead of the Gregorian calendar (because too many leap years were added).

Other leap years facts

The Gregorian calendar has a 400-year cycle until it repeats the same weekdays for every year–February 29, 2008, is a Friday and February 29, 2408, is a Friday.

The Gregorian calendar has 97 leap years during those 400 years.

The longest time between two leap years is eight years. The last time that occurred was between 1896 and 1904. The next time will be between 2096 and 2104.

A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing one or more extra days (or, in the case of lunisolar calendars, an extra month) in order to keep the calendar year synchronised with the astronomical or seasonal year.A year which is not a leap year is called a common year.February 29 is a date that occurs only every four years, and is called leap day. This day is added to the calendar in leap years as a corrective measure, because the earth does not orbit around the sun in precisely 365.000 days.The Gregorian calendar is a modification of the Julian calendar first used by the Romans. The Roman calendar originated as a lunisolar calendar and named many of its days after the syzygies of the moon: the new moon (Kalendae or calends, hence “calendar”) and the full moon (Idus or ides). The Nonae or nones was not the first quarter moon but was exactly one nundinae or Roman market week of nine days before the ides, inclusively counting the ides as the first of those nine days. In 1825, Ideler believed that the lunisolar calendar was abandoned about 450 BC by the decemvirs, who implemented the Roman Republican calendar, used until 46 BC. The days of these calendars were counted down (inclusively) to the next named day, so 24 February was ante diem sextum Kalendas Martii (”the sixth day before the calends of March”) often abbreviated a. d. VI Kal. Mar. The Romans counted days inclusively in their calendars, so this was actually the fifth day before March 1 when counted in the modern exclusive manner (not including the starting day).[4]

The Republican calendar’s intercalary month was inserted on the first or second day after the Terminalia (a. d. VII Kal. Mar., February 23). The remaining days of Februarius were dropped. This intercalary month, named Intercalaris or Mercedonius, contained 27 days. The religious festivals that were normally celebrated in the last five days of February were moved to the last five days of Intercalaris. Because only 22 or 23 days were effectively added, not a full lunation, the calends and ides of the Roman Republican calendar were no longer associated with the new moon and full moon.

WASHINGTON -DC Ask a dozen die-hard Democrats around the country what Hillary Rodham Clinton can do to beat Barack Obama and win the presidential nomination and they have plenty of ideas — some of them contradictory.
The question generates strong sentiment, though, that Clinton simply can’t compete on charisma, that there are forces at play beyond her control. Going negative could backfire, they warn. Laying out nitty-gritty policy details isn’t enough, they say.
A sampling of Democratic voices from the field:_SHOW PASSION: “The challenge for Hillary Clinton is to be seen as an agent of change, to recapture the passion that the people who support her really have for her,” I’m not sure that I’d want to be in the shoes on her team. … She’s considered the same old, same old, and she’s not. But she’s having trouble communicating that.” Chisholm said Clinton should hit her universal health care message harder, stop using Washington insiders to defend her on cable TV and “find a way to communicate some excitement.” Chisholm supported John Edwards, and says he could go either way between Clinton and Obama.

_IT’S THE ECONOMY. AGAIN: “HRC’s firewall must be predicated on message,” says Chris Lehane, a political consultant in California and former aide to President Clinton. “She is THE candidate who the public, press and pundits by instinct, temperament and history believe is the best on the economy at the exact time the economy is THE brooding, omnipresent force hovering over both the primary and general electorate.” Lehane is backing Clinton.

_GO NEGATIVE: “She needs to come in strong,” says Judy Carpenter, a third-grade teacher from Delaware, Ohio, who turned out at a Clinton rally at Ohio State last week. “I don’t like vicious attacks. But gosh darn, she needs to call him on some things.” Carpenter supports Clinton.

_MAYBE NOT: A candidate goes negative “at great risk,” says Mitch Ceasar, the party chairman in Florida’s Broward County. “You can alienate people. It’s less of a risk for Republicans, because they’re better at it and everybody expects it from them.” Clinton, he says, should “talk about the distinctions” between herself and Obama on the issues .

_DEFINITELY NOT: Going negative “positively would be the absolutely wrong thing to do,” says Ed Treacy, a former county party chairman in Indiana. “Democrats do not want to see them fighting at all. … I’m not sure what she can do. So much of it is his momentum.” Treacy hasn’t endorsed a candidate.

_THE FORCE: “The most important thing is that the force is with Obama,” says Glenn Browder, a former Alabama congressman and now professor emeritus at Jacksonville State University. “The election seems to be moving in his favor, and I don’t believe that issues have much to do with it right now. It’s not as if she could all of a sudden start pointing this or that out about his positions or his votes, and that would change things very much. He is a movement that goes beyond issues.” Going negative could backfire on Clinton, Browder says, but it might help if the media or independent groups took on Obama. Browder is neutral in the race.

_REMEMBER IRAQ: “If she could come up with a more specific war plan,” says Marcia Mainord, president of Texas Democratic Women. “That’s what I hear people talking about. Who’s going to end the war.” Mainord is personally supporting Clinton but hasn’t made a formal endorsement.

_BE YOURSELF: “She’s a very engaging, very warm person if she lets that side of her be seen,” says Warren Tolman, a former Massachusetts state senator. “There’s a very warm, compassionate side that isn’t often enough seen.” Three things Clinton should do, according to Tolman: “Be yourself. Show compassion. Look like she’s having fun.” Tolman has endorsed Obama.

_READY TO DELIVER: “There is a narrative to be told that she hasn’t quite put all together,” says Tom Swan, who directs a citizen action group in Connecticut. “But she’s close, on health care and her experience and her scars make her the one who can deliver now.” Swan voted in the Connecticut primary but hasn’t publicly endorsed anyone.

_GRASS-ROOTS ORGANIZE: “I am obsessive about precinct-based organizing,” says Michael Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic nominee who lost to George H.W. Bush. “We’ve got to get serious about this stuff. It’s not just money and media.” Dukakis, teaching a course this winter at UCLA, says Obama has done more local organizing than Clinton. He adds that neither candidate should be faulted for failing to do much of it in Ohio and Texas, which vote March 4, because no one thought the nomination race would extend beyond Super Tuesday. Dukakis hasn’t endorsed a candidate.

_STEADY AS SHE GOES: “You’ve got a strategy, stick with the strategy,” says Jim Crog, a longtime party operative in Florida. “Ride it and make it work. One of the most detrimental things a campaign can be involved in is a what-if campaign: What if we do this? What if we do that? You’ll be literally bouncing around the room and off the walls.” Crog hasn’t endorsed a candidate.

_McCAIN FACTOR: “She’s got to convince Democrats that, contrary to what the polls now show, that in the end she’s going to be a better candidate against John McCain,” says Garry South, a longtime Democratic operative in California. Can she still win the nomination? “Unfortunately, I don’t think there is a secret formula,” says South. “There comes a time when the worm turns, when the momentum shift is clear. And when that sort of thing happens, there just aren’t a lot of options for the candidate who is trailing at that point.” South hasn’t endorsed a candidate.