Every Day Is Special: Union Day

Showing posts with label Union Day. Show all posts

April 26 - Union Day in Tanzania

Posted on April 26, 2020

April 26, 1964:

Tanganyika and the People's Republic of Zanzibar unite to form Tanzania.

Notice that the new nation's name is a portmanteau of the two older names. The only other nation that could brag about having a portmanteau for a name doesn't exist any more - as a matter of fact, it never WAS a nation, just a "loose confederation" of Senegal and The Gambia - called Senegambia.

There are some other geographical portmanteaus in the world. The towns of Templeton and Larvik, in North Dakota, merged to form Temvik. And Ontario, Canada, is full of towns with portmanteaus for names. A lot of portmanteaus use the first bit from each name, like Kenora, Ontario (which formed with the merger of Keewatin, Norman, and Rat Portage - ooh, that last name! yikes!), but most use a first bit from one name and a last bit from another, like Clarington, Ontario (which formed from the merger of Clarke and Darlington).

Near me are two towns on the border between California and Mexico. One is name Calexico (on the US side), and the other is Mexicali (on the Mexico side).

Portmanteaus are more common as words or slang than as geographical names. They can also be nauseatingly used to link together two names of a romantic couple.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie broke up - although not
because of the ridiculous Brangelina couple nickname -
and maybe it's time to stop doing couple nickname
portmanteaus altogether?

That's so meta!

Check out this earlier post for a comparison of Tanganyika and Zanzibar.

Also on this date:

Artist Eyvind Earle's birthday

Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted's birthday

Richter Scale Day

Naturalist and artist John Audubon's birthday

Anniversary of a major meteor shower

National Help a Horse Day

Confederate Memorial Day

Anniversary of coffee art

Anniversary of the patent of a dressmaker's invention

Åland Islands' Flag Day

(Last Sunday of April)

Shōwa Day in Japan

(Last Sunday of April)

Mother, Father Deaf Day

(Last Sunday of April)

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

February 12 – Union Day in Myanmar

Posted on February 12, 2017

This holiday is Myanmar's version of Independence Day - because on this date in 1947, the Panglong Agreement gave Burma (now known as Myanmar) its full independence from Great Britain (aka the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).

Since independence, there have been decades of civil war - harsh military rule - no democratic elections - violent repression of protestors - human rights violations. Some of the decisions made by the military juntas / top generals still affect people today, even though Myanmar is (thankfully) finally moving toward free elections and a better human rights record.

Here are some interesting, somewhat strange things about Myanmar that came out of bad decisions by military dictators:

Burmese people drive cars that, like British vehicles and cars driven in many former British colonies, position the driver on the right side of the vehicle. In Britain and many former British colonies, vehicles drive on the left side of the street, and so these sorts of vehicles make driving on the left side of the street safer....

But, in Myanmar, people now drive on the right side of the street. So...having the driver on the right side makes it more dangerous (and confusing)! Especially more dangerous is a right-side bus letting off people into the middle of the road instead of onto the sidewalk or edge-side of the road.

I am not positive that this sudden change-for-the-worse was made by the military junta, but all the evidence I could find points to that probability.

Motorcycles and scooters were outlawed in Myanmar's largest city, Yangon. It's said that that was because a motorcycle once ran into a top general's car. At any rate, now that speedy, maneuverable vehicles are outlawed, traffic jams are legendary.

And I don't know if all the overheating vehicles is because of the traffic jams -- sitting around with an idling engine seems to me to be a problem! -- but apparently cars overheat ALL the time, and trucks often have no hood. I guess having no hood means you can slosh water onto the hot engine more easily! Or maybe it helps heat dissipate more easily.

Speaking of Yangon, this largest city used to also be the capital city. However, one of the military juntas decided to move the capital city hundreds of kilometers -- and to build a new capital by scratch, even though of course that cost a lot of money -- and this at a time when so many Burmese were living in poverty! The old government buildings in Yangon are said to be deserted and starting to crumble away.