Photo UNIAN
Not long ago, the phrase “International Women’s Day” raised no doubts for anyone: everyone was sure that the holiday was truly international. But now opinion has turned to the exact opposite: people have started saying that this communist holiday is known only to the former Soviet Union and a number of countries of the former socialist camp. But the truth, as often happens, lies somewhere in between.
A women’s holiday as such exists, probably, in every country. It also existed in Ancient Rome. On this day, matrons (free-born women) who were married received gifts from their husbands and were surrounded by love and attention. Slave women also got something. In addition, the mistress of the house allowed the bondswomen to rest on this day. Dressed in their best clothes, with fragrant wreaths on their heads, Roman women came to the temple of the goddess Vesta, the guardian of the hearth.
Much time has passed since then, and women began to fight for equality with men. On March 8, 1857, textile workers in New York marched through the streets of the city, protesting against low wages and poor working conditions. In 1908, on this day, their granddaughters already demanded a ban on child labor, better working conditions in factories, and granting women the right to vote in political elections. The following year, the Socialist Party of the United States proclaimed the last Sunday of February as National Women’s Day.
The very date of our celebration in honor of lovely ladies – March 8 – is indeed connected with the revolutionary activity of Clara Zetkin. Everyone agrees on this point. The fighter for the rights of the fair sex, Mrs. Zetkin, at the Second International Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen in 1910, proposed establishing International Women’s Day, which was to become a kind of May Day. The date was set arbitrarily. In the USSR, this tradition appeared in 1913.
This is the first version. The second is more original. Its essence is this: when Clara was tasked with choosing the date of the holiday, she, being, according to adherents of this theory, Jewish, settled on the day on which the people of Moses celebrated Purim. This holiday is unique in itself and is not religious. Purim is dedicated to Esther (another version of the name is Ester).
If the Old Testament is to be believed, it was Esther who in 480 BC saved the Jewish people from an evil ruler. Legend has it that Haman, an advisor to the Persian king Ahasuerus, decided to destroy all Jews in Babylon and persuaded the king to issue a corresponding decree. The king’s wife Esther, who, like “foundress Clara,” was Jewish, learned of the plan. She came to the king and, using feminine charms and amorous wiles, extracted from her spouse a promise to destroy the enemies of her people. Esther and her guardian Mordecai drew up a decree, and in the end a wave of pogroms swept across the country. But this time they were not Jewish pogroms but Persian ones. According to the same legend, 75 thousand Persians were killed and robbed.
Despite its bloodthirstiness, the holiday took root. When the evening of Purim arrives, the “Megillat Esther” is read in all synagogues. This reading is unlike a regular service; it resembles a festive celebration: at the mention of the name of the villain Haman, everyone loudly rattles noisemakers, stomps their feet, and makes all kinds of noise. Then they put on performances during which an effigy of the evil advisor is burned.
In the Middle Ages, there was a custom of beating Haman: his image or name was drawn on two stones, and then the stones were struck against each other until the image was erased. A characteristic feature of the Purim feast is the abundant consumption of wine or other strong alcoholic drinks, and, according to the prescriptions, one should drink so much as to be unable to distinguish the phrases “cursed be Haman” and “blessed be Mordecai.” Among the dishes, it is customary to serve cookies “ozney Haman” (“Haman’s ears”).
According to the third version, Clara Zetkin was a pure-blooded German, and Purim has nothing to do with it; it’s just a coincidence. I would not like to delve into a study of the nationality of the long-deceased revolutionary, and we love the March 8 holiday not at all for its communist, Purim, or any other origin. First and foremost, for us it is a holiday of spring and beauty – feminine beauty, naturally.
But some international character is still present in it. Whatever skeptics may say, March 8 is celebrated not only in the former republics of the USSR, but also in a whole number of other countries (for example, Italy, China, Mongolia, and Australia), although, of course, not quite the way it is here. First, this day is not a day off everywhere, and second, the celebration is not so nationwide.
On this holiday, Italian women, having received the customary mimosa sprigs from their beloved, gather in small (or large – as one prefers) but exclusively female companies and go to gatherings, most often in cafés. There the women’s gathering takes place, sometimes with dancing, sometimes without.
In Mongolia, March 8 was abolished in 1995, and now it has been reinstated – the people cannot do without International Women’s Day, they celebrate it and that’s that.
In China, on this day men try to prove that the way to a lady’s heart is through her stomach. There, as evidence of their love, a man must show himself to be an excellent cook. On March 8, all Chinese women have a legal day off, but their husbands have an ordinary working day. When men go off to work in the morning, their wives head to city parks and have fun there without them. The most attractive female residents of the capital take part in the “Miss Beijing” contest. Its organizers even found out whether the Chinese idea of female beauty had changed under Western influence. It turned out that it had hardly changed at all. A beauty, as they said here in olden times, is born from the finest evaporation of Heaven and Earth, from jasper dew accumulating on a bronze disk. The authors of “The Book of Female Charms” advise meeting a beauty in this way: burning incense, drinking tea, and rejoicing in your heart. A less refined meeting is to stroll together, holding hands and talking. And worst of all is to eat one’s fill and get drunk with her.
But despite the warning, the table is set in China, and the symbolic name of the main dish is "pumpkin of devotion". It is traditionally prepared by a man. The cook's task is not an easy one - into the pumpkin, from which the Chinese first carve a mythical phoenix, one must put salted tomatoes fried in oil, pieces of sweet watermelon, tart grapes, shrimp, and peppered pork.
In most other countries, however, March 8 is a day of struggle for women's rights. With demonstrations, placards, and the like. No romance, in general. No flowers in the morning or scrambled eggs in bed. All the sentiments generously bestowed on us by the stronger sex on Clara Zetkin Day, most women on the planet receive on other dates. On Saint Valentine's Day, which has recently entered our lives, the unfamiliar Mother's Day, or (such a thing happens!) Wife's Day. It is strange that there is no Mother-in-Law's Day, but it seems that it is hidden under Mother's Day.
So, Mother's Day. As on March 8, husbands and children give moms gifts and don't let them into the kitchen. It is believed that this tradition also originates from the women's mysteries of Ancient Rome, intended for the worship of the Great Mother - the goddess, mother of all gods. It has also been established that in 15th-century England the so-called Mothering Sunday was celebrated - the fourth Sunday of Lent, dedicated to honoring mothers throughout the country. In the United States, modern Mother's Day has been celebrated annually since 1907 on the second Sunday of May, and in 1914 President Wilson made this holiday official. Besides the States, Mother's Day is also celebrated on the second Sunday of May in Malta, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, and Belgium.
Many countries celebrate a similar holiday on other days of the year: Norway on the second Sunday of February, Sweden on the last Sunday of May, South Africa on the first Sunday of May, Argentina and India in October, Spain and Portugal on December 8. Moreover, in all countries this day has one feature: men congratulate only mothers and pregnant women, not all representatives of the fair sex.
In Greece, on the feast of Babos, which is celebrated on January 8, power passes into the hands of women. On this day, the oldest and most respected lady of the village is especially honored. As confirmation of their temporary power, women pour water on men at every corner, and nothing threatens them for it. But then it is unknown how the gentlemen will behave the next day: according to studies, Greek women are the most unprotected women in the European Union. Here the fair sex is exploited more than anywhere else, and its representatives constantly become victims of threats from men.
A woman in the Land of the Rising Sun, according to tradition, is endowed with no more rights than a Greek woman. It is believed that a Japanese woman, before marriage, must obey her father, after she takes off her wedding dress - her husband, and upon becoming a widow, her son. Here there is even an expression "to return home on a troika", used when the head of the family, drunk, stumbles home in the middle of the night, supported by the arms of girls from a bar. In this case, the wife is obliged to invite her husband's companions for a cup of tea, ask whether he has paid, and gratefully escort them to the threshold.
Perhaps that is why, as compensation, Japan has several women's dates: Hina Matsuri (Peach Festival) - the first holiday of every Japanese girl; White Day, when wives are honored; and the Festival of Older Women. However, today Japan has changed: there are fewer and fewer marriages, more and more divorces, and the country already takes pride in its citizen Chiaki Mukai, the first Japanese female astronaut.
In addition to these, many states also have feast days of saints - patronesses of the fair sex. Among Orthodox peoples, there is a holiday in the church calendar praising women - the Day of the Myrrh-Bearing Women. The holy myrrh-bearers were the first to whom the Risen Lord appeared, they were His most devoted disciples and did not abandon Him even on the cross when all the apostles fled. Therefore, on the Day of the Myrrh-Bearing Women, women who served Christ are remembered. Church tradition does not call this holiday women's day as such, because any holiday in the church is primarily dedicated to God, not to women or men.
Moreover, in most countries, especially among Catholics, there are also patron saints, and holidays in their honor become bright events every year. For example, on December 8, Catholic countries celebrate the Day of Saint Catherine, patroness of marriage, on December 4 the Day of Saint Barbara, Spain in February honors Saint Agueda - the patroness of women, and in the Canary Islands in July the Day of the Holy Patroness Carmen is celebrated. Also, in many countries people worship female deities. For example, the most beloved goddesses of India are Kali, Parvati, who patronizes the hearth and its keepers, and Lakshmi, who personifies love and beauty.
Well, no matter what it is called, Women's Day is indeed women's day. It is celebrated everywhere, perhaps not exactly on March 8, but on another day, but the idea is the same. It only remains to thank the revolutionary Clara for giving us a cheerful spring holiday - a day when women can feel like the weaker sex and not drag home loaded string bags. After all, it is pleasant to try a favorite dish prepared by an unskillful hand or to put on a dress ironed by him and go to a restaurant. At least once a year.