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Today is Green March Day, a public holiday in Morocco. This holiday marks the anniversary of a march that began on this day in 1975.

Spain had occupied Western Sahara since 1884. Morocco had made a claim on the land highlighting a long-standing allegiance between the Moroccan Throne and the local Sahrawi tribes. Mauritania had made similar claims and some of the Sahrawi tribes had declared an interest in independence from everyone else.

In mid-October 1975, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague declared that there were legal ties of allegiance between Moroccan Throne and some of the Sahrawi population, but that the local population should determine their own future.

Following the ICJ verdict, King Hassan II announced the organization of the Green March, on October 16th 1975, to liberate the Moroccan southern provinces from Spanish colonialism.

On November 6th 1975, in a significant show of national unity, about 350,000 unarmed Moroccan men and women, accompanied by 20,000 Moroccan troops headed towards the Sahara and met in Tarfaia.

On entering Spanish Sahara, the Spanish forces did not open fire. Partly, this was to avoid killing thousands of innocent marchers, but also it was the last days of the rule of General Franco and after seeing Portugal lose its colonies the year before, the Spanish had no appetite to start a major conflict in its territories, especially over territory they had already agreed to give up. 

As a result of the march, on November 14th 1975, Morocco, Spain and Mauritania signed an agreement in Madrid, whereby Morocco regained its southern provinces. 

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The tools are useless unless you know how to use them…

SIGNZZZZZZZ

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Today is the birthday, in 1854, of John Phillip Sousa. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-7XWhyvIpE

Today is Guy Fawkes Night. It commemorates the arrest of Guy Fawkes and the failure of the so-called ‘Gunpowder plot’ to blow up the English Houses of Parliament in 1605.

On the night of November 4th 1605, following a tip-off through an anonymous letter, Guy Fawkes was caught guarding thirty-six barrels of gunpowder in a cellar beneath the Houses of Parliament in London.

The conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot were Roman Catholics who opposed the lack of religious tolerance under King James I. They planned to assassinate James and his government by blowing up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on November 5th 1605. This was to be the start of a series of actions across England that would lead to the installation of James’ daughter Elizabeth as a new Catholic head of state.

Fawkes and seven others were tried and convicted of treason and executed in January 1606. His head was among those displayed on pikes at London Bridge. Within months Parliament established November 5th as a national day of thanksgiving and it was made illegal not to join in the celebrations. The act remained in force until 1859.

A tradition was that children would make a dummy of Guy Fawkes and ask people for money (A‘Penny for the Guy’) which they spend on fireworks. This custom of going from door to door asking for money was already a custom for the poor on All Souls Day (November 2nd) and a similar tradition existed in Ireland during Halloween (October 31st).

As the tradition of making a dummy grew in popularity, ‘Guy’ became a word to mean any oddly dressed person, then in the 20th century it became the commonly used slang word of today as a way of referring to any male person.

Fireworks, Lighting bonfires (on which the ‘Guys’ were placed) and ringing church bells on November 5th also became common traditions. It seems odd to light a fire and set off explosives to mark an event which stopped exactly that happening, but the bonfire tradition at this time of year is a much older custom echoing pagan customs of lighting fires to mark the end of harvest. Bonfires were part of the Irish Halloween tradition that didn’t make it across the Atlantic into the American customs.

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BADA BING!!!!!

Interesting reading…Making Marriage Work by Henry VIII

I’ve been on a diet for two weeks and have lost 14 days of happiness.

You know you’re getting old when the clothes you used to wear are now Halloween costumes.

I am often mistaken for an adult because of my age.

My house isn’t messy. It’s just creatively expressing that I live a very busy and interesting life.

According to my height to weight ratio, I should be 9 feet 4 inches. So my weight is okay, it’s my height that’s the problem.

Once all the illegals have been removed, you can finally realize your dream of replacing roofs in the scorching 102-degree summer heat.

Dear Puerto Ricans, trash day is November 5th, 2024. Don’t forget.

He climbed into the wrong end of the garbage truck.

As you get older, “PAID OFF” sounds so much better than “BRAND NEW”.

The inventor of yodeling died recently. Sadly, so did his little old lady too.

My fear of tsunamis comes over me in waves.

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Today is the birthday, in 1957, of David Moyse, guitarist for the Australian soft rock band Air Supply who scored the 1980 UK No.11 single ‘All Out Of Love’ and the 1981 US No.1 single ‘The One That You Love’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY31ZH6hAFI

Today Japanese people celebrate Culture Day, a public holiday scheduled for November 3. If November 3rd falls on a Sunday, then the following Monday will be a public holiday instead.

Culture Day, otherwise known as Bunka no hi, is a day to honor traditional Japanese culture and promote the love of freedom and peace that is enshrined in the Japanese constitution.

As part of the celebration of Culture Day, the Order of Culture Awards Ceremony takes place at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. The awards are given to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to Japanese culture or to society as a whole. Established in 1875, the Order of the Rising Sun has eight degrees.

A total of 4,214 people have received the award on November 4th 2018, including 135 foreigners, mostly Americans. One of them was former US Vice President Dick Cheney.

Past recipients include the three American astronauts who were aboard Apollo 11, Japanese artist Ikuo Hirayama, and poet Makoto Ooka.

The East Pagoda at Yakushi-ji Temple, by Ikuo HIRAYAMA

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Starting to be that time of year

The days are getting shorter…

Cats’ revenge!

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Today is the birthday, in 1940, of Delbert McClinton, US singer, songwriter, (1980 US No.8 single ‘Giving It Up For Your Love’), worked with Bruce Channel, wrote ‘Two More Bottles Of Wine’ country No.1 for Emmylou Harris. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T2xVYRAvyU

Holidays around the world today. It is, of course, Diwali, The Festival of Light. The celebration revolves around the triumph of good over evil, purity over impurity, light over darkness. It is one of the most important Hindu festivals and is celebrated by the Indian diaspora around the world.

Diwali marks the return of Lord Rama, who was the seventh incarnation of Vishnu, from a fourteen-year exile.

The Festival of Lights takes place on the darkest night (the first night of the new moon) in the month of Kartik in the Hindu calendar.

Across India streets and temples are decorated with spectacular light displays and colourful garlands.

In their homes, people light small oil lamps called diyas. It is believed that deceased relatives come back to visit their families on Earth during this festival and the lights are a way to guide the spirits home.

It is also Halloween and in North America and some other parts of the world, young people (and some old people) may dress up in costumes and visit their neighbors’ homes in search of sweets.

Halloween takes its roots from the old Celtic festival, Samhain Eve, when it was believed that the link between the worlds of the living and dead was at its strongest. Some scholars believe that Samhain (pronounced sow-in) was the Celtic new year. Samhain means Summer’s End and was essentially a harvest festival and a time to ask for supernatural support to get through the coming winter.

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Do I remember her?? Did we have a beef???

Today is the birthday, in 1950, of American singer, songwriter and guitarist Moon Martin. Originally a rockabilly artist, he wrote the songs ‘Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)’, made famous by the English singer Robert Palmer, and ‘Cadillac Walk’, a hit for American singer Willy DeVille. Hi died on 11 May 2020 age 74. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlPHmYtqSdA

Today is the eve of Deepavali, a public holiday in Puducherry State in India. The Festival of Lights is known as Deepavali (deep – lamp, vali – array). This is the name of the festival in Southern India and is how the festival is referred to in other Asian countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. In Northern India, it is more commonly known as Diwali, but they are essentially the same celebration.

In these countries and for Hindus around the world, the celebration revolves around the triumph of good over evil, purity over impurity, light over darkness. It is one of the most important Hindu festivals. Diwali marks the return of Lord Rama, who was the seventh incarnation of Vishnu, from a fourteen-year exile.

The Festival of Lights takes place on the darkest night (the first night of the new moon) in the month of Kartik in the Hindu calendar.

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Halloween…

Scary Dogs!

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SIGNZ or something

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Today is the birthday, in 1939, of American singer-songwriter Grace Slick from Jefferson Airplane, Starship. Slick provided vocals on a number of iconic songs, including ‘Somebody to Love’, ‘White Rabbit’, ‘We Built This City’ and ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WANNqr-vcx0