Happy Birthday to Rwanda and Burundi!

Stockholm, the capital of Sweden and the most populous city in the Nordic countries. *Photo from Wikipedia June 6 is National Day of Sweden. This event does signify the end of the Danish-ruled Kalmar Union, so in a sense it is a marking of Swedish independence, though the event occurred so long ago that it does not have as strong of a presence in the social consciousness as does. The tradition of celebrating this date began 1916 at the Stockholm Olympic Stadium, in honor of the election of King Gustav Vasa in 1523, as this was considered the foundation of

Frederik de Klerk and Nelson Mandela, two of the driving forces in ending apartheid. *Photo from Wikipedia April 27 is the Freedom Day, which celebrates freedom and commemorates the first post-apartheid elections held on that day in 1994. The elections were the first non-racial national elections where everyone of voting age of over 18 from any race group, including foreign citizens permanently resident in South Africa, were allowed to vote. Previously, under the apartheid regime, non-whites had only limited rights to vote. On the first commemoration of the holiday, President Nelson Mandela addressed Parliament: “As dawn ushered in this day,

Traditional Mongolian wrestling. *Photo from Wikipedia November 26 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Mongolia from China on July 11, 1921 and the establishment of “Mongolian People’s Republic” on the day in 1924. The area that is now Mongolia was ruled by various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu (匈奴), the Xianbei (鮮卑), the Rouran (柔然), the Turkic Khaganate (突厥汗国), among others. In 1206, Genghis Khan founded the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous land empire in history. His grandson Kublai Khan conquered China to establish the Yuan dynasty (元朝). After the collapse of the Yuan, the Mongols retreated