IOTD

Calendar day; November 25, 2014

Tuesday, the 25th of November, 2014 is the 329th day in 2014 and in the 48th calendar week.

General Events:

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
November 25, 2014 in the World

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women takes place on November 25, 2014. Women’s activists have marked this day as a day to fight violence against women since 1981. On December 17, 1999, the United Nations General Assembly designated November 25 as this special day. The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is celebrated annually.

The date came from the brutal assassination in 1960 of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic. Women around the world are subject to rape, domestic violence and other forms of violence, and the scale and true nature of the issue is often hidden. That’s why the UN invited governments, international organizations and NGOs to organize activities designated to raise public awareness of the problem on this day.

Violence against women is a technical term used to collectively refer to violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women. The UN General Assembly defines the term as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm of suffering to women including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women: http://www.un.org/en/events/endviolenceday/

Where is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women?
Worldwide

St. Catherine’s Day
November 25, 2014 in Estonia

St. Catherine’s Day is celebrated on November 25, 2014. It has retained its popularity throughout the centuries and is still widely celebrated in modern-day Estonia. It marks the arrival of winter and is one of the more important and popular autumn days in the Estonian folk calendar. It is a day of celebration for the women of the culture, though different meanings come from each culture itself of this day. The customs for the Estonian St. Catherine’s Day are generally associated with the kadrisants (kadri beggars) or kadris, which give the whole day a unique quality, although it is similar to the traditions practised on St. Martin’s Day. Both require dressing up and going from door to door on the eve of the holiday to collect gifts, such as food, cloth and wool, in return for suitable songs and blessings.

Where is St. Catherine’s Day?
Nationwide Estonia

International Hat Day
November 25, 2014 in the World

Cold head? A great solution might be to wear a hat; and what better opportunity than Hat Day?

If you’re short of ideas for what type of hats to wear, check out this great periodic table of hats [ http://www.origination.net/sites/default/files/Origination-Periodic-Table.pdf ] for inspiration!

International Hat Day: http://www.internationalhatday.com/

Where is International Hat Day?
Worldwide

National Parfait Day
November 25, 2014 in the USA

National Parfait Day is celebrated on November 25, 2014. Parfait is a French word literally meaning “perfect” commonly employed to describe a kind of frozen dessert, beginning in 1894.

In the United States, parfait refers to either the traditional French-style dessert or to a popular variant, the American parfait, made by layering parfait cream, ice cream, and/or flavored gelatins in a tall, clear glass, and topping the creation with whipped cream, fresh or canned fruit, and/or liqueurs.

In the northern United States and Canada, parfaits may also be made by using yogurt layered with nuts or fresh fruits such as peaches, strawberries, or blueberries.

Where is National Parfait Day?
Nationwide USA

Historical Events on 25th November:

1034 – Malcolm II, King of Scots (Máel Coluim mac Cináeda) (b. 980) dies; Donnchad, the son of his second daughter Bethóc and Crínán of Dunkeld, inherits the throne.

1177 – Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Raynald of Chatillon defeat Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard.

1491 – The siege of Granada, last Moorish stronghold in Spain, begins.

1667 – A deadly earthquake rocks Shemakha, in the Caucasus, killing 80,000 people.

1783 – Britain evacuates NYC, their last military position in US

1792 – Farmer’s Almanac 1st published

1839 – A cyclone slams India with high winds and a 40 foot storm surge, destroying the port city of Coringa (never to be entirely rebuilt again). The storm wave sweeps inland, taking with it 20,000 ships and thousands of people. An estimated 300,000 deaths result from the disaster.

1841 – 35 survivors of the mutiny on the slave ship Amistad return to Africa

1867 – Alfred Nobel patents dynamite

1876 – Indian Wars: In retaliation for the American defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, United States Army troops sack Chief Dull Knife’s sleeping Cheyenne village at the headwaters of the Powder River.

1897 – Spain grants Puerto Rico autonomy

1930 – 690 earthquake shocks recorded in 1 day (Ito, Japan)

1947 – New Zealand accedes to Statute of Westminster, becomes a dominion

1950 – UN gives Eritrea to Ethiopia

1975 – Netherlands grants Suriname independence (National Day)

1979 – Israel returns Alma oilfields in Gulf of Suez to Egypt

1983 – World’s greatest robbery 25,000,000 pounds of gold, Heathrow, England

1987 – Supertyphoon Nina pummels the Philippines with category 5 winds of 165 mph and a surge that swallows entire villages. at least 1,036 deaths attributed to the storm.

1988 – Convention on exploitation of Antarctic mineral resources signed

1990 – Lech Walesa wins in Poland’s first popular election

2005 – Polish Minister of National Defence Radek Sikorski opens Warsaw Pact archives to historians. Maps of possible nuclear strikes against Western Europe, as well as the possible nuclear annihilation of 43 Polish cities and 2 million of its citizens by Soviet-controlled forces, are released.