14 | February | 2016 | M'chelsMusings

Sunday, the 14th of February, 2016 is the 45th day in 2016 and in the 6th calendar week.

General Events:

Congenital Heart Defects Awareness Day
February 14, 2016 in the World

A DAY FOR HEARTS gives our vibrant networked online community the chance to take on a humane cause: Promoting Awareness of Congenital Heart Defects.

Congenital Heart Defects (CHD) are a lethal constellation of birth defects of the heart that affect millions of newborn infants and children worldwide; a killer that claims thousands of lives every year. Eight of every 1000 children born alive (0.8%) will have some form of congenital heart defect.

On this special day, February 14th, A DAY FOR HEARTS, a concerted global effort is being made to heighten awareness of this deadly group of diseases.

http://www.congenitalheartdefects.com/index.html

Where is Congenital Heart Defects Awareness Day?
Worldwide

National Donor Day
February 14, 2016 in the USA

February 14th is National Donor Day, an observance day originally designated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to raise awareness for organ, eye, tissue, marrow, platelet and blood donation.Today, more than 120,000 patients are on the waiting list to receive a life-saving organ transplant, and countless others are in need of cornea, tissue, bone marrow, blood and platelet donation.

Donor Day is all about being selfless and giving of yourself to save another person’s life. It’s a celebration of everything that’s wonderful about humanity, and a holiday we should all be celebrating.

Where is National Donor Day?
Nationwide USA

International Book Giving Day
February 14, 2016 in the World

Devoted to instilling a lifelong love of reading in children and providing access to books for children in need, Book Giving Day calls on volunteers to share their favourite book with a young reader. Although the holiday originated in the UK, book lovers around the world now join in the celebrations every year.

Book Giving Day has few organised events. Instead, individual volunteers are encouraged to give a favourite book or books to children. This can take many forms; some people give books as gifts to their own children or to those of friends. Others donate books to children’s libraries, schools or charities. Still others leave books in places where they’ll be found, such as doctors’ waiting rooms or coach stations.

The organisers of Book Giving Day support the holiday by sharing participants’ stories and offering bonuses such as downloadable holiday bookplates to use in gifts.

http://bookgivingday.com/blog/about-2/

Where is the event?
Worldwide

Valentine’s Day
February 14, 2016 in the World

Valentine’s Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14 by many people throughout the world. In the English-speaking countries, it is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine’s cards, presenting flowers, or offering confectionery. The holiday is named after two among the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

In the second half of the twentieth century, the practice of exchanging cards was extended to all manner of gifts in the United States, usually from a man to a woman. Such gifts typically include roses and chocolates packed in a red satin, heart-shaped box.

In the 1980s, the diamond industry began to promote Valentine’s Day as an occasion for giving jewelry. The day has come to be associated with a generic platonic greeting of “Happy Valentine’s Day.” As a joke, Valentine’s Day is also referred to as “Singles Awareness Day.” In some North American elementary schools, children decorate classrooms, exchange cards, and eat sweets. The greeting cards of these students often mention what they appreciate about each other.

The rise of Internet popularity at the turn of the millennium is creating new traditions. Millions of people use every year, digital means of creating and sending Valentine’s Day greeting messages such as e-cards, love coupons or printable greeting cards.

The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year, behind Christmas. The association estimates that, in the US, men spend on average twice as much money as women.

Where is Valentine’s Day?
Worldwide

Singles Awareness Day
February 14, 2016 in the World

Singles Awareness Day takes place on February 14, 2016. “Singles Awareness (or Appreciation) Day” (S.A.D.) is a humorous holiday. It serves as an alternative to Valentine’s Day for people who are single, that is, not involved in a romantic relationship. Some prefer the 13th or the 15th February for celebration to get away from the commercialism associated with the 14th. Some people who observe S.A.D. do so out of spite for Valentine’s Day, as a Hallmark holiday, or for other reasons. On Singles Awareness Day, single people gather to celebrate or to commiserate in their single status. Some want to remind romantic couples that they don’t need to be in a relationship to celebrate life.

Where is the event?
Worldwide

Autism Sunday 2016
February 14, 2016 in the World

Autism Sunday, also known as the International Day of Prayer for Autism and Asperger syndrome, is observed annually on the secondSunday of February.

Autism Sunday was first held in 2002 during Autism Awareness Year in the United Kingdom. It was initiated by parents and carers Ivan Corea and Charika Corea, founders of the Autism Awareness Campaign UK. Parents of Charin, a teenager with autism spectrum disorder and a communication disorder, they urged leaders of religious organisations, churches, community groups and world leaders around the globe to speak up for people with autism and Asperger syndrome. What started as a small acorn of an idea in their home has turned into a huge international event. Autism Sunday is now celebrated across the world in many countries.

Where is the event?
Worldwide

World Marriage Day
February 14, 2016 in the World

World Marriage Day takes place on February 14, 2016. World Marriage Day is an observance sponsored by American organisation Worldwide Marriage Encounter, associated with the Catholic Marriage Encounter movement and observed on second Sunday of February each year. Its purpose is declared to be: “World Marriage Day honors husband and wife as the foundation of the family, the basic unit of society. It salutes the beauty of their faithfulness, sacrifice and joy in daily married life.

Marriage – also called matrimony or wedlock – is a social union or legal contract between people called spouses that establishes rights and obligations between the spouses, between the spouses and their children, and between the spouses and their in-laws. The definition of marriage varies according to different cultures, but it is principally an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged.

People marry for many reasons, including: legal, social, libidinal, emotional, financial, spiritual, and religious. Marriages can be performed in a secular civil ceremony or in a religious setting. The act of marriage usually creates normative or legal obligations between the individuals involved. Marriage is often viewed as a contract.

Where is the event?
Worldwide

Ferris Wheel Day
February 14, 2016 in the USA

Ferris Wheel Day is observed on February 14, 2016. It celebrates the birthday of George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. He was a civil engineer who made the first Ferris Wheel. The original Ferris Wheel, sometimes also referred to as the Chicago Wheel, was designed and constructed as a landmark for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The term Ferris wheel is used generically for all such structures, which are now the most common type of carnival ride at state fairs in the US.

A Ferris wheel is a nonbuilding structure consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components attached to the rim in such a way that as the wheel turns, they are kept upright, usually by gravity. Some of the largest modern Ferris wheels have cars mounted on the outside of the rim, with electric motors to independently rotate each car to keep it upright. These wheels are sometimes referred to as observation wheels, and their cars referred to as capsules.

Where is the event?
Nationwide USA

Historical Events on 14th February:

1009 First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg.

1689 English parliament places Mary Stuart/Prince William III on the throne

1747 Astronomer James Bradley presents his discovery of the wobbling motion of the Earth on its axis to the Royal Society, London

1803 Apple parer patented by Moses Coats, Downington, Penn

1876 A G Bell & Elisha Gray apply separately for telephone patents Supreme Court eventually rules Bell rightful inventor

1919 The Polish-Soviet War begins

1931 The original “Dracula”, starring Bela Lugosi as the titular vampire, is released

1950 USSR & China sign peace treaty

1971 Richard Nixon installs secret taping system in White House

1989 Ayatollah Khomeini orders Muslims to murder “Satanic Verses” novelist Rushdie