Red Ajah Autumn Fair- Modern Holidays in Autumn

[hotpocket2006]

Hi everyone! Welcome to Modern holidays around the world, part of the Autumn Fair with the Reds! I am going to go over a few of the "major" holidays celebrated during this time. I am not familiar with all of them, so if anyone has any more imput on any of the holidays I list from a first hand experience or would like to discuss one I haven't listed, feel free If I mess up on an explanation on one of the holidays, I don't mean to be offensive, I just found my information on the interwebs, and we know how misleading that interwebs can be sometimes. If you have an issue with something and/or find something really offensive, feel free to PM me or you can PM Torrie.

 

 

 

Labor Day When: First Monday in September

The first Labor Day was held celebrated in New York City on September 5, 1882 and was started by the Central Labor Union in New York City. In 1884, it was moved to the first Monday in September where it is celebrated today. Labor Day quickly became popular and one state after another voted it as a holiday. On June 28, 1894, the U.S. congress voted it a national holiday. It is a holiday that celebrates the worker, no matter how big or small they are.

Labor Day is also viewed as the official end of summer. While the Fall Equinox is still a couple of weeks away, kids go back to school and summer vacations are over. So this marks the end of the season. Many people celebrate this weekend with one last picnic. It is also the date that many people close up the pool, and put away the boats.

 

Mid Autumn Festival When: 15th day of the 8th month on the Chinese calendar

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the few most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the others being Chinese New Year and Winter Solstice, and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomelos under the moon together.

 

Autumnal Equinox When: Anywhere from September 21-24

The holiday of Autumn Equinox, Harvest Home, Mabon, the Feast of the Ingathering, Meán Fómhair or Alban Elfed is a ritual of thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth and a recognition of the need to share them to secure the blessings of the Goddess and the God during the winter months. The name Mabon was coined by Aidan Kelly around 1970 as a reference to Mabon ap Modron, a character from Welsh mythology.

 

Rosh Hashanah When: It is observed on the first two days of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar.

Rosh Hashanah is the celebration of the Jewish New Year. This is currently the Jewish year of 5769. In celebrating the New Year, Rosh Hashanah celebrates the creation of the world. It is also one of the holiest days of the Jewish year.

 

Yom Kippur When: 10 days after Rosh Hashanah

"Yom Kippur" means "Day of Atonement". Appropriately, people set aside this day to atone for sins they have committed. It is a day of prayer, fasting, and a time to attend the synagogue. Jewish people will also not work on this day, one of the most important days in the Jewish calendar. During Yom Kippur, people seek forgiveness from God, and seek to give and receive forgiveness and reconciliation with others.

 

Festival of Sukkot When- 5 days after Yom Kippur

The joyous festival of Sukkot celebrates the forty years the Jewish people wandered through the desert after leaving Egypt. During this time, they lived in temporary shelters, called "Sukkahs". The holiday lasts seven days. During the first two days, no work is permitted. A major symbol of this festive holiday is the "Sukkah", the temporary dwelling in which the jewish people lived while wandering through the desert. Traditional jewish tradition requires that the Sukkah be built, decorated and lived in during the week of Sukkot . It is used to eat and sleep in.

 

Halloween When: October 31

Halloween is an annual holiday observed on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holiday All Saints' Day, but is today largely a secular celebration. Common Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, committing pranks, telling ghost stories or other frightening tales, and watching horror films.

 

Samhain When: October 31- November 1

Samhain is considered by most Wiccans to be the most important of the four 'greater Sabbats'. It is generally observed on October 31 in the Northern Hemisphere, starting at sundown. Samhain is considered by some Wiccans as a time to celebrate the lives of those who have passed on, and it often involves paying respect to ancestors, family members, elders of the faith, friends, pets and other loved ones who have died. In some rituals the spirits of the departed are invited to attend the festivities. It is seen as a festival of darkness, which is balanced at the opposite point of the wheel by the spring festival of Beltane, which Wiccans celebrate as a festival of light and fertility

 

Day of the Dead When: November 1- November 2

El día de los muertos, The day of the dead, has become one of the biggest holidays in Mexico, and celebrations are becoming more common in areas of the United States with a large Hispanic population. Its origins are distinctly Mexican: During the time of the Aztecs, a monthlong summer celebration was overseen by the goddess Mictecacihuatl, the Lady of the Dead. After the Aztecs were conquered by Spain and Catholicism became the dominant religion, the customs became intertwined with the Christian commemoration of All Saints' Day on Nov. 1.

Specifics of the celebration vary with region, but one of the most common customs is the making of elaborate altars to welcome departed spirits home. Vigils are held, and families often go to cemeteries to fix up the graves of their departed relatives. Festivities also frequently include traditional foods such as pan de muerto (bread of the dead), which can conceal a miniature skeleton.

 

All Saints Day When: November 1st

The Christian holiday of All Saint's Day honors and recognizes all of the saints of the christian church, many of which were martyrs. The church sets this day aside to celebrate over 10,000 recognized saints. Historically, All Saints Day was known as Hallomas.

Did you know? All Saints Day and All Souls Day was originally in May. They were moved to November 1st and 2and to downplay the Pagan holidays of Halloween (All Hallow's Eve) and Dia De Loss Muertos. Religious leaders felt these holidays were too popular at the time to ban outright. But, if moved the christian holidays to this time periods, the pagan holidays would slowly die away

 

All Souls Day When: November 2 (November 3rd if the 2nd falls on a Sunday)

The Christian holiday of All Soul's Day pays respect and remembers the souls of all friends and loved ones who have died and gone to heaven. It is a time to pray for their souls that they may be received into heaven. Upon death, it is believed that souls have not yet been cleansed of sin. Praying for souls of loved ones helps to remove the stain of sin, and allow the souls to enter the pearly gates of heaven. All Souls Day was started in 998.

 

Guy Fawkes Day When: November 5th

In 1603, King James I took the throne in England. An avid Protestant, he began persecuting Catholics in the country. He forbid Catholics from practicing their religion ,and punished Catholics who did not convert to the Protestant church.

The Gunpowder Conspirators were a group of Catholics who sought to take action against the king. They plotted to blow up the British Houses of Parliament. They planned to do so, when the king and his supporters were in the buildings. Their plot was uncovered on November 5, 1605. Thirty six barrels of gunpowder were found in the basement of Parliament. Guy Fawkes, the leader of the conspiracy, was arrested and tortured until he confessed. He was arrested just as he was about to ignite the gunpowder.

 

Veterans Day- When: November 11th

Veterans's Day honors all members of the Armed Forces who who served. This holiday originally was called Armistice Day and was first celebrated in 1921. In 1954, President Eisenhower changed it to Veteran's Day in honor of those who served and died from all wars. On November 11 at 11:11, 1921 the U.S. France and England each buried an unknown soldier in honor of those who died in World War I. This began the annual Armistice Day holiday. The time and day was picked because fighting ceased in WWI in 1918 on November 11 at 11:11. In keeping with this tradition, work stops on this day and time each year for a moment of silence.

 

Thanksgiving Day- when: The 4th Thursday in November.

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated between the Pilgrims and the Indians in 1621.That first feast was a three day affair. Life for the early settlers was difficult. The fall harvest was time for celebration. It was also a time of prayer, thanking God for a good crop. The Pilgrims and the Indians created a huge feast including a wide variety of animals and fowl, as well as fruits and vegetables from the fall harvest. This early celebration was the start of today's holiday celebration. Like then, we celebrate with a huge feast. After the first Thanksgiving, the observance was sporadic and almost forgotten until the early 1800's. It was usually celebrated in late September or October. In 1941, Congress made it a national holiday and set the date as the fourth Thursday in November.

Today, most of the people in the US enjoy Turkey with "all the trimming". The "trimming" include a wide variety of foods that are a tradition for your family. Those traditional foods often replicate the foods at the first Thanksgiving feast. While others, are traditional ethnic or religious groups recipe, or a special food item that your family always serves at Thanksgiving dinner. Then, to top it off, pumpkin pies, apple pies, an even mince meat pies are bountiful around the table. The American traditions of Thanksgiving revolve around a huge and lavish meal, usually with Turkey as the centerpiece. For those who do not like Turkey, a Roast or Prime Rib is common. As tradition has it in most families, a special prayer of thanks precedes the meal. In many homes, family members will each mention something they are very thankful for.

 

 

Alright that concludes my explanation. I didn't go too far in depth with some of the myths and such involved with some of the holidays, but that's because there's going to be a different thread for that. I would now ask everyone to explain the holidays you celebrate in your household and how you celebrate them. Also I live in the US, so if you live in a different country and celebrate one of these holidays differently feel free to weigh in.

[Elgee]

Warning for sensitive viewers: South Africans aren't very serious people

 

In South Africa we don't have any particular festivals or holidays pertaining to Autumn, but we do have something rather unique which takes place in Spring (which happens to be in Autumn for most of DM's members).

 

National Braai Day - 24 September

 

 

Braai Day is an active celebration of South Africa's rich cultural heritage and its unique national pastime, the braai. It aims to unite all South Africans by encouraging them to partake in a fun and tangible activity shared by all demographic groups, religious denominations and body types.

 

Braai Day is celebrated annually by South Africans across the world on 24 September (South Africa's Heritage Day).

The event was initiated by the Mzansi Braai Institute in South Africa in 2005 and has since 2008 been promoted under the Braai4Heritage banner, a non-profit initiative. On September 5, 2007, Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu was appointed as patron of National Braai Day (Now Braai4Heritage). The initiative received the endorsement of South Africa's National Heritage Council (NHC) in the year 2008.

 

What is "Braai"?

A typical braai on a small braaier

 

The word braaivleis (Afrikaans pronunciation: [ˈbrɑe.flæɪs], English: /ˈbraɪfleɪs/) is Afrikaans for "roasted meat."The word braai (plural braaie) is Afrikaans for "barbecue" or "roast" and is a social custom in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Zambia. It originated with the Afrikaner people (European settlers, mainly from Dutch, German and French origin), but has since been adopted by South Africans of many ethnic backgrounds. The word vleis is Afrikaans for "meat".

 

The word has been adopted by English-speaking South Africans and can be regarded as another word for barbecue, in that it serves as a verb when describing how food is cooked and a noun when describing the cooking equipment, such as a grill.

 

The traditions around a braai can be considerably different from a barbecue, however, even if the method of food preparation is very similar.

 

While wood formerly was the most widely-used braai fuel, in modern times the use of charcoal has increased due to its convenience, as with barbecues elsewhere in the world. No TRUE Afrikaner would ever use coal, though! *shudders at the mere thought of such heresy*. There has however been a renewed interest in the use of wood after the South African government started with its invasive plant species removal program. An important distinction between a braai and a barbecue is that it is fairly uncommon for a braai to use gas rather than an open flame.

 

 

The "Bring and Braai"

Boerewors and pork in a concrete braai structure.

 

Similar to a potluck party, this is a social event which is casual and laid-back, where family and friends converge on a picnic spot or someone's home (normally the garden or verandah) with their own meat, salad, or side dish in hand. Meats are the star of the South African braai. They typically include boerewors (a local sausage, made mainly of beef these days, but proper boerewors is made of beef, mutton, pork and whatever game you could hunt down yourself), sosaties, kebabs, marinated chicken, pork and lamb chops, steaks, sausages of different flavors and thickness, and possibly even a rack or two of spareribs. Fish and Rock Lobster commonly called "crayfish" or kreef in Afrikaans, are also popular in coastal areas.

 

The other main part of the meal is pap (pronounced /ˈpɑːp/, meaning porridge), actually a thickened porridge, or the krummelpap ("crumb porridge"), traditionally eaten with the meat. Made from finely ground corn/maize (similar to polenta), it is a staple of local African communities and may be eaten with a tomato and onion sauce, monkeygland sauce (no, it's not made of monkey glands ) or the more spicy chakalaka at a braai. Alternatively Braaibrood (braaibread) is made.

 

Sometimes this activity is also known as a "dop en tjop" (dop being Afrikaans slang for an alcoholic drink, literally meaning "cap" or "bottle top", and "tjop" being the informal Afrikaans term for lambchop) when more alcohol than the odd beer is involved.

 

 

Social norms

 

A braai is a social occasion that has specific traditions and social norms. In black and white South African culture, women rarely braai (cook) meat at a social gathering, as this is normally the preserve of men. The men gather round the braai or braaistand (the fire or grill) outdoors and cook the food, while women prepare the pap, salads, desserts, and vegetables for the meal in the kitchen. The meal is subsequently eaten outside by the fire/braai, since the activity is normally engaged in during the long summer months. The braaing (cooking) of the meat is not the prerogative of all the men attending, as one person would normally be in charge. He will attend to the fire, check that the coals are ready, and braai (cook) the meat. Other men may assist but generally only partake in fireside conversation. This is very similar to how Australian and American backyard barbecues often run. In South Africa, the person in charge is known as the braaier or tong-master (chef).

 

Main source of information: Wikipedia

 

 

The most important part: Braai Rules!!!

 

Universal braai rules

 

1. Men do the braaiing. But around the fire everyone's equal, so women are more than welcome.

 

2. If you don't know how to braai, then you're an Aussie (Australian), Kiwi (New Zealander) or a Pommie (British). Don't braai. It's best to leave it to the experts.

 

3. You can only braai with wood. So cut down a tree, raid a skip or import a container of the real stuff. If desperate, a builder's palette will do the trick with the aid of some briquettes added later to the burning wood. Please note that the donkey droppings you get from British supermarkets are not briquettes or charcoal. It needs to say "charka" on the outside of the bag to constitute anything remotely acceptable.

Anything that claims it can be lit "instantly" without proper firelighters, petrol, paper or fine firewood should be placed under the Houses of Parliament.

 

4. A fire can never be too big and coals can never be too hot. If you are someone who thinks that it can be, you are most probably an Aussie, Kiwi or a Pommie. Refer back to rule number 2.

 

5. If you're not the braaier, never comment on what the braaier is doing. It's his braai. You are allowed to talk about the weather, the Springboks, why Kevin Pietersen should not play for the Proteas and fetch cold beer. Leave religion, politics and your best friend's mother out of it.

 

6. A braai with more than one salad is not a braai. If you want to go for a picnic, pack a blanket and bugger off.

 

7. Turn the meat regularly and spice it properly. If you want to leave it on the one side until it's charcoal and then do the other side until it's charcoal without spicing it, you're an Aussie, Kiwi or Pommie. See rule number 2.

 

8. If you want to have pap with your braai, prepare boerewors and make onion and tomato smoor to go with it. If you want to eat it with milk and sugar, book into the Holiday Inn in Uzbekistan and stay there.

UK braai rules

 

1. Find proper meat. The thinly sliced bacon strips that look like Prince Charles' ears available in UK supermarkets are just not braai meat. Go to a market or find a butcher. If your butcher doesn't know how to cut meat properly, buy in bulk and cut it yourself. Anything thinner than the Oxford dictionary is not acceptable on the coals. If you are desperate and have to buy from a supermarket, find something with an expiry date long gone. The meat in this country is generally a month too fresh for a proper braai. Green is gold on the international braaiing stakes – just make sure you cook it properly.

 

2. You can braai in summer and in winter. The fact that supermarkets stack away braai gear from October to May is ludicrous. Have they never heard of umbrellas and gazebos in this place?

 

3. Create a bit of smoke at the beginning and make lots of flames to p** off the neighbours. Have some wet wood, newspaper or an old Christmas tree available just for that. If you don't get a knock on your door from the local council within three weeks from moving in, you're most probably an Aussie, Kiwi or Pommie. Revert back to rule number 2, as listed under the Universal Braai Rules.

 

4. If you want to braai wors, braai boerewors. It's dark red and made of real meat. If there is more than 10 per cent pig in it, it's not wors: it's a banger, and should be had with a hangover the next morning done in a pan with eggs.

 

You know the rules, now get out there and do it properly.

[Auld Manriva]

Bar-B-Q Day!!! Love It!! All it needs is mass quantities of Fireworks and Beer to make my list of things to see

[hotpocket2006]

National Braai Day sounds delicious! *mouth waters* I need to go eat something.

 

Well for my family, we celebrate two of these holidays, which also happen to be two of the biggest holidays in the US.

 

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday of the year. There's food, family, and football three of my favorite fs So normally we wake up and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. My mom starts cooking the food while I help take care of my little sisters. Then after the parade The National Dog Show come on and we watch all the cute little puppies. I'm the one who bakes most of the pies that day. I vary the pies every year, but I always have pumpkin pie. And another tradition is that our football team the Dallas Cowboys, always play on Thanksgiving Day, so depending on what time the game is, we will flip back and forth between that and the dog show if they are on at the same time. Then when the food is done we pig out until literally we can't eat anymore and we save all the leftover to eat until they're gone.

 

Up until I graduated from highschool, I graduated in 06, I went trick or treating. I would dress up and go trick or treating with my little sisters and the later with friends. Now however I don't go trick or treating and I either take my sisters trick or treating (if Halloween doesn't fall on Friday or Saturday) and the Friday/Saturday of Halloween I either go 2 hrs away to the closest big city and go to the bars or I go 4 hrs away to the Twin Cities, Minneapolis/St Paul so I can go to the bars there or go to the house parties like I'm going to do this year.

[Charis alAslan]

This is a great list. I hope to be able to introduce my daughter (and any future kids) to all of these at some point. Yay for Mid-Autumn Festival! Having married into a Chinese family, this is just like Thanksgiving for them.

[Zosime]

National Braai Day does sound awesome sauce. *is now hungry*

 

Our congregation just wrapped up out fall holidays: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot. I love Sukkot. Actually, that's an understatement. I really, really, really love Sukkot. A lot of Jewish congregations in the U.S. don't live in temporary dwellings now a days, they typically just eat one meal under a Sukkah (booth) and that's about it. Since the congregation that Barbarian and I go to is a Messianic Jewish congregation (we keep Jewish law and Festivals and believe that Jesus is the Messiah), we're kinda different, obviously. We camp out in tents for eight days, and fellowship and study with one another, and it's a blast! And, let me tell you, you really get to know a person when you spend a week in the outdoors with them.

[Panchi]

Diwali

 

During Diwali in India most houses and streets are decorated with lights. It is a five day festival and the most imporatant festival of India. It always falls on a New Moon day so the lights look more beautiful. There are special preparation for each day. There are also fireworks. To see the myths related to Diwali check out the Autumn Myths and Legends thread.

 

This year it is near to the release of Towers of Midnight.

[Lessa Nikia]

Canadian Thanksgiving:occurrs on the second Monday in October (since 1957), is an annual Canadian holiday to give thanks at the close of the harvest season. Started by many First Nations when settlers came to Canada. Celebrated across Canada every year.

Rememberance Day: Celebrated to remember those who lost their lives during WWI and those who have lost their lives since then. In Ottawa, the national ceremonies are held and visitors lay poppies on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

[Senexx]

After Elgee's post I don't know whether to talk about an Autumn Holiday which is Spring for most DMers or a Spring Holiday which is Autumn for most DMers. There is really only one in each I can talk about anyway, so if someone wishes to clue me in let me know.

 

So do you want an actual Autumn Holiday in the Southern Hemisphere or do you want a holiday around the same time as Halloween and all that? Cheers!

[hotpocket2006]

How about both I'm always interested to know whatever I can about different countries and their celebrations.

[Senexx]

OK. I'll be back because this first one is going to be long.

[Senexx]

In Autumn, on the 25th of April, Australians and New Zealanders commemorate ANZAC Day, it is somewhat similar to the United States Memorial Day. I'll focus more on the Australian side of things.

 

Australia was barely a teenager (14) as a nation when it went to war.

 

"It is a legend not of sweeping military victories so much as triumphs against the odds, of courage and ingenuity in adversity. It is a legend of free and independent spirits whose discipline derived less from military formalities and customs than from the bonds of mateship and the demands of necessity."

Those were the words immortalised by the then Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating.

 

ANZAC Day is the day every year that commemorates the landing of the ANZACs at Gallipoli in WW I.

 

As part of the larger British Empire contingent the ANZACs were brought in from training in Egypt to participate.. The ANZACs comprised the 1st Australian Division and the composite New Zealand and Australian Division. On 25 April 1915, the ANZACS landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Instead of finding the flat beach they expected, they found they had veen landed at an incorrect position and faced steep cliffs and constant barrages of enemy fire and shelling. Around 20 000 soldiers landed on the beach over the next two days to face a well organised, well armed, large Turkish force determined to defend their country and led by Mustafa Kemal, who later became Ataturk, the leader of modern Turkey. Thousands of Australian and New Zealand men died in the hours and days that followed the landing at the beach. The beach would eventually come to be known as ANZAC Cove. What followed the landing at Gallipoli is a story of courage and endurance, of death and despair, of poor leadership from London and unsuccessful strategies. The ANZACs and the Turks dug in - literally - digging kilometres of trenches and pinned down each other's forces with sniper fire and shelling. Pinned down with their backs to the water the ANZACS were unable to make much headway against the home country force.

 

The Gallipoli campaign was an enormous failure, a failure bought at the cost of an enormous number of lives, and the failure led to the resignation of senior politicians in London. Thousands of Australian and New Zealand soldiers had died and thousands of other Allied troops from France and Britain also died.

 

This seems like something the Australians would rather forget, doesn't it? But instead they have made heroes and a solemn memory of the heroci failure, as fits Australian history well.

 

Australians are particularly inclined to make heros of noble failures, such as the defeated Eureka rebels, the suicidal Jolly Swagman in 'Waltzing Matilda', and Ned Kelly.

 

Major General Sir William Bridges was the first dead soldier returned to Australian shores. In respect to his memory, the cadets of the college turned their hats around because the Major General was found with his hat on back to front. We wear them correctly today but the chin strap buckles on the right.

 

It was finally decided early in December 1915 to withdraw the ANZAC troops from Gallipoli. It sounds very simple to say the soldiers would be withdrawn but really it was a most difficult and dangerous job. The whole idea had to be a very great secret, so there would no possibility of the Turks hearing of it.

 

So that the Turks would not see them, troops, stores and guns could be taken away during the hours of darkness only. As soon as night fell, ships would come in close to the shore at ANZAC and the soldiers who had come down from the trenches on to the beach would be taken off to the ships in motor lighters. Then thousand soldiers, some guns, and few stores were the most that could be taken off in a night.

 

While this was going on the front line trenches still had to have soldiers in them firing their rifles and machine guns and throwing bombs, so that the Turks would not notice any difference and would not guess what was happening on the beach. It was not possible to take all the troops away from parts of the front line as the Turks would then notice that there was no firing from these parts and would guess that there were no soldiers there and would break into the trenches.

 

So the whole of the front line had to be gradually thinned out still leaving enough ment to do the firing and bombing. Each night those who were left had to keep walking along the trenches and firing from different places so that the Turks would not know thin the line was. In the daytime soldiers were told to walk about behind the trenches where the Turks could see them from a long way off along the coast, and would still think there were plenty of men there.

 

Ships came in the daytime and landed a few soldiers and stores so that the Turks would not be suspicious. They would not realize that many more men and stores were being taken away each night. This gradual thinning out went on for a week or more. There was the danger that a havey storm with rough seas might blow up as was likely in the December and the loading of lighters at night might be held up, but fortunately the weather kept fine and embarking of troops and stores went on satisfactorily.

 

It was decided that the final night of the evacuation at ANZAC would be December 20th. By the night of December 18th the soldiers holding the front line at ANZAC, which was six miles long, had been reduced to 20 000. It was necessary that these be taken off on the nights of December 19th & 20th. Half of these were taken off successfully on the night of the 19th leaving only 10 000 at each place for the final night.

 

At ANZAC it was arranged that 4000 of the final 10000 would be withdrawn as soon as it was dark, another 4000 between 9 and 11, thus leaving only 2000 men to defence the ANZAC area until the time came for the final men to leave. All went well, the 8000 men embarked and 500 of the 2000 were brought down to the beach leaving 1500 still in the front line.

 

It must be remembered that these 1500 men were not all at once place in the front line but thinly scattered over the whole ANZAC front of six miles. As this line was in the form of a semi-circle, or bow, some of these soldiers were much farther from the beach than others, so that those that were farthest from the beach had to leave the front line first to arrive at the embarking points on the beach at the time arranged.

 

The posts on the two flanks were bandoned first, with the withdrawal become gradual toward the centre, where the line was closer to the pick-up place on the beach.

 

The final evacuation of the left of the ANZAC line was fixed for 0130 and for the right for 0200, while the soldiers in the trenches nearest to the beaches, such as Lone Pine and Quinn's, did not leave til 0255 and the last at Russell's Top at 0314 hours.

 

While all this was going on the few soldiers who were left in the trenches still had to be firing their rifles and throwing a few bombs, especially at places like Quinn's Post where the Turkish trenches were a mere 15 yards away.

 

In order to trick the Turks, self-firing rifles were arranged, chich would continue to shoot for some time after the last troops had left. Sthe simplest was made by attaching a wight to the trigger of the rifle, which would be pulled by the overbalance of a certain tin when it willed with water which dripped from another tin above it. When sufficient water had dropped into the lower tin it overbalanced, released the weight, and fired the rifle. The time it took debended on the size of the hole through which the water dripped, so holes of diffrent sizes were made for each rifle, the average time being about twenty minutes.

 

Everything went without a hitch.

 

There is now a tribute to the ANZACS at Gallipoli built and endorsed by the Australian, New Zealand and Turkish governments

THE ANZAC MEMORIAL

 

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives

You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.

Threfore, rest in peace.

There is no difference between the Johnnies

And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side,

Here in this country of ours.

You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries,

Wipe away your tears.

Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace.

After having lost their lives on this land, they have

Become our sons as well.

 

==========================================================

 

Gallipoli is often considered to have forged a nation.

 

"It is interesting how a tactical defeat can outshine any number of successes and form part of our national identity. The wonderful thing about the ANZAC story is that its not a story that glorifies war. It's a story about ordinary people struggling to overcome their fears and frailties but achieving extraordinary things."

- Rear Admiral Davyd Thomas, Naval Commander of Australia.

[Mystica]

very informative, great work you all! thoroughly enjoy reading these!

[Torrie]

It is so great hearing about all the holidays. Song, wonderful job!

 

 

This is the last day of the Fair everyone! If you want to educate us about your holidays, you better do do now!

[hotpocket2006]

Last day everyone! And I would lurv to hear how everyone celebrates the different holidays and what your family traditions are!