22th February (’23): World Thinking Day

World Thinking Day, formerly Thinking Day, is celebrated annually on 22 February by all Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. It is also celebrated by Scout and Guide organizations around the world. It is a day when they think about their “sisters” (and “brothers”) in all the countries of the world, the meaning of Guiding, and its global impact.

Most recently, World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts has selected an important international issue as the theme for each year’s World Thinking Day, and selected a focus country from each of their five world regions. Girl Guides and Girl Scouts use these as an opportunity to study and appreciate other countries and cultures, and equally increase awareness and sensitivity on global concerns. Donations are collected for the Thinking Day Fund which supports projects to help Girl Guides and Scouts around the world.

22 February was chosen as it was the birthday of Scouting and Guiding founder Lord Robert Baden-Powell and of Lady Olave Baden-Powell, his wife and World Chief Guide. Other Scouts celebrate it as B.-P. Day or Founders’ Day.

In 1926, at the Fourth Girl Scout International Conference, held at Girl Scouts of the United States’s Camp Edith Macy (presently the Edith Macy Conference Center), the conference delegates highlighted the need for a special international day when Girl Guides and Girl Scouts would think about the worldwide spread of Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting, and of all the Girl Guides and Girl Scouts around the world, giving them, their “sisters,” thanks and appreciation.

It was decided by the delegates that this day would be 22 February, the birthday of both Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout movement, and Lady Olave Baden-Powell, his wife and the World Chief Guide.

In 1999, at the 30th World Conference, held in Ireland, the name was changed from “Thinking Day” to “World Thinking Day”, to emphasize the global aspect of this special day.

20th February (’23):World Day of Social Justice

World Day of Social Justice (Social Justice Equality Day) is an international day recognizing the need to promote social justice, which includes efforts to tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion, gender inequality, unemployment, human rights, and social protections. Many organizations, including the UN, American Library Association (ALA), and the International Labour Organization, make statements on the importance of social and present plans for greater social justice by tackling poverty, social and economic exclusion and unemployment. The United Nations General Assembly has decided to observe 20 February annually, approved on 26 November 2007 and starting in 2009, as the World Day of Social Justice. The Declaration focuses on guaranteeing fair outcomes for all through employment, social protection, social dialogue, and fundamental principles and rights. Teaching Social Justice DayIdeal topics for teaching students about the need for social justice include (but are not limited to) childhood poverty, global citizenship, human rights, and sustainable development. A series of lessons are available by country with the United Nations and other programs. Oxfam’s food for thought power point which shows students the global food system that then has the opportunity for students to share their thoughts and experiences. The lesson plans and collections available are for students of all ages.

12th February (’23): Darwin Day

Darwin Day is a celebration to commemorate the birthday of Charles Darwin on 12 February 1809. The day is used to highlight Darwin’s contributions to science and to promote science in general. Darwin Day is celebrated around the world.

HistoryThe celebration of Darwin’s work and tributes to his life have been organised sporadically since his death on 19 April 1882, at age 73. Events took place at Down House, in Downe on the southern outskirts of London where Darwin and members of his family lived from 1842 until the death of his wife, Emma Darwin, in 1896.

In 1909, more than 400 scientists and dignitaries from 167 countries met in Cambridge to honour Darwin’s contributions and to discuss vigorously the recent discoveries and related theories contesting for acceptance. This was a widely reported event of public interest. Also in 1909, on 12 February, the 100th birth anniversary of Darwin and the 50th anniversary of the publication of On The Origin of Species were celebrated by the New York Academy of Sciences at the American Museum of Natural History. A bronze bust of Darwin was unveiled. On 2 June 1909 the Royal Society of New Zealand held a “Darwin Celebration”. “There was a very large attendance.”

On 24–28 November 1959, The University of Chicago held a major celebration of Darwin and the publication of On the Origin of Species, the largest event of the Darwin Centennial Celebration. Scientists and academics sometimes celebrated 12 February with “Phylum Feast” events—a meal with foods from as many different phyla as they could manage, at least as early as 1972, 1974, and 1989 in Canada. In the United States, Salem State College in Massachusetts has held a “Darwin Festival” annually since 1980, and in 2005, registered “Darwin Festival” as a service mark with the US Patent and Trademark Office. The Humanist Community of Palo Alto, California, was motivated by Dr. Robert Stephens in late 1993 to begin planning for an annual Darwin Day celebration. Its first public Darwin Day event was a lecture by Dr. Donald Johanson (discoverer of the early hominid “Lucy”), sponsored by the Stanford Humanists student group and the Humanist Community on 22 April 1995. The Humanist Community continues its annual celebration. Independently, in 1997, Professor Massimo Pigliucci initiated an annual Darwin Day event at the University of Tennessee. The event included public lectures and activities as well as a teachers’ workshop meant to help elementary and secondary school teachers better understand evolution and how to communicate it to their students, as well as how to deal with the pressures often placed on them by the creationism movement.

10th February (’23): National Memorial Day of the Exiles and Foibe (ITALY)

Remembrance Day is an Italian national civil solemnity, celebrated on February 10 each year, which commemorates the massacres of the sinkholes and the Julian Dalmatian exodus. Established with the law of 30 March 2004 n. 92, wants to “preserve and renew the memory of the tragedy of the Italians and of all the victims of the sinkholes, of the exodus from their lands of the Istrians, Fiume and Dalmatians after the Second World War and of the more complex story of the eastern border”

The Remembrance Day is associated with the release of a commemorative medal intended for relatives of suppressed and infoibate persons in Istria, in Fiume, in Dalmatia or in the provinces of the current eastern border between 8 September 1943, the date of the announcement of entry force of the armistice of Cassibile, and on February 10, 1947, the day of the signing of the peace treaties of Paris. Those who have been killed while voluntarily forming part of formations not in the service of Italy are excluded from recognition.

The chosen date is the day on which, in 1947, the Treaty of Paris was signed, which assigned Istria, Quarnaro, the city of Zara with its province and most of Venezia Giulia, previously part of Yugoslavia of Italy.

Some bills (all unsuccessful) were presented respectively in 1995, 1996 and 2000.

A new bill was presented to the Chamber of Deputies on 6 February 2003. It bore the signatures of a large group of deputies from various parliamentary groups (mainly from the National Alliance and Forza Italia, as well as from the UDC and Margherita). The first signatories were Roberto Menia and Ignazio La Russa, both in the past militants of the neo-fascist inspired party Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI). On February 10, 2004, Senator of the Margherita Willer Bordon - former militant of the Italian Communist Party - presented a bill with very similar content. The first bill to be discussed was the one presented to the Chamber: Bordon's proposal was consequently absorbed into it during the parliamentary passage through the Senate. The parliamentary process of the measure ended on 16 March 2004. Regularly promulgated by the President of the Republic, the law of 30 March 2004, n. 92, was published in the "Official Gazette" n. 86 of 13 April 2004.

4th February (’23): International Day of Human Fraternity

The International Day of Human Fraternity was established by the United Nations General Assembly on December 21, 2020, with resolution 75/200 as a way to promote greater cultural and religious tolerance. With this resolution, which was co-facilitated by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, the United Nations invited all its member states and other international organizations to observe the International Day of Human Fraternity annually on February 4.

Celebrations of the International Day of Human Fraternity include events attended by UN member states, religious leaders and civil society representatives along with the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, which recognizes individuals or entities anywhere in the world for their profound contributions to human fraternity.

Since it was celebrated for the first time on February 4, 2021, the International Day of Human Fraternity has received endorsements from different world leaders. Pope Francis; Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar; and the President of the United States, Joe Biden, have given their support to the initiative.

Pope Francis of the Catholic Church and Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, on February 4, 2019, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, signed the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, also known as the Abu Dhabi declaration. The principles of compassion and human solidarity embodied in this text are the same ones that later inspired the declaration that designated February 4 as the International Day of Human Fraternity, as it has been stated by the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, in different occasions.

To fulfill the aspirations of the Document on Human Fraternity, the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity (HCHF), was established in August 2019. The HCHF, which is constituted by both religious and civil leaders from different countries and creeds, awards the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity among other initiatives.

Finally, the Document on Human Fraternity also influenced the encyclical Fratelli tutti, as Pope Francis acknowledges in the same text by stating that he was inspired to write it by his meeting with Ahmed el-Tayeb in 2019.

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4th February (’23): World Cancer Day

World Cancer Day is celebrated on February 4, promoted by the UICC – Union for International Cancer Control – and supported by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Now in its twenty-third edition, the day represents an important call to reflect on what institutions and individuals can do together to fight cancer.

‘Close the Care Gap – Everyone deserves access to cancer care’ is the theme of the 2022-2024 campaign. The slogan calls attention to the importance of understanding and recognizing inequalities in cancer care around the world.

“Cancer is a preventable and curable pathology. We are preparing initiatives to enhance the promotion of cancer screening and at the same time encourage correct lifestyles to reduce risk factors. Prevention is essential and for this reason we want to spread a strong message of promotion of health to the entire population and in particular to young people, starting from elementary schools” declared the Italian Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci.

🎉 HAPPY NEW YEAR to those who want a world of peace and hope

Everyone would like their year to be filled with joy, health and prosperity. Unfortunately, reality wants people to live in imperfect relationships made up of perfect ideals only in their theory. However, this should not discourage that the main objective and horizon of life is hope, hope in everything, but in particular the hope of being able to live in peace and joy with others.
Happy 2023 to those who are filled with a spirit of peace.

27th Dcember (’22): Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist

St. John the Evangelist by Volodymyr Borovykovsky

Today I would like to remember a very important saint: Saint John the Apostle. Although the name day of the name John is celebrated on June 24, the figure of the apostle John deserves particular attention. I also live in a neighborhood where the parish church is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, but this shouldn’t distract attention from other saints with this name. In fact John the Apostle was defined by Jesus as the favorite apostle, the disciple whom Jesus loved, despite the apostle Peter and Saint Paul playing a central role in the spread of Christianity.

Obviously the figure of John the Baptist is and will always remain giant but too often John the Baptist is used to decode mystical events or denominations of various kinds…
Suffice it to say that Freemasonry was born on June 24th.

The Christian tradition has attributed five New Testament texts to John the Apostle: the Gospel according to John, the three Letters of John and the Apocalypse of John; many contemporary critics, including Christians, believe instead that these texts are probably not attributable to the apostle John. Another work attributed to him is the Apocryphon of John (not recognized as a divinely inspired text by the Catholic or Orthodox Church). Due to the speculative depth of his writings, he has traditionally been referred to as “the theologian” par excellence, artistically depicted with the symbol of the eagle, attributed to him because, with his vision described in the Apocalypse, he would have contemplated the True Light of the Word, as described in the Prologue of the fourth gospel, just as the eagle, it was believed, can stare directly at the sunlight.

29th October ’22: (World Stroke Organization): World Brain Stroke Day

The World Stroke Organization (WSO) is a non-profit medical association that works to raise awareness of prevention and treatment of stroke. The organization was founded in 2006 from the merging of two organizations previously in existence, the International Stroke Society (ISS) and the World Stroke Federation (WSF). Its membership consists of both professional individuals and organizations that share the WSO’s goals.

Mission
The mission of the World Stroke Organization is to “provide access to stroke care and to promote research and teaching in this area that will improve the care of stroke victims throughout the world.” The association also works to “increase visibility and credibility of its activities among stroke clinicians, researchers, other health professionals, international professional and lay organizations, and the general public.”

Activities
The WSO hosts a biennial congress that provides skill-building workshops to participants. In the past, congresses have attracted up to 2400 participants. Each year the WSO also endorses several conferences hosted by national regional societies that are members of the WSO.

The World Stroke Organization is responsible for the creation of World Stroke Day and its associated campaigns. World Stroke Day is held on 29 October each year.

The World Stroke Organisation runs the World Stroke Academy, which is the global e-learning platform for stroke education.

Publications
The WSO produces the bimonthly International Journal of Stroke, published by SAGE. The journal contains both original contributions and topical reviews, focusing on the clinical aspects of stroke. It has an international focus, with editors from six different regions. The journal was created in 2005 and became the official publication of the WSO with the organization’s creation in 2006.

27th october (’22): World Day for Audiovisual Heritage

The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage takes place every 27 October. This commemorative day was chosen by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 2005 to raise awareness of the significance and preservation risks of recorded sound and audiovisual documents (films, sound and video recordings, radio and television programmes). Events are held in many countries, organised by national and regional sound and film archives, broadcasters, museums and libraries, and major audiovisual associations including the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA), International Council on Archives (ICA), International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA), and the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF)).

The main objectives of designating the date of 27 October were listed by UNESCO:

raising public awareness of the need for preservation;
providing opportunities to celebrate specific local, national or international aspects of the heritage;
highlighting the accessibility of archives;
attracting media attention to heritage issues;
raising the cultural status of audiovisual heritage;
highlighting audiovisual heritage in danger, especially in developing countries.
The 2012 and 2013 events were co-ordinated by the Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations, through the SouthEast Asia & Pacific Audiovisual Archives Association (SEAPAVAA) and International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA).