On May 16 Denmark and the Faroe Islands celebrate a public holiday – the Great Prayer Day.
In 1686, the King of Denmark and Norway Christian V united several Catholic holidays and proclaimed the Great Prayer Day. This day was one of a few holidays which survived innovations introduced by the hard reformer Johann Friedrich Struensee conducted during the Enlightenment, and came to the present day.
Initially this holiday was really devoted to prayer and fasting, but over time it became just a day-off. This is the only day except Sunday when confirmation (anointing) can be carried out.
It is a tradition that on the eve people eat special warm buns called varme hveder. This tradition is linked to the fact that earlier in the holiday bakeries did not work, so, they baked more bread in advance for people to buy it and reheat the next day. However, most often no one could resist eating fresh-out-of-oven bread immediately.
The district court of Amsterdam ordered to return to Ukraine 500 showpieces from four museums of the Crimea famous as ‘Scythian gold’, as Reuters reported on Wednesday, on the 12-th of December.
As it is reported by the edition France24, at the auction in Paris the most famous gun in the story of French literature has been sold. The poet Paul Verlain tried to shot his love partner using the stated weapon directing to bullet to another famous literature activist Arthur Rimbaud.
UNESCO has recognized as the heritage the songs performed by Cossacks within the territory where Dnepropetrovsk region is situated now. It is reported at the web-site of the international organization.
The Patriarch of Rome arranged a meeting with the scientist Stephen Hawking in Papal Academy of science located in Vatican. It is reported by Radio Vaticana.
In Britain on Tuesday it was an auction where for the first time for almost a century the skeleton of an extinct bird dodo was sold. The organizers of the action count that the skeleton will charge an amount from 300 to 500 thousand pounds (370-620 thousand dollars).
The samples of saliva of 83 aboriginal Australians and 25 Papuans showed that they are the direct descendants of the first people who inhabited the green continent nearly 50 thousand years ago.
On July 14 France celebrates the French National Day which commemorates the beginning of the French Revolution with the storming of the Bastille fortress.
In Tintagel Castle in Cornwall which is considered as the birth place of King Arthur the suspension bridge will be built. As The Guardian reports, it will ease the travelling way to the ancient castle located at the rugged cliff.
Sherin Khankhan became the imam of a new mosque and the mover of creation idea. Mosque Maryam is considered to be a feminist project which is to help to Muslim women.
Climate Change Performance Index published recently is the tool of transparency between international strategies in the area of climate. Its purpose is to show political and social pressure upon countries which have not taken appropriate measures on protection of environment.
