Donne, Women, Femmes, Mujeres, Damen, Senhoras, Damer,レディース, Xonimlar, سيدات, Hölgyek, …

The international women’s day

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From the humble bouquet…

The idea of an international women’s day was born in February 1909 in the United States. The motivations that led to the choice of that date, March 8, are not clear from the congress documents. The origins of the holiday can be traced back to March 8, 1857, when garment workers in New York City staged a protest against inhumane working conditions and low wages, according to the United Nations. The police attacked the protesters and dispersed them, but the movement continued and led to the creation of the first women’s labor union.

In Italy and other countries it was often reference to an incident occurred in New York on March 25, 1911, when 134 women died in the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire.

[This fire incident is well-described in the book New York by E. Rutherfurd.]

The choice of the yellow flowers of the mimosa dates back to 1946: the organizers of the celebrations in Rome were looking for a flower that was in season and cheap: the mimosa, precisely.

It is a very much celebrated day for us in Italy. Mimosas are everywhere. I do not know which man can just walk aways without buying a bouquet of mimosas. There are bouquets for all pockets, from a two euros a pieces, to more complicated one at about 10 euros.

A day worth celebrating.

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To a more sophisticated ….

 

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I lived the most part of my life in Washington DC, now in Italy getting to know again my country. Plenty of surprises, for good and bad, and lots of nostalgia for DC.

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