Victories of Light and Match
Celebration and fanfare will fill the air in India this weekend as the country observes a major holiday—and cheers its national team. Sunday marks Diwali, also called the festival of lights, a five-day celebration that signifies the Hindu New Year. As India celebrates the victory of light over darkness, it hopes for a victory at this year’s Cricket World Cup, which the country is hosting. India’s team—which plays the Netherlands on Sunday—is favored to win, having already qualified for the quarter-finals.
Why Diwali Is Called the Festival of Lights
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Centuries of Centuries: The History of Cricket
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Armistice Day
Saturday marks Armistice Day, an international holiday commemorating the end of World War I. Here’s more on the observance that began on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918.
Ending a war to end all wars
WWI was unprecedented in the slaughter and destruction it caused, as more than 8.5 million soldiers died during a global conflict that came to be known as “the war to end all wars.” The war led to the downfall of four imperial dynasties, and pitted the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey, against the Allies, mainly France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, and Japan—and from 1917, the United States.
Remembrance
Given the war’s global scope and devastating toll, it didn’t take long for Armistice Day to become a solemn international holiday. In Great Britain the royal family hosted the first official Armistice Day events at Buckingham Palace, and in the U.S., Pres. Woodrow Wilson likewise proclaimed it in 1919, though Congress did not formally recognize it until 1926. In France, the holiday was first observed in 1920.
Happy birthday, USMC
This weekend also marks the birth of the U.S. Marine Corps, which was founded on Nov. 10, 1775, by order of the Continental Congress. Marines have participated in all U.S. wars, being in most instances first, or among the first, to fight. In addition, Marines have executed more than 300 landings on foreign shores and served in every major U.S. naval action since the American Revolution.
U.S. Marine Corps/National Archives, Washington, D.C. (74248048)
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