International Women's Day - history and traditions of the holiday. International Women's Day - history and traditions of the holiday March 8 was this day

Hundreds of thousands of women are celebrated annually in Ukraine on March 8th. However, explaining why we celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8 and what the history of this holiday is like in general is not so easy. How “prostitutes” were replaced in history with “workers” and about women’s protests - read the material.

And if those women to whom we owe the holiday of March 8th - the suffragettes - were told that in a hundred years women would begin to prepare for this day in beauty salons, and then accept flowers, perfumes and compliments as gifts from men - these ladies would definitely come out from myself. And the reaction of revolutionary Clara Zetkin, who provided Women's Day the status of annual and international is generally difficult to imagine.

History of March 8– version one, official: Day of Solidarity of Working Women

Although this version of the creation of the March 8 holiday during the USSR was recognized as official (and no other versions were considered), it has several “errors”.

So, according to the official version, the holiday is associated with the “March of Empty Pots,” which took place on March 8, 1857 in New York.Back then, women who worked in textile dye factories protested against poor working conditions and low wages.During the march, they beat these same pots, demanding that they be given a 10-hour working day instead of a 16-hour day, equal wages with men and the right to vote.

The same version also speaks about the famous German communist Clara Zetkin. She is often called the woman who founded the holiday on March 8th. In 1910, at a women's forum in Copenhagen, Zetkin called on the world to establish International Women's Day on March 8. She meant that on this day women would organize rallies and demonstrations, and thereby draw public attention to their problems.

Here it is also worth recalling Zetkin’s controversial call. She was an avid communist, which means she was ready to do anything for the sake of her own beliefs. In 1920, during the war between Poland and Soviet Russia, Zetkin stated the following from the Reichstag rostrum.

Not a single carriage with weapons for the Polish troops, with machine tools for the military factories built in Poland by the Entente capitalists, should cross the German border.

To do this, Zetkin called on all “conscious proletarian women” to mobilize, who should offer their love to any “conscious” worker who refuses to participate in the fulfillment of military orders.

This holiday came to the then Russian Empire through Zetkin’s friend, the fiery revolutionary Alexandra Kollontai. The same one that conquered the Soviet Union with a “big phrase”.

You should give yourself to the first man you meet as easily as drinking a glass of water.

On March 8, 1917, a women's demonstration took place in Petrograd. While two million soldiers died during the war, women came out demanding "bread and peace." This historical Sunday falls on February 23rd according to the Julian calendar, or March 8th according to the Gregorian calendar - the beginning of the Russian revolution.

Four days later, the Tsar abdicated and the provisional government granted voting rights to women. March 8th became official holiday in the USSR in 1921.

History of March 8– version two: protests of prostitutes, not factory workers

This version of the origin of the holiday is perhaps the most scandalous and unpleasant for everyone representatives of beauty genders who await International Women's Day with trepidation.

Detention of suffragettes in Britain

In 1857, women did protest in New York (as we wrote above), but they were not textile workers, but prostitutes. They demanded to pay wages to the sailors, because they used their services and did not have the money to pay.

Even later - March 8, 1894 - Another demonstration of prostitutes took place in Paris. This time they demanded recognition of their rights on an equal basis with those service sector workers who sew clothes or bake bread, and establish special trade unions

Detention of suffragettes

Similar actions took place in 1895 in Chicago, and in 1896 in New York.These protests became the prerequisite for the memorable suffragette convention (from English word suffrage - “suffrage”) in 1910, where it was decided to declare March 8th Women’s Day and international, as suggested by Zetkin.

By the way, Clara Zetkin herself also took part in such actions.In 1910, together with her friend Rosa Luxemburg, she brought prostitutes onto the streets of German cities demanding an end to police brutality.But in the Soviet version, “prostitutes” were replaced with “working women.”

History of March 8 – version three: honoring the Queen of the Jews

There is a version that Zetkin was born into the family of a Jewish shoemaker, and therefore she associated March 8 with Jewish holiday Purim.

According to legend, the beloved of the Persian king Xerxes, Esther, saved the Jewish people from extermination by using her charms.Xerxes wanted to exterminate all the Jews, but Esther convinced him not only not to kill the Jews, but, on the contrary, to destroy all Jewish enemies, including the Persians themselves.This happened on the 13th day of Ardah according to the Jewish calendar (this month falls at the end of February– beginning of March). Honoring Esther, Jews began to celebrate Purim.The date of the celebration was “floating”, but in 1910 it fell on March 8th.

Detention of suffragettes in Germany

Other versions

Some are convinced that March 8 is Mrs. Zetkin’s birthday.Others, either jokingly or seriously, claim that on this day Clara Zetkin (Eisner) became a woman, and then decided to write this intimate date into world history, veiling it under the day of “international solidarity of the female proletariat.”

The version about Zetkin’s birthday can be easily refuted, because, according to historical documents, she was born on July 5th. But the other one - about the loss of virginity - remains just a strange assumption. Over the years, the holiday of March 8 itself has become increasingly overgrown with similar and unlikely legends.

Caricature of suffragettes in the press

What do we celebrate on March 8?

To put it bluntly, March 8– an ordinary political “PR campaign” of the Social Democrats.At the beginning of the 20th century, women protested throughout Europe.And to attract attention, they didn’t even need to show their breasts, as modern activists doIt was enough to simply walk through the streets with posters on which socialist slogans were written.

March 8 for a long time was an ordinary working day, only on May 8, 1965, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, International Women's Day on March 8 was declared a holiday in the USSR.

Detention of suffragettes

If you say that March 8– this is a communist relic, you can’t go wrong.However, one cannot ignore the fact that on the other hand– this is a manifestation of the women's movement.It doesn’t really matter what professions representatives took to the streets to protest.After decades, we are only interested in the fact itself.

Detention of suffragettes

The history of the March 8 holiday has already passed the century mark. Naturally, during such a period of time, history and traditions have developed that relate to both gifts and the celebration of International Women's Day.

Which March 8 traditions can be noted as the most common or the most interesting?

Women's Day traditions in Russia

Our people love this holiday and have been celebrating it with pleasure for decades. What customs have developed around Russian March 8th?

1. On this day congratulations to all the better half, without division into age and status. Both very little girls and young girls, and older ladies, and older women.
2. The traditional gift on this day is flowers.. They can be in bouquets and in flowerpots. It may be a luxurious designer bouquet, or a touching sprig of mimosa, but flowers on March 8 are practically a mandatory gift.
3. On this women's day it is traditional free from all women's chores around the house. Previously, men took over the stove, they cleaned the apartment, baked cakes with their own hands and tried in every possible way to honestly perform that part of the housework, which is usually a woman’s prerogative. Nowadays, many men follow the path of least resistance, limiting themselves to going to a restaurant or ordering food at home, so as not to force their beloved to do housework on the holiday.
4. March 8 traditions also include gifts. Once upon a time, they were certificates of honor for production and professional successes, then the holiday became less politicized, and gifts became more festive. Now on March 8, women are traditionally given jewelry, accessories, clothes, and beautiful lingerie. It is bad form to give kitchen items as gifts on March 8th - pots, pans, teapots, oven mitts and aprons. It's better to give household appliances, if you definitely decide to make your loved one happy with something extremely useful.
5. Another tradition of Russian March 8th is a day off on this day.. Since this holiday was declared a non-working day in 1965, it has been a legal holiday for the entire country. And not a single government in the era of change has encroached on this indestructible folk tradition– celebrate March 8 widely and on a grand scale.
6. Can definitely be called a tradition congratulations to women in the workplace and in teams. Every company and office prepares for this day differently. Somewhere they throw a whole party filled with fun and surprises, somewhere they limit it to a day off for women. Somewhere they simply give small bouquets of flowers or cute souvenirs, but on March 8, in every institution and workplace, women receive attention, congratulations and compliments.
7. It can also be noted culinary Russian traditions March 8. Traditional desserts - cakes or pastries, light fruit soufflés or low-calorie fruit salads- are an obligatory part of the meal. After all, women love sweets. Also, most families try to prepare salads or dishes with the first spring vegetables - after all, you really want to pamper yourself with what you have lost the habit of over the winter: fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, elastic salad greens.

March 8 traditions in other countries

March 8 is celebrated almost everywhere in the former USSR. Ukraine and Belarus, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - all these countries celebrate March 8, and their traditions are not much different from Russian ones. After all, we have long been one country, with a common cultural space, and similar traditions of celebrating this day. How are things going abroad? After all, since 1977, March 8 received the status of International Women's Day from the UN. What traditions on March 8 are common in other countries?

• In Vietnam, this day is a day off and is celebrated everywhere.. Previously, this one was in memory of the brave Trung sisters who fought against the Chinese invasion of Vietnam and died bravely, preferring death to captivity. In the last century, this holiday gradually changed, and now Vietnam celebrates March 8 as the International Day of Women's Struggle for their Rights.
• March 8th is also celebrated in China. This day is a day off in this country, but only for women. The men continue to work. On this day, Chinese women meet with friends, go to cafes and shopping, in general, try to pamper themselves and their loved ones. And the men prepare the obligatory “Pumpkin of Loyalty” in the evening. The dish includes many different ingredients that are combined into a whole composition inside the pumpkin.
• France, as befits a liberal country, this holiday is not celebrated, but holds special events on this day, something like charity bazaars. The money collected is transferred to the heroine mothers' fund so that they can go on vacation.
• But temperamental Italy, although it did not declare this day a holiday, still did not stay away from the celebration. On this day, Italian women gather in groups of women, meet in bars, chat and treat themselves. And in the evening they go to a disco or club. Moreover, in Rome, men's strip clubs offer women free entry on this day.

March 8 is rich in traditions, but the most important of them is: special attention to women from men. Take care of your women, congratulate them, give flowers and gifts, pamper them, and not only on March 8, but on all other days.

The holiday, on which ladies eagerly await congratulations, flowers and gifts, and men turn into gallant gentlemen and show their loved ones signs of attention, arose more than a century and a half ago as a day of women’s struggle for their rights.

The political coloring of the holiday has been washed away by time and now on March 8 everyone celebrates the onset of spring.

International Women's Day

The holiday originated in the distant past and is closely intertwined with the ongoing struggle of women of many generations for equality with men.

According to unconfirmed reports, International Women's Day is associated with the “March of the Empty Pots”, which New York textile workers held on March 8, 1857.

Taking to the streets 161 years ago, they demanded equality, in particular, shorter working hours and equal pay conditions to men.

The police dispersed the demonstrators, but two years later they managed to create the first trade union to protect their interests, which in those distant times was a great achievement.

New York women stood up for their rights again after 51 years - this time adding women's right to vote to their demands.

A demonstration in New York under the slogan “Bread and Roses,” where bread symbolized economic security and roses best quality 15 thousand women spent their lives on March 8, 1908. And in May, the Socialist Party of America proclaimed the last Sunday in February National Women's Day.

The long-term struggle of women ultimately bore fruit: in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, women received the right to vote in 1918, and in the United States in 1920.

Women's Day was established as an international day at the suggestion of the German communist Clara Zetkin at the Women's Forum in Copenhagen in 1910, which was attended by more than a hundred activists from around the world.

© photo: Sputnik / RIA Novosti

Women from different countries have held rallies and marches on International Women's Day since 1911 to draw public attention to their problems and eliminate gender inequality.

First international agreement, which declared equality between men and women, was the UN Charter, signed in 1945 in San Francisco. 30 years later, the UN officially established March 8 as a holiday, and in 1975 International Year women.

Since 1965, International Women's Day March 8 has become a holiday and a non-working day in the USSR, in accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council. Over the years, the holiday has lost its political connotation and has become simply International Women's Day - March 8th.

During the Soviet era, International Women's Day was also celebrated in Georgia, but after the collapse of the Union, March 8 was abolished, like many other Soviet holidays.

International Women's Day March 8 again received the status of a holiday in March 2002, under the second President of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze.

This decision was made by the Georgian legislature on the initiative of Nino Burjanadze, who then served as chairman of the parliament.

Holiday traditions

Over the past decades, enough celebration traditions have accumulated, although different countries celebrated in different ways, somewhere on a larger scale, and somewhere less.

International Women's Day is celebrated almost everywhere in the territory of the former Soviet Union, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Ukraine.

International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8 in China, however, only Chinese women relax on this day, going to cafes and shopping with their friends. And men, after a regular working day, prepare the traditional “Loyalty Pumpkin.”

Vietnamese people relax on this day and celebrate the International Day of Women's Struggle for their rights. Previously, they celebrated March 8 as a day of remembrance for the brave Trung sisters, who bravely fought against the Chinese invasion of Vietnam and died preferring death to captivity.

In Italy, March 8 is a holiday, but not a day off. On this day, Italians organize bachelorette parties at discos or clubs. On the occasion of International Women's Day, male strip clubs in Rome are offering women free entry.

International Women's Day is not celebrated in France, although special charity events are held on March 8th. The French donate the money collected on this day to a fund for heroine mothers so that they can go on vacation.

In general, on International Women's Day, various events, dedicated to women, including exhibitions, flash mobs, concerts and so on. On March 8, all women are given flowers and gifts, and outstanding ones are given memorable gifts and awards.

There are many traditions, but the most important of them is the special attention of men to women.

Dear men, take care of your women, pamper them, give flowers and gifts all year round, and not just March 8, and your attention will definitely return to you a hundredfold!!!

The material was prepared based on open sources

© Sputnik / Maria Tsimintia

Why is International Women's Day celebrated on March 8? It turns out that there are no special reasons for this.

It all started in the early spring of 1857... when New York textile workers marched through Manhattan on a “march of empty pans.” They demanded higher wages, better working conditions and equal rights for women. The demonstration was naturally dispersed, but due to its unusual nature it caused quite a bit of noise. This event even began to be called Women's Day…

More than 50 years passed and on the last Sunday of February in 1908, thousands of women again took to the streets of New York. This demonstration, as you might guess, was timed to coincide with that same “Women’s Day” in 1857. Women again began to demand suffrage and spoke out against terrible working conditions, and especially against the labor of children. The police received orders to disperse the demonstration. Hoses filled with dirty, ice-cold water were used.

The following year, 1909, Women's Day was again marked by women's marches and strikes. In 1910, socialists and feminists celebrated Women's Day throughout the country. Later that year, delegates traveled from the United States to Copenhagen for Second International Conference of Socialist Women, where we met Clara Zetkin...

Inspired by the actions of the “American Socialist Sisters,” Clara Zetkin proposed that the conference ask women around the world to choose a specific day when they would draw public attention to their demands. The conference, which was attended by more than 100 women from 17 countries, enthusiastically supported this proposal by roll call vote, which resulted in the emergence of International Day of Women's Solidarity in the Struggle for Economic, Social and Political Equality. It should be noted that the exact date of this day was never determined at this conference.

For the first time International Women's Day was held March 19, 1911 in Germany, Austria, Denmark and some other European countries. This date was chosen by the women of Germany because on this day in 1848, the King of Prussia, facing the threat of armed rebellion, promised reforms, including the unfulfilled introduction of women's suffrage.

In 1912, women celebrated this day not on March 19, but May 12. And only in 1914 this day began to be celebrated spontaneously for some reason. March 8.

Since Russia then lived, unlike all of Europe, according to the Julian calendar, International Women’s Day in our country was celebrated not on March 8, but February 23.

In Russia, women have celebrated this day every year since 1913. And so, February 23, 1917, this day has come again in Russia, the women of Petrograd took to the streets of the city to protest against the war. Some spontaneous rallies turned into mass strikes and demonstrations, clashes with Cossacks and police. On February 24-25, mass strikes developed into a general strike. On February 26, isolated clashes with the police resulted in battles with troops called to the capital. On February 27, the general strike developed into an armed uprising, and a massive transfer of troops began to side with the rebels, who occupied the most important points of the city and government buildings. The Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was created, and at the same time the Provisional Committee of the State Duma was created, which formed the government. On March 2 (15), Nicholas II abdicated the throne. On March 1, a new government was established in Moscow, and throughout March throughout the country.

Thus, it was International Women's Day in 1917 that was the trigger that led to February Revolution, which in turn led to the October Revolution and the emergence of the USSR...

In the USSR, March 8 was a regular working day for a long time, but May 8, 1965, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, International Women's Day March 8 was declared a holiday in the USSR.

By the way, since 2002, International Women’s Day has been celebrated in Russia as a “non-working holiday” no longer according to the 1965 Decree, but according to Article 112 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation in a list of other nine public holidays Russian Federation.

P.S. Many doubt that this holiday is truly “international”. However, back in 1977, the UN adopted resolution 32/142, calling on all countries to proclaim March 8 as a day of struggle for women's rights - International Women's Day. This day is declared a national holiday in the republics of the former USSR, as well as in: Angola, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Cambodia, China, Congo (there is a holiday not for “international” women, but for Congolese women), Laos, Macedonia, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea and Uganda. In Syria, March 8 is celebrated as Revolution Day, and in Liberia - even as the Day of Remembrance of the Fallen.