Internationale Frauentag

The title of this post means "International Women's Day", which happens to be today, March 8th. This really isn't celebrated so much in Canada, maybe a few protests and such, but I knew that it was a bigger deal in Europe, particularly in former Soviet countries. Wikipedia tells me that it's still a national holiday (i.e. no work) in a host of countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Cuba, and Vietnam, to name just a few. And though it was originally founded by a German socialist, Clara Zetkin, it doesn't seem to be widely celebrated these days in Germany.

But this morning, when I got into my office, I found a mostly dead red rose on my desk, with a little slip of paper reading: Best wishes from your colleagues in reminiscence of the former "Internationale Frauentag". I know this was partly to do with the translation, but I thought this sounded really sad, particularly accompanying a three-quarters dead flower. Of course I don't have a vase or anything like that, so the flower's sitting now in an empty beer bottle on my desk. I spoke to one of my co-workers, and he said that this used to be a holiday back in the good old DDR days.


And for those of you who don't really read the blog but rather just skim through the pictures, I'll put in something for you as well. Here's a picture Jenny sent me of her and her daughter Janka, who is dressed from head to toe in hand-knitted goods. The little purple cardigan was my contribution.