May 22, 2014

Today we celebrate music, the sea, biodiveristy, the Bab, pudding and Canada! 

Canadian Immigrants Day – This is a day to celebrate immigrants to Canada and recognize the contributions they have made to that great country. Celebrate by participating in a lively discussion about the Canadian immigration policy and your experiences with Canadian immigrants.

National Maritime Day – On this day in 1819, the SS Savannah, an American sailing ship/sidewheel steamer, set sail and became the first steamship in the world to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Although most of the distance was not covered using steam power, it was still a historic event.

International Day For Biological Diversity – Created by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993 to increase awareness and understanding of biodiversity issues. Biodiversity is the variety of life in a particular habitat.  December 29th was the date originally chosen for celebration because that was the date of the beginning of the Convention of Biological Diversity. However, in 2000, the date was changed to today partly because many countries have a large number of celebrations already around that time of year and it was difficult to plan and carry out appropriate celebrations for this day.

Buy A Musical Instrument Day – Have you always wanted to learn a musical instrument and never got around to it? Well this is the day to get an instrument and get started. If you don't want to spend the money to buy a new one, you can always get a used instrument that is just as good as a new one, or you can rent one for a while to see if you like it.

Declaration Of The Bab Day – On this day the Baha'is celebrate from sunset tonight to sunset tomorrow night. They are celebrating the origins of their faith which began in 1844 when Siyyid Ali-Muhammad announced that he was the bearer of a Divine Revelation, which would prepare humanity for the arrival of the Promised One which has been foretold by almost all the world's religions.

National Vanilla Pudding Day – A simple, but delicious dessert. I tend to prefer vanilla over chocolate and you can mix other things in to get other flavors like strawberries or ice cream or bananas. Yum, I'm making myself hungry.

To celebrate today, call up a Canadian immigrant and discuss the Baha’i faith while you eat vanilla pudding and peruse musical instruments you would like to buy.  Then take your kids to the nearest body of water to watch the ships sailing by while you tell them about biodiversity.