On August 16, the world celebrates Men’s Beauty Day and World Kite Day.
On August 16, 1944, the so-called “March of Shame” took place in Kyiv, August 16, 1743 is considered the birthday of boxing as a sport, August 16, 980 is considered the date of birth of Avicenna – an outstanding scientist, philosopher, mathematician, poet and doctor.
Men’s Beauty Day
Every year on August 16, the world celebrates Men’s Beauty Day or Self-Care Day for men. This holiday reminds us that taking care of appearance and health is an important part of every man’s life.
The idea of creating this holiday arose in the middle of the 20th century, when society began to pay more attention to a healthy lifestyle and self-care. Men, like women, began to understand that grooming affects not only their appearance, but also their overall well-being, mood, and self-confidence.
Interesting facts
The first cosmetics for men appeared in Ancient Egypt. Pharaohs and nobles used oils and creams to moisturize the skin, as well as special preparations to preserve youth.
During the Renaissance, men in Europe heavily used cosmetics, particularly powder and rouge, to emphasize their status and attractiveness. Modern men increasingly use special skin care products, such as moisturizing creams, serums and masks. They help to maintain youth and a healthy appearance.
The global market for personal care for men is growing by 5-7% annually. Men increasingly pay attention to skin, hair and body care, choosing quality products and procedures.
In recent years, barbershops have become very popular all over the world. They offer men not only haircuts and shaves, but also complete care for the beard, face and scalp.
World Kite Day
On August 16, the world celebrates World Kite Day. This day gives us an opportunity to remember one of the oldest games of mankind, which unites generations and cultures.
The first kites appeared more than 2000 years ago in China. They were originally used not as toys, but as a means of military communication and ritual rites. The Chinese believed that snakes flying to the sky drive away evil spirits and bring good luck. Later, this type of entertainment spread throughout the world, taking on different forms and meanings in different cultures.
Interesting facts
The largest snake in the world was created in 2014 in China. It was 1.6 km long, which is equivalent to 16 football fields lined up.
In the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin used a kite to study electrical phenomena. He tied a metal key to the snake, which allowed it to catch an electric charge during a thunderstorm. It was one of the first experiments that confirmed the nature of lightning as an electrical phenomenon.
The longest kite flight lasted more than 180 hours. This record was set in 1989 in Australia.
In many countries of the world, kite festivals are held, which gather thousands of participants. For example, in India, the city of Ahmedabad hosts the International Kite Festival every year, where you can see the amazing creations of masters from different parts of the world.
Snakes are used to study wind currents and create alternative energy sources. Scientists are experimenting with kites to harvest wind energy at high altitudes.
Historical events on this day
- 1649 year – an important battle took place between the Cossack army of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi and the army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth near Zborovo. Khmelnytskyi’s army, numbering about 50,000, won a victory over the 60,000-strong army of the Polish king Jan Casimir, which became a key moment in the struggle for Ukraine’s independence.
- 1820 year – in Nizhyn, thanks to the financing of Prince Oleksandr Bezborodyk, the Gymnasium of Higher Sciences was opened, which today is the Nizhyn Pedagogical Institute. This was an important step in the development of education in Ukraine.
- 1914 year – the Main Ukrainian Council addressed the Ukrainian people with a manifesto in connection with the beginning of the First World War. She called for the struggle for the freedom of Ukraine, which became an important stage in the formation of national self-awareness.
- 1919 year – the liberation of Shepetivka from the Bolsheviks took place thanks to the joint efforts of the 11th Division of the Sich Riflemen Group under the command of Roman Sushk and the 21st Zbaraz Brigade of the UGA under the leadership of Bohuslav Shashkevych. This event became a significant episode in the history of the struggle for Ukraine’s independence.
- 1941 year – the Staff of the Supreme High Command of the Red Army issued order No. 270, according to which commanders and political workers who were captured were declared deserters, and their families were subject to arrest and deportation. This order was part of a repressive policy that had serious consequences for many families.
- 1960 year – the International Academy of Astronautics was founded, which later became an important center of research and development of space technologies at the international level.
- 1995 year – in a referendum held in Bermuda, the majority of the population spoke against independence from Great Britain, supporting the preservation of the status of a British colony.
On August 16, 1944, the so-called “March of Shame” took place in Kyiv – a public procession of German prisoners of war through the city. On this day, almost thirty-seven thousand German prisoners passed through the streets of Kyiv, among whom were 549 officers. They were organized into rows of ten people in a row. The route of their movement was personally approved by Nikita Khrushchev, and the total length of the route was twenty-one kilometers. The prisoners marched through Kyiv for five hours – from ten in the morning to three in the afternoon.
This “parade” began on Melnikova Street (today – Yuriy Ilyenka), near the place of mass shootings in Babiny Yar. Further, the path of the columns lay along the streets of Artem (now Sichovy Striltsiv) and Oleksandr Horvits (now Velyka Zhytomyrska). Then the prisoners were led along Korolenko Street (today – Volodymyrska), through Red Heroes Perekop Square (present-day Sofiyska), and then they went down to Kalinin Square (present-day Maidan). The columns moved along the destroyed Khreshchatyk, Krasnoarmiyskaya, Saksagansky, T. Shevchenko Boulevard and Brest-Litovsk highway. The convoy was guarded by the city militia and more than a thousand soldiers of the NKVD convoy troops.
In Khrushchev’s report to Stalin, there was a note:
“After returning to the camp branch (Syretsky camp No. 62), the escorts conducted a search. The selected bread was thrown to the guard dogs.”
In addition to bread, Kievans also threw apples, tobacco… There were also several detainees.
The writer Yuriy Yanovsky wrote:
“This demonstration of prisoners did not achieve its goal. This perhaps specially selected formation did not arouse either hatred or feelings of revenge. The reaction of those around them was peaceful, and sometimes even pity was shown.”
August 16, 1743 is considered the birthday of boxing as a sport. On this day, the English champion Jack Broughton published the first generally accepted set of rules, which became known as the Broughton Rules. These rules later formed the basis of the Rules of the London Prize Ring of 1838. They established:
- the venue of the fight,
- rules for the boxers themselves and their seconds,
- the prohibition to hit an opponent who has fallen, giving him half a minute to recover,
- duration of the round (the round ended after the fall of one of the fighters),
- distribution of the appropriate sums of money.
Broughton also invented the first boxing gloves (mufflers) for training and exhibition fights, but real fights were still fought with fists.
The first boxing academy was founded in England by James Figg, who is considered the patriarch of this sport. It is worth noting that Figg began his career as a fencer and was known as “a great master of pace and distance” and a “brilliant fencer”. He participated in melee fights for money in taverns and taught swordsmanship, swords, rapiers, clubs, daggers, as well as fist fighting (boxing).
Researchers note that boxing has retained many of the principles and movements of fencing for a long time. Thus, it is safe to say that modern boxing originates from England, although similar competitions are recorded on Sumerian and Egyptian reliefs. Fist fighting tournaments, which resemble boxing, were held in ancient Greece in 688 BC. e., when fist fights were first included in the program of the ancient Olympic Games.
In Kievan Rus’ they also loved fist fights, both “one on one” and “wall to wall”. They fought on Christmas and holidays. This type of entertainment was considered a popular active recreation. Each fistfight was conducted taking into account a number of prohibitions: it was impossible to attack from the back, hit a fallen person, and strike below the belt. Battles continued to the first blood, although the rules were not always followed.
Ukrainian ethnographer Platon Akymovych Lukashevich wrote:
“Fist fighting is the oldest and most favorite pastime of the Little Russians… Before the start of the fight, the fighters are divided into two opposite sides… The fight is usually started by children… and when one side is weak… then the elders come to their aid, and with on each side, gradually, they get older and older… and the boys go to the side.”
Usually, several buckets of vodka could not be dispensed with, which added special excitement to the fight. After a fierce fight, the former rivals wiped off the blood and went together to celebrate victory or defeat by continuing the feast.
The Church forbade hand-to-hand combat, but as a sport, boxing began to develop in Russia in 1894, when Baron, lieutenant of the First Life-Grenadier Yekaterinoslav Regiment Mykhailo Ottonovych Kister published a self-taught book “English Boxing” and with his own funds opened and maintained an athletic club called ” Kister Arena”. The first official boxing tournament took place in 1895, which is considered the beginning of the appearance of boxing in Russia. The further fate of the baron is unknown, but it is said that he spent almost all of his property on his favorite pastime.
In 1904, boxing was included in the program of the Olympic Games.
There is an unofficial list of the greatest boxers:
- Joe Louis is an American boxer, world heavyweight champion, with 72 wins and 3 losses.
- Rocky Marciano is an undefeated boxer, world heavyweight champion.
- Sugar Ray Robinson is an American boxer, world champion in middle and light heavyweight, has 173 wins and only 19 losses.
- Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) is the most famous boxer of all time, the heavyweight champion of the world, won 56 times and suffered 5 losses.
- Mike Tyson is the heavyweight champion of the world, known for his tremendous strength and speed. Had the fastest fight in the history of boxing, which entered the Guinness Book of Records.
August 16, 980 is considered the date of birth of Abu Ali Hussein ibn Abdullah ibn al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Sin, known in Europe under the name Avicenna. He was an outstanding scientist, philosopher, mathematician, poet and doctor. Avicenna wrote more than 450 works in 29 branches of science, of which only 274 have come down to us. He is the most famous and influential philosopher-scientist of the medieval Islamic world.
There are many legends about him, but there are also documentary sources, including his personal autobiography and an account of his life written down by a favorite student. Avicenna was born in the holy city of Bukhara and was the son of a tax collector. The exact date of his birth and death is unknown, as it was usually indicated either the month of Shaban or the first Friday of the month of Ramadan in the year 428 according to the Muslim lunar calendar.
Avicenna showed extraordinary abilities from childhood and studied a lot, studying logic, philosophy, geometry, astronomy and, of course, medicine. He himself wrote: “I took up the study of medicine, combining reading with observation of patients, which taught me many methods of treatment that cannot be found in books.” Already at the age of 16, he was invited to treat the emir of Bukhara himself, and for this Avicenna got access to the famous palace library. At the age of 18, he already corresponded with the leading scientists of the East and discussed with them the issues of physics, philosophy and astronomy.
In the future, Avicenna continued to heal people, engage in science and participate in the political and state affairs of the emirate. He was honored with such high titles as Huja-tul Haqq (proof or authority of truth), Sheikh-ur-Rais (chief of sages), Hakam buzurgan (great healer) and Sharaf-ul-Mulk (glory, pride of the country). Avicenna had a phenomenal memory and sharp thinking. He died on the way in June 1037, having dictated his will to a stranger before his death, in which he ordered to free all his slaves, reward them, and distribute all his property to the poor.
It is believed that Avicenna could diagnose and treat up to 2,000 different ailments, while today about 5,000 diseases are known.
Avicenna left behind works on chemistry, astronomy, mechanics, philosophy and psychology. He wrote many serious scientific works in the form of poems, using quatrains and rubai. One of his sayings:
Wise sayings of Avicenna:
- “A doctor has three tools: a word, a plant, a knife.”
- “Idleness and laziness not only breed ignorance, they are also the cause of disease.”
- “There are no hopeless patients. There are only hopeless doctors.”
- “A doctor must have the gaze of a falcon, the hands of a girl, the wisdom of a snake and the heart of a lion.”
- “At the end of life, you wear either a crown or a crown of thorns. The choice is yours…”.
According to legend, before his death, Avicenna refused treatment because he wanted to die himself. His disciples begged him to apply his own treatment, but he refused. He was first buried under the walls of Hamadan, and later reburied in Isfahan, in the tomb of the emir himself.
500 years later, his works were studied and quoted by Leonardo da Vinci and Andreas Vesalius. He is mentioned in Dante’s Divine Comedy and Lope de Vega’s Mad Men of Valencia. Carl Linnaeus named a genus of plants of the Acanthus family – Avicennia in his honor. Universities and institutes in different countries, a crater on the moon and a small planet 2755 are named after Avicenna. In 2006, the peak of Lenin in the Pamirs was renamed the peak of Abu Ali ibn Sina.
