March 3 is celebrated as International Writer’s Day, World Hearing Day, World Wildlife Day and International Irish Whiskey Day. This day has left a noticeable mark in the political, cultural and scientific history of different countries in different years – from medieval chronicles to modern international decisions.
International Writer’s Day
This holiday was founded in 1986 by the international organization PEN International, which unites writers from different countries. The date is fixed as a professional day for authors of fiction, documentary and journalistic literature.
The organization was created in 1921 in London on the initiative of the British writer Catherine Amy Dawson Scott. It arose as an international community for the cooperation of writers and the protection of freedom of expression. The Ukrainian PEN Center resumed its activities in the late 1980s and became part of the global network.
Interesting Facts
The name PEN originally stood for Poets, Essayists, Novelists, but later expanded to include playwrights and editors.
Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 was partially printed on special fireproof paper with asbestos, which was a direct allusion to the plot of burning books.
Honoré de Balzac worked nights and drank dozens of cups of coffee a day, considering caffeine to be the main source of productivity, which significantly undermined his health.
Ivan Franko published about six thousand texts during his lifetime and spoke many languages, some of which he learned on his own for translations and scientific work.
The first editions of Taras Shevchenko’s Kobzar after 1863 were subject to censorship restrictions, and some works had to be printed outside the Russian Empire.
Ulas Samchuk published the novel Maria in 1934, one of the first works of fiction about the Holodomor, while mention of the tragedy was forbidden in Soviet Ukraine.
The manuscript of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita was not published during the author’s lifetime; the full version was printed only more than twenty years after his death.
Agatha Christie is the best-selling fiction writer in history: the total circulation of her books is estimated at more than two billion copies, second only to the Bible and the works of William Shakespeare.
Arthur Conan Doyle was so tired of the popularity of Sherlock Holmes that he “killed” the hero in 1893, but after a wave of reader outrage he was forced to bring him back to life ten years later.
James Joyce wrote Ulysses for seven years, constantly rewriting the text; The novel was banned in various countries on charges of obscenity, and the first complete edition was published in Paris.
Marko Vovchok became the first Ukrainian writer to gain widespread popularity in Europe; her works were translated into French and German as early as the 19th century.
Mykola Gogol burned the second volume of Dead Souls shortly before his death, considering the text imperfect, which left one of the most famous ideas in world literature unfinished.
George Orwell, while working on 1984, was seriously ill with tuberculosis and wrote the novel on a remote Scottish island in harsh conditions, completing it less than a year before his death.
Franz Kafka bequeathed that all his manuscripts be destroyed after his death, but his friend Max Brod violated the author’s will and published the texts that later became classics of world literature.
World Hearing Day
The World Health Organization initiated this day, which introduced it to draw attention to the problems of hearing loss and the prevention of hearing impairment. The date was chosen as part of global information work in the field of public health.
World Hearing Day was launched in 2007, initially under the name International Day for Ear and Hearing Protection, and later received its current name. As part of this initiative, information is disseminated about early diagnosis, the safe use of headphones and the effects of noise on the organ of hearing. According to WHO estimates, billions of people in the world are at risk of developing hearing loss due to prolonged exposure to loud sounds.
Interesting facts
The human ear is able to distinguish over 300 thousand different sound shades, and the inner ear contains about 15 thousand hair cells that convert sound vibrations into nerve impulses.
Damaged hair cells in the inner ear of humans do not regenerate, unlike some animals, including birds and fish, in which these cells can regenerate.
Noise levels above 85 decibels with prolonged exposure can cause gradual hearing loss; for comparison, the sound of public transport often reaches 80–90 decibels.
More than one billion young people in the world are at risk of hearing loss due to listening to loud music with headphones and attending loud events.
Many countries conduct mandatory hearing screening for newborns in the first days of life, which allows detecting disorders before symptoms appear and starting correction in a timely manner.
The human brain is able to partially compensate for hearing loss by “drawing” missing sounds based on context, which is why a person may not notice gradual deterioration for a long time.
World Wildlife Day
This day was established by the UN General Assembly in 2013. The date is dedicated to the signing of the CITES Convention on March 3, 1973, an international agreement regulating trade in rare species of wild fauna and flora.
Today’s day is dedicated to the preservation of biodiversity and reminds us of the vulnerability of natural ecosystems. This is not only about the disappearance of individual species, but also about the destruction of habitats, poaching, climate change and other factors that affect the state of wildlife around the world.
Interesting facts
In 2020, scientists recorded that the mass of all man-made objects — buildings, roads, technology — exceeded the total mass of all living biomass on the planet, including forests, animals and microorganisms.
The Amazon rainforest produces a significant amount of oxygen each year, but at the same time consumes almost as much for its own decomposition processes, so their main role is not to “produce oxygen” but to maintain climate stability by storing carbon.
There are “immortal” jellyfish of the Turritopsis dohrnii species in the world, which are able to return to the juvenile stage after reaching maturity, effectively restarting their life cycle.
Some species of fungi form underground networks that extend over tens of square kilometers. One such organism in North America is considered one of the largest living organisms on the planet by area.
In Antarctica, under the ice, there are lakes that have been isolated from the outside world for hundreds of thousands of years; microorganisms that survive without sunlight have been discovered in them.
In Ukraine, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has seen a significant increase in the number of wolves, lynxes, and even Przewalski’s horses, which were introduced there in the 1990s, in the decades without a permanent human presence.
About 80% of all land animals by mass today are domestic animals and livestock, while wild mammals account for only a small share, a dramatic change from the situation several thousand years ago.
Coral reefs occupy less than one percent of the ocean’s surface area, but provide habitat for about a quarter of all marine species, making them one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet.
In 2020, scientists recorded that the mass of all man-made objects — buildings, roads, technology — exceeded the total mass of all living biomass on the planet, including forests, animals, and microorganisms.
International Irish Whiskey Day
This day was chosen as a symbolic reference to the traditional triple distillation process characteristic of most Irish whiskeys. The holiday is dedicated to the history of the drink’s production in Ireland, its styles and technological features.
Irish whiskey is considered one of the oldest strong grain distillates in Europe. Written references to distillation on the island date back to the 15th century. In the 19th century, Irish producers dominated the world market, but in the 20th century the industry experienced a sharp decline due to wars, economic crises and trade restrictions. In the 21st century, the industry was revived, and the number of distilleries in Ireland is again growing rapidly.
Interesting facts
The word “whiskey” comes from the Irish expression uisce beatha, meaning “water of life,” and it was the Irish spelling with the letter “e” that became established in the United States thanks to emigrants from Ireland.
In the 19th century, Dublin was one of the world’s centers of whiskey production, and the John Jameson & Son distillery supplied products to the British Empire and North America.
At the beginning of the 20th century, there were dozens of large distilleries in Ireland, but by the 1970s, only two operating production companies remained in the country, which brought the industry to the brink of extinction.
The traditional single pot still style is a unique category of Irish whiskey, made from a mixture of malted and unmalted barley and distilled in copper pots.
Irish law requires whiskey to be aged for at least three years in Ireland, and the drink must have a strength of at least 40 percent alcohol.
In the 19th century, Irish whiskey was considered more prestigious than Scotch, and some London clubs did not serve Scotch at all, preferring products from Ireland.
The modern revival of Irish whiskey has led to the opening of dozens of new independent distilleries, and today Ireland is among the countries with the fastest growing production of hard alcohol in Europe.
Historical events on this day
1067 — Minsk is first mentioned in the chronicles in connection with the battle on the Nemyzy River between the Polotsk and Kiev princes; this mention became the starting point for the history of the city.
1585 — The Teatro Olimpico, designed by architect Andrea Palladio, was opened in Vicenza; it became the first permanent indoor theater in Europe and has survived to this day as a monument of Renaissance architecture.
1645 — Michael van Langren dated the first printed map of the Moon, in which he proposed his own system of naming lunar objects, partly related to the monarchs of the time.
1669 — The Cossack Council began its work in Hlukhiv, where Hetman Demyan Ignatovych concluded a new agreement with the Moscow Tsar, known as the Hlukhiv Articles, which determined the extent of the Hetmanate’s autonomy.
1802 — Sonata No. 14 by Ludwig van Beethoven was published in Vienna, which later became known as the Moonlight Sonata and became one of the composer’s most famous piano works.
1861 — Emperor Alexander II signed a manifesto abolishing serfdom in the Russian Empire, which changed the legal status of millions of peasants, but left significant restrictions and redemption payments.
1866 — A public library was opened in Kyiv, which eventually became the National Parliamentary Library of Ukraine and became one of the country’s main book collections.
1875 — The first organized hockey match according to established rules took place in Montreal, which is considered the beginning of modern Canadian hockey.
1875 — The premiere of the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet took place in Paris; the audience received the production coolly, and the composer died without knowing about its future world success.
1878 – a preliminary peace treaty was signed in San Stefano, which ended the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 and changed the political map of the Balkans.
1915 – the premiere of the silent film “The Birth of a Nation” by director David Griffith took place in New York, which became technically innovative, but caused sharp criticism due to its racist content.
1917 – on March 3-4, the Ukrainian Central Rada was organized in Kyiv, which later became the representative body of the Ukrainian national movement.
1918 — in accordance with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Soviet Russia recognized the independence of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, which was an important diplomatic step in the midst of World War I.
1921 — in Bucharest, Poland and Romania signed a treaty on a military alliance directed against Soviet Russia and a possible revision of borders in the region.
1923 — the first issue of Time magazine was published in New York, which launched a new format of a weekly analytical publication with short reviews of events.
1924 — in Turkey, the Ottoman dynasty and the institution of the Caliphate were liquidated, which became part of the large-scale secular reforms of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
1931 — US President Herbert Hoover approved the decision of Congress to grant the song “The Star-Spangled Banner” the status of the official national anthem of the United States.
1938 — In Saudi Arabia, Standard Oil of California discovered a large oil field, which later turned the country into one of the leading oil exporters in the world.
1945 — Finland, under pressure from the USA and the USSR, declared war on Germany, with which it had previously collaborated during World War II.
1945 — The Regional State Art Gallery began operating in Lviv, which became an important cultural center of western Ukraine.
1945 — A unit of the Polish Home Army murdered Ukrainian civilians in the village of Pavlokoma, which became one of the tragic episodes of the Ukrainian-Polish confrontation.
1947 — The restored first unit of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Plant provided industrial electricity after the station was destroyed in 1941.
1952 — The Cherkasy master plan, developed by the Kyiv Design Institute, was approved, which determined the further development of the city.
1978 — Charlie Chaplin’s remains were stolen from his grave in Vevey, Switzerland; they were found eleven weeks later near Lake Geneva.
1991 — Referendums were held in Latvia and Estonia, in which the majority of citizens supported the withdrawal of these republics from the USSR.
1994 — Ukraine and the United States signed a treaty of friendship and cooperation, which solidified the foundations of bilateral relations after independence.
2005 — Steve Fossett made the first ever solo non-stop flight around the Earth on a Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer.
2020 — Ukraine announced the first laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19.
2022 — Georgia officially applied to join the European Union amid changing security conditions in Europe.
