The Women’s Unfeminine Holiday
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
March 8 in Belarus: a celebration of emancipation has turned into its opposite. An article by one of this website’s authors on the occasion of the Women’s Day.
Some countries of the former Soviet Union and Africa celebrate March 8 as the International Women’s Day. This is perhaps the most “innocent” Soviet holiday which has not yet disappeared from our calendar.
February 23 (originally Day of the Soviet Army), which in recent years actively establishes itself as a male counterpart of March 8, or, even more, November 7 (Day of the October Revolution) are highly politicized holidays. Therefore the tradition of celebrating them will disappear as soon the government takes a rational view on what should be celebrated as the Day of the Belarusian army. An even bigger question is whether it is worth for Belarus to celebrate anniversaries of the October revolution at all.
March 8 is the only holiday which has no blood on it. It does not carry all these second-thoughts like holidays associated with the liberation of Belarus from Nazi occupation and the restoration of the Soviet dictatorship after that.