ANZAC DAY April 25
ANZAC
stands
for the campaign lasted for
AUSTRALIAN & NEW eight months, leaving 10,000
ANZACs and over 33,000
ZEALAND ARMY CORPS.
British dead.
Anzac Day marks the
anniversary of the first major Although the ANZACs were
military action fought by a minority of the half-million
Australian and New Zealand Allied men who served at
forces during the first world Gallipoli, the troops from
the two young nations were
war.
often at the vanguard and
The pride endures to the became renowned for their
present. Anzac Day remains doggedness despite what the
an
important
national British regarded as a lack of
occasion in both countries, as discipline.
well as in Britain.
A full 10% of the New Zealand
Anzac forces landed on 25 population (then just under
April 1915 near Gallipoli on 1 million) served overseas
the Turkish Aegean coast. during World War I.
Meeting fierce resistance,
Where does the word April come from?
It could come from the Latin word aperire, “to open,”
because it’s the month trees and flowers begin to open. To
this day Greeks call spring ἁνοιξις which literally means
opening.
The Romans named the months in honour of divinities.
April was sacred to Venus, so April could have come from
Venus’s Greek name Aphrodite (Aphros).
The Anglo-Saxons called April Oster-monath or Eostur-
monath, the period sacred to Eostre or Ostara, the pagan
Saxon goddess of spring. It’s from her name that we get the
modern term ‘Easter’.
7
eList
Here are two possible origins
of April Fools Day...
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII decreed that with the adoption
of the Gregorian calendar, New Year’s Day be moved to
January 1 from what was April 1. Those that celebrated the
Old New Year’s Day on April 1 were ‘April Fools’.
OR
In the early Roman calendar, April 1 was
the first day of spring, the spring
equinox. Many celebrations of
many cultures observed
this day as the coming
of the renewal of the
earth and life. There
would be sacrifices and
gifts given to the gods.
When the Christians came
into power in the Roman
empire, they created a
celebration we call Easter that
replaced the spring rituals. The
old celebrations were ridiculed
and made fun of. And people
who observed these celebrations were
persecuted. This was a chance to make fun of
those who do not follow the correct beliefs.
St George’s day is the 23rd day of the month. St Mark’s Eve
follows on the 24th. There is a superstition that the ghosts of
those who are doomed to die within the year will be seen to
pass into the church.
April showers are caused by new solar energy evaporating
water from winter’s wet ground. The warm, moist air rises
into the colder, higher atmosphere. These thermal streams
form a cumulus cloud when they reach the atmosphere’s
condensation level. Thus starts the process for April
showers.
The birthstone of April is the diamond.
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