Happy Women's Day
March 8 – traditional spring Russian holiday, originally called International Working Women's Day. The first national Women's Day was observed on 28 February 1909 in the United States following a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. Inspired in part by that, German, Austrian, Danish, Swiss, French and Russian socialists proposed the establishment of an annual 'International Woman's Day' to promote equal rights, including suffrage, for women and protested against employment sex discrimination.
The official date of IWD was on the last Sunday in February which fell on 8 March in 1918, the year when Russia changed Julian calendar to Gregorian calendar. Then, in the Soviet Union it was made an official woman’s holiday.
Although it started as a socialist political event, now this day turned into an occasion for men to express their love for women. It seems somewhat similar to a mixture of Mother's Day and Valentine's Day: all women, whether it mothers, girlfriends, wives or daughters, get flowers, gifts and a lot of attention on this day.
The most popular flowers for this day are tulips and mimosa, spring-like fresh, bright and colorful. There are some nice traditions, connected with this holiday: for example, kids do hand-made gifts like greeting card or drawing for their mothers and husbands free their wives from all housework – no cleaning, no cooking, no grocery shopping. Only jewellery, clothes and shoes shopping for this day :)
