| August: Hopi
Snake Dance - This dance requires two weeks of ritual preparation,
and snakes are gathered and monitored by children. The dancers then
take an emetic and dance with the snakes in their mouths, with an antelope
priest in attendance. After the dance, the snakes are released to carry
their prayers.
August: Native Wild Rice Harvest - Northern
Cree, Ojibwa, Algonkians. Its is celebrated during the last full moon
in August.
 August
1:
Emancipation Day (Jamaica, West Indies) -
Commemorates the day in 1838 when enslaved West Indians were emancipated
from slavery and apprenticeship.
August
5:
Caribana (Canada) - This cultural festival
is held in Toronto and showcases Caribbean music, dance, arts and crafts,
fashion and food. The highlight is a parade featuring thousands of brilliantly
costumed masqueraders and live bands.
August
6:
Independence Day (Jamaica) - Commemorates
the raising of the Jamaican flag signifying the birth of the nation.
Hiroshima Day (Canada, USA) - This solemn day
commemorates the day the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on
Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. People unite on this day to declare their commitment
to never let another nuclear bomb be used.
August
14:
Independence Day (Pakistan) - On this day in
1947, Pakistan became an independent state.
August
15:
Independence Day (India) - On this day in 1947,
India gained independence from British rule after years of struggle.
Korea Liberation Day (Korea) - North Korea claimed
independence from Japan in 1945, and South Korea in 1948 created an independent
government.
Mid-Autumn Festival (China) - A day celebrated
by families getting together and eating moon cake and dishes with duck.
Thanksgiving (Chu’sok) (Korea)
- A time when Koreans gather to pay homage to their ancestors by honoring
their memories and being with family.
August
17:
Independence Day (Indonesia) - On this day in
1945, Indonesia declared its independence after 300 years of Dutch occupation
followed by Japanese occupation. |
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Carlos Aguilar, El
Salvador
As an 18-year-old, Carlos Aguilar was
looking for something new when he left his family’s dairy
farm in rural El Salvador. Aguilar, a Facilities Technician
I, Electric Delivery at Innsbrook, found what he was seeking
in Richmond, Virginia, his home of nearly 30 years.
“In 1978, I came to the United States
with my Granddaddy,” Aguilar
recalls. “We had relatives in Long Island, New York.” |
| After
two weeks, Aguilar came to Virginia to visit a friend. “I
came to Richmond looking for something different.”
Aguilar made a new life
in Richmond, eventually joining Dominion 20 years ago. He is now
in the process of obtaining American citizenship.
Every five years, Aguilar travels to El
Salvador to visit his mother and other family members. “There’s a huge difference
between the United States and El Salvador,” he says, pointing
to such major differences as climate and economic opportunities. “The
number one difference is the weather. In El Salvador, it never
gets cold. We never saw snow.”
El Salvador, located in Central America
between Guatemala and Honduras, is one of the most densely populated
nations in the Western Hemisphere. Nearly 7 million people, roughly
the same population as Virginia, live in El Salvador’s 8,125 square miles, roughly
a fifth of Virginia’s nearly 43,000 square miles.
El Salvadoran culture is a mixture of Pipil,
the country’s
indigenous people, and Spanish. Spanish is the official language.
Along with Christmas, New Year’s
Day and Easter, major El Salvadoran holidays include:
- Peace Accords
Day, January 16, which celebrates the 1992 peace agreements that
ended a 12-year civil war.
- August Festivals, celebrated August 1-7.
The weeklong festival celebrates El Salvador del Mundo (Savior
of the World, the country’s patron saint.)
- Independence
Day, September 15, which commemorates El Salvador’s
independence from Spain in 1821.
- Day of the Indians, October 12,
a celebration dedicated to El Salvador’s indigenous peoples.
- Day
of the Dead, November 2 (All Souls Day), a day on which many
El Salvadorans visit the tombs of deceased loved ones.
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August
25:
Notting Hill Carnival (England) - Held during
the last weekend in August, this is a West Indian Street carnival with
floats, bands and stalls.
August
26:
Women’s Equality Day (USA) - In 1974,
this day was set aside to commemorate the 1920 ratification of the Nineteenth
Amendment of the Constitution, which gave women the right to vote.
August
30:
La Tomatina Festival (Spain) - Every year
around 30,00 people descend on the Spanish town of Buñol (in the
Valencia region of Spain) to throw more than 240,000 pounds of tomatoes
at each other.
Chung Yuan Festival (China, Taiwan, Japan)
- Known as Feast of Lanterns by Japanese Buddhists. In China
and Taiwan, prayer services are held to remember their ancestors. In
Japan, food is offered to them and all houses are lit with lanterns floated
down rivers or the sea to guide their spirits back to the other world.
Vu Lan (Vietnam) - Known as Wandering Souls
Day, offerings of food are prepared and shoes and dresses made of paper,
along with votive papers, are burned in homes and pagodas for the dead
and for wandering souls who have no families.
August
31:
Independence Day (Malaysia) - On this day
in 1957, Malaysia gained independence from the United Kingdom.
Shab-e-Miraj (Islamic) - Commemorates the
ascension of Muhammad. Continues until the next day's sunset.
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