International Women's Day, now celebrated in dozens of countries at the state and unofficial levels, was first celebrated on March 8, 1910. However, the tradition of giving gifts and paying special attention to the fair half of humanity is older. Similar holidays, albeit on a smaller scale, were in Ancient Rome, Japan and Armenia.

Days of honoring women in different countries

The history of the holiday dates back to the ancient era. In ancient Rome, celebrations in honor of freeborn women, matrons, were held on the calendars of March. Every year on March 1, married Roman women were given gifts. Dressed in elegant clothes and wreaths of fragrant flowers, the matrons headed to the temple of the goddess Vesta. Slaves also received their gift on this day: their mistresses gave them a day off.

According to the poet Ovid, the tradition of celebrating the holiday originated during the Sabine War. Legend has it that during the founding of Rome, the city was inhabited only by men. To continue the family line, they kidnapped girls from neighboring tribes. Thus began the war between the Romans and the Latins and Sabines. And if the men of the “eternal city” quickly dealt with the former, they had to fight for a long time with the latter.

The Sabines almost won, but the outcome of the battle was decided by the kidnapped women. Over the years, they started families, gave birth to children, and the war between fathers and brothers on the one hand and husbands on the other tore their hearts. During the battle, disheveled and crying, they rushed into the thick of it, begging to stop. And the men listened to them, made peace and created one state. The founder of Rome, Romulus, instituted a holiday in honor of free women - Maturnalia. He gave Roman Sabine women equal property rights to men.

More than a thousand years ago, the tradition of celebrating Women's Day in Japan began. It is celebrated on March 3 and is called Hinamatsuri. The history of the origin of the "Girls' Day" is not known for certain. It most likely began with the custom of floating paper dolls in a basket down the river. It was believed that this is how Japanese women ward off misfortunes sent by evil spirits. Hinamatsuri has been a national holiday for almost 300 years. On this day, families with girls decorate their rooms with balls of artificial tangerine and cherry flowers.

The central place in the room is given to a special stepped stand, on which beautiful dolls in ceremonial dresses are displayed. On the historical Women's Day, girls, wearing colorful kimonos, visit each other and treat each other with sweets.

The Armenian Holiday of Motherhood and Beauty has ancient Christian roots. It is celebrated on April 7 - the day when, according to the Bible, the guardian angels informed the Virgin Mary that she was expecting a child. In modern Armenia, both traditional and International Women's Day are celebrated. Thus, daughters, sisters, mothers and grandmothers here accept congratulations throughout the month.

The history of the holiday

Since the end of the 19th century, women have actively fought to obtain the same rights as men. The ideas of emancipation found a lively response among representatives of left-wing organizations. That is why many politically active women of that time joined the ranks of socialists and communists. One of the representatives of the labor movement, Clara Zetkin, in 1910, at an international conference in the capital of Denmark, called for the establishment of International Women's Day. The idea was not new. A year earlier, the American Socialist Party proposed celebrating Women's Day on February 28. Clara Zetkin chose a different day - March 8th.

There are several versions of why the communist insisted on this particular date. According to one of them, the idea of ​​creating a holiday was linked to the first mass protest of working women. A demonstration of New York seamstresses and shoemakers took place in 1857. The workers demanded to reduce the working day to 10 hours, increase wages and improve working conditions. The appearance of the holiday on March 8 could also be associated with another political event - the 15,000-strong rally of 1908. New Yorkers fought for women's right to vote and a ban on child labor.

There is also a Jewish version of the origin of the holiday. Her supporters claim that the day of March 8 was chosen by Clara Zetkin in honor of the Jewish holiday of Purim. For Jews, this is a day of carnival fun, dedicated to the events of 2 thousand years ago. Then, under King Artaxerxes, his wife Esther saved the Jews of Persia from mass extermination. Several facts indicate the inconsistency of this version. Firstly, the Jewish origin of Clara Zetkin, née Eissner, is questionable. Secondly, Purim is a moving holiday, falling on February 23 in 1910.

Holiday of spring, beauty and femininity

The date chosen by Zetkin did not take root for a long time. At the suggestion of another left-wing activist, Elena Grinberg, International Women's Day in 1911 was held on March 19 in a number of countries. The following year, rallies took place on the 12th. In 1913, political actions were organized in eight countries, but they took place scatteredly during the first two weeks of spring. On the eve of the First World War, March 8 fell on a Sunday, which made it possible to coordinate events in six countries.

With the outbreak of hostilities, the activity of the women's movement in the world subsided. It increased again three years later, when the economic situation in European countries deteriorated noticeably. At the beginning of 1917, a social explosion occurred in Russia. On February 23, or March 8 according to the new style, Petrograd textile workers, taking their children with them, went on strike. Constant malnutrition and war weariness made them brave. Women demanded bread, approaching the soldiers' cordons, and asked the men to join them. Thus began the February Revolution, which put an end to the autocracy.

In the early 20s of the last century, already in Soviet Russia, they remembered the events of that March 8th, and the history of the holiday continued. Since 1966, this day has become a day off in the USSR, and in 1975 it was recognized by the UN. According to the map on Wikipedia, March 8, in addition to Russia, is officially celebrated in the following countries:

  • Kazakhstan;
  • Azerbaijan;
  • Belarus;
  • Turkmenistan;
  • Mongolia;
  • Sri Lanka;
  • Georgia;
  • Armenia;
  • Ukraine;
  • Angola;
  • Uzbekistan;
  • Moldova;
  • Zambia;
  • Cambodia;
  • Kyrgyzstan;
  • Kenya;
  • Tajikistan;
  • Uganda;
  • Guinea-Bissau;
  • Madagascar;
  • DPRK.

For a long time, March 8 and the history of the holiday were associated with politics, since the appearance of the date was closely related to the activities of the protest movement. And it was not intended as a celebration, but as a day of women’s solidarity in the struggle for their rights.

Over time, the feminist and socialist component of the holiday faded into the background.

In the 70s and 80s in the Soviet Union there was a gradual “humanization” of the event, and traditions were formed. Girls and women were presented with flowers. The symbols of the March 8th holiday are tulips and mimosa branches. In kindergartens and schools they made homemade cards for mothers and grandmothers. At home, as a rule, a festive table was set. All these traditions have migrated to modern times. Now March 8 is a holiday of femininity, beauty and the coming spring.

March 8– a holiday of love and admiration for women, the most beautiful creatures on earth. And the holiday itself, March 8, is perhaps the most beautiful of all official holidays. Why official? Yes, because initially it had a purely political overtones, it was not a holiday of spring, love and admiration for magical creatures, but a day of struggle. Women’s struggle for their rights, for equality with men in everyday life, family and life, for equal suffrage etc...

But time has erased all the political husks from it, leaving this day in our calendar exactly as we imagine it today - a spring holiday of joy and gratitude to women for what they exist, for the fact that we love them and on this day we We wish our loved ones and only ones only happiness, joy and prosperity!

The history of the holiday on March 8

The emergence of International Women's Day is strongly associated with the name Clara Zetkin- leader of the German and international labor movement. Most people today know nothing about Clara, or they imagine that Clara Zetkin is a kind of gray overcoat of the communist and labor movement, who did not need anything in life except political struggle.

In fact, Clara Zetkin was a very lively, interesting person and attractive woman. Coming from the family of a German parish school teacher, Clara Eisner received a pedagogical education and, like a significant part of the youth of that time, attended various political circles, where she met her future husband Osip Zetkin. The German authorities expelled Osip from the country for unreliability; the young couple moved to Paris, where they got married and Clara gave birth to her husband two sons - Maxim and Konstantin. In Paris, they continued their revolutionary activities, Clara studied this work from Laura Lafargue, the daughter of Karl Marx, and from other figures of the French labor movement.

In Paris, the family did odd jobs; her husband died in 1889, and in 1990 Clara was able to return to Germany, where, together with Rosa Luxemburg, she represented the left wing of the German Social Democrats.

Then a fascinating turn takes place in Clara’s life - she fell in love and became friends with the young artist Georg Zundel, whose paintings sold well and the “young” were able to buy themselves a house in a picturesque place, and even bought a car! (In this house, as sources write, V.I. Lenin liked to stay.) Clara edited the women’s newspaper “Equality”, the funds for the publication of which were provided not by anyone, but by the founder of the electrical concern Robert Bosch! The publication was very popular and contributed to the fact that Clara Zetkin became one of the most prominent socialists of that time in Germany.

It was quite natural that she became one of the delegates to the International Women's Conference in 1910 in Copenhagen.

At this forum, Clara Zetkin raised the question of choosing a specific day of the year when women around the world will draw public attention to their problems in the struggle for social and economic equality and proposed to celebrate annually March 8 as the birthday of the female proletariat. And it was called at first International Day of Women's Solidarity in the Fight for Their Rights.

This is the official version. The date of March 8 was summed up by a well-known political event - the mass action of working women in New York on March 8, 1857. (This has been written and rewritten in official sources; if you are interested, you can find the details yourself.)

There is a second, less well-known version of celebrating Women's Day on March 8th. According to this version, Zetkin's intentions were to connect the history of the women's socialist movement with the history of the Jewish people. Let us explain where the legs grow from. There is a widely known legend according to which the beloved of the Persian king Xerxes, named Esther, using her spell on him, saved the Jewish people from extermination. According to legend, this happened on the 13th day of Adar according to the Jewish calendar, and this day began to be celebrated as the holiday of Purim. The date of Purim celebration in the Jewish religious calendar is sliding, but in 1910 it fell on March 8th.

Anyway, thanks to Clara Zetkin day March 8 appeared, although not immediately, but still took root, and they began to celebrate it more or less regularly since 1913.

And what about our heroine? In 1914, the couple broke up; Clara was categorically against the war, her young husband no less decisively signed up as volunteers and went to war. After the war, Clara was a member of the Reichstag for many years (until 1933), continued her struggle on the left flank, and often visited the Soviet Union, where she moved for permanent residence after Hitler came to power.

Clara did not give her husband a divorce for a long time; she did so only in 1928, and the “young” artist immediately married his long-time crush Paula Bosch, the daughter of the founder of the electrical engineering concern Robert Bosch, who had long since passed 30 by the time of their official marriage.

Clara Zetkin's son Konstantin, 22 years old, became the lover of Rosa Luxemburg, who at that time was already 36 years old. As a result, relations between Rosa Luxemburg and Clara Zetkin deteriorated. But at the moment when the young artist abandoned Clara, Konstantin left Rosa and the friends became friends again.

The last time Clara Zetkin came to Germany was in 1932 for the opening of the newly elected Reichstag. At the first meeting, presiding by seniority, she made an appeal to resist Nazism by all means. After her political speech, she, according to the protocol, handed over the chairmanship to a representative of the faction that received the majority of votes in the recent elections. It was Hermann Goering.

Clara Zetkin died on June 20, 1933 in Arkhangelskoye near Moscow. After her death, she was cremated and her ashes were placed in an urn in the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow.

Since 1966, in accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, International Women's Day has become a holiday and a non-working day. Gradually in the USSR, the holiday completely lost its political overtones and connection to women’s struggle for their rights, and became simply March 8 holiday, which no longer requires any explanation!

The history of the March 8 holiday has already passed the century mark. Naturally, during such a period of time, history and traditions have developed that relate to both gifts and the celebration of International Women's Day.

Which March 8 traditions can be noted as the most common or the most interesting?

Women's Day traditions in Russia

Our people love this holiday and have been celebrating it with pleasure for decades. What customs have developed around Russian March 8th?

  1. On this day congratulations to all the better half, without division into age and status. Very little girls, young girls, older ladies, and older women receive their share of gifts.
  2. The traditional gift on this day is flowers.. They can be in bouquets and in flowerpots. It may be a luxurious designer bouquet, or a touching sprig of mimosa, but flowers on March 8 are practically a mandatory gift.
  3. On this women's day it is traditional free from all women's chores around the house. Previously, men took charge of the stove, they cleaned the apartment, baked cakes with their own hands and tried in every possible way to honestly perform that part of the housework, which is usually a woman’s prerogative. Nowadays, many men follow the path of least resistance, limiting themselves to going to a restaurant or ordering food at home, so as not to force their beloved to do housework on the holiday.
  4. March 8 traditions also include gifts. Once upon a time, they were certificates of honor for production and professional successes, then the holiday became less politicized, and gifts became more festive. Now on March 8, women are traditionally given jewelry, accessories, clothes, and beautiful lingerie. It is bad form to give kitchen items as gifts on March 8th - pots, pans, teapots, oven mitts and aprons. It is better to give household appliances as a gift if you definitely decide to make your loved one happy with something extremely useful.
  5. Another tradition of Russian March 8th is a day off on this day.. Since this holiday was declared a non-working day in 1965, it has been a legal holiday for the entire country. And not a single government in the era of change has encroached on this unbreakable folk tradition - to celebrate March 8 widely and on a grand scale.
  6. Can definitely be called a tradition congratulations to women in the workplace and in teams. Every company and office prepares for this day differently. Somewhere they throw a whole party filled with fun and surprises, somewhere they limit it to a day off for women. Somewhere they simply give small bouquets of flowers or cute souvenirs, but on March 8, in every institution and workplace, women receive attention, congratulations and compliments.
  7. It can also be noted culinary Russian traditions March 8. Traditional desserts - cakes or pastries, light fruit soufflés or low-calorie fruit salads - are an obligatory part of the treat. After all, women love sweets. Also, most families try to prepare salads or dishes with the first spring vegetables - after all, you really want to pamper yourself with what you have lost the habit of over the winter: fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, elastic salad greens.

March 8 traditions in other countries

March 8 is celebrated almost everywhere in the former USSR. Ukraine and Belarus, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - all these countries celebrate March 8, and their traditions are not much different from Russian ones. Still, we have long been one country, with a common cultural space, and similar traditions of celebrating this day. How are things going abroad? After all, since 1977, March 8 received the status of International Women's Day from the UN. What traditions on March 8 are common in other countries?

  • In Vietnam, this day is a day off and is celebrated everywhere.. Previously, this one was in memory of the brave Trung sisters who fought against the Chinese invasion of Vietnam and died bravely, preferring death to captivity. In the last century, this holiday gradually changed, and now Vietnam celebrates March 8 as the International Day of Women's Struggle for their Rights.
  • March 8th is also celebrated in China. This day is a day off in this country, but only for women. The men continue to work. On this day, Chinese women meet with friends, go to cafes and shops, in general, try to pamper themselves and their loved ones. And the men prepare the obligatory “Pumpkin of Loyalty” in the evening. The dish includes many different ingredients that are combined into a whole composition inside the pumpkin.
  • France, as befits a liberal country, this holiday is not celebrated, but holds special events on this day, something like charity bazaars. The money collected is transferred to the heroine mothers' fund so that they can go on vacation.
  • But temperamental Italy, although it did not declare this day a holiday, still did not stay away from the celebration. On this day, Italian women gather in groups of women, meet in bars, chat and treat themselves. And in the evening they go to a disco or club. Moreover, in Rome, men's strip clubs offer women free entry on this day.

March 8 is rich in traditions, but the most important of them is special attention to women from men. Take care of your women, congratulate them, give flowers and gifts, pamper them, and not only on March 8, but on all other days.


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March 8: the non-women's history of the holiday. The celebration of International Women's Day is usually associated with the leader (leader?) of the world communist movement Clara Zetkin, who proposed introducing this day in 1910. This happened at the Second International Women's Conference in Copenhagen. . But few people know that the holiday was originally celebrated on March 19th. And in general, in different countries the date was “floating”; in Russia, for example, in 1913 it was celebrated on March 2. But starting from 1914, March 8 was celebrated everywhere, because in the year the First World War began, March 8 fell on a Sunday, and the date was fixed. Some researchers associate this holiday with the Jewish Purim, when they remember Queen Esther, the wife of Xerxes, who prevented Jewish pogroms in Persia. The date of this holiday is also floating - but in 1910 it fell on March 8th. Some recall both the famous Judith and the day of the Harlots of Zion (Babylon). Others say that back in 1848, the King of Prussia (as a result of the workers’ uprising on March 8!), among other things, promised women the right to vote. And then they remember another socialist, Elena Grinberg, who proposed a specific date. But perhaps the closest thing to the truth is another event: on March 8, 1857, women workers in the textile industry and clothing factories of New York, protesting against women’s low wages and poor working conditions, organized a march through the streets of Manhattan. Let me remind you that these women had to work 16 hours a day for pennies! Democracy after all... But after these protests, women were “equalized” in rights with men, and they received a 10-hour working day (like men!!!). On March 8, 1901, the first ever protest march of women housewives took place in Chicago - the so-called “pot riot” or “march of empty pots.” Using these dishes as drums, women sought equal political rights, the opportunity to work in production without restrictions or restrictions, but most interestingly, the right to serve in the army and police. Since then, all leftist parties in the United States began to apply these demands in their programs. So the date of the holiday and its reasons can be discussed for a long time. But the main fact is that after the victory of the Bolsheviks in October 1917, this day began to be celebrated annually in Russia. At the global level, it was consolidated in 1921, when the 2nd Communist Women's Conference finally approved March 8 (February 23, old style!!!) in the USSR as International Women's Day. Why did they start from February 23, which can cause all men to be confused? It's simple - it was on February 23, 1917 that thousands of women took to the streets of Petrograd demanding “bread and peace!” So what subsequently happened was a unique coincidence between Defender of the Fatherland Day and International Women’s Day with a difference in calendar styles. However, as smart people say, there are no coincidences. And although March 8 remained a working day for a long time, the Soviet government “celebrated” it in every possible way: it reported to the people about its achievements in the field of women’s rights, and in 1925, for example, discounts on galoshes were announced for women in USSR stores! March 8 became a non-working holiday in the USSR in 1966. This was announced on May 8, 1965, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. And in 1977, the USSR convinced the UN to declare March 8 International Women's Day. More precisely, the International Day for Women's Rights and International Peace. True, it is no secret that in the Western world - at least at the state level - this holiday has not become a holiday. It should be noted that in the late USSR and modern Russia it ceased to have a political connotation. This is a day of universal male admiration for women. One of my friends from Germany in the mid-90s said to me, watching how bouquets were being bought up on the eve of March 8: “Oh, tomorrow is your Russian Valentine’s Day!” To which I answered him that this is not Valentine’s Day for us, but we are simply reminding ourselves that we can’t live without women, that everything rests on them, that men are strong in attack, and women are strong in constancy. And in general, we always love women, and March 8 is a kind of culmination for us, in which there is no political or any other background. By the way, many foreigners, and especially foreigners from Western Europe and the USA, openly envied our women on March 8th. Journalists wrote about how Femininity Day is celebrated in the USSR, and even in schools boys place bouquets and cards on the desks of their classmates... It is noteworthy that the Soviet Minister of Culture Furtseva even wanted to cancel this day (back in 1961!), considering it offensive to Soviet women. One way or another, the day of femininity remains with us. It remained throughout the entire USSR in one form or another. Today March 8th is officially celebrated in 31 countries around the world. But not in all countries March 8 is International Women's Day. This day is celebrated in the following countries: Azerbaijan, Angola, Armenia, Afghanistan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Vietnam, Guinea-Bissau, Georgia, Zambia, Israel, Italy, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kiribati, People's Republic of China (but working day), DPRK (North Korea), Congo (“Congolese Women's Day”), Costa Rica, Cuba, Laos, Madagascar (day off for women only), Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Poland, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan (“Mother’s Day”), Ukraine, Croatia, Montenegro, Eritrea. It is celebrated in different ways... For example, in seemingly socialist China, on March 8, it is customary to congratulate only elderly and honored party leaders and public figures. The rest of the women on this day continue to build a bright future... And here in Russia - after Europe’s distortions towards same-sex marriage and other “gender equality”, the day of March 8 has also acquired, as men now say, the “correct” meaning. This is the day of love for a woman... On one of these days I ironically wrote: Once upon a time you took us away from paradise, To the ends of the earth, to the very, very edge... Why did you do this - I don’t know, Probably so that by loving and seducing us to return to paradise, at least for a short time... And how can the Earth not spin now, We definitely won’t return there without you!

The celebration of International Women's Day is usually associated with the leader (leader?) of the world communist movement Clara Zetkin, who proposed introducing this day in 1910. This happened at the Second International Women's Conference in Copenhagen.

But few people know that the holiday was originally celebrated on March 19th. And in general, in different countries the date was “floating”; in Russia, for example, in 1913 it was celebrated on March 2. But starting since 1914 March 8 was already celebrated everywhere, because in the year the First World War began, March 8 fell on a Sunday, and the date was fixed.

Some researchers associate this holiday with the Jewish Purim, when they remember Queen Esther, the wife of Xerxes, who prevented Jewish pogroms in Persia. The date of this holiday is also floating - but in 1910 it fell on March 8th. Some at the same time remember both the famous Judith and the day of the Zion (Babylonian) harlots... Others say that in 1848 the king of Prussia (as a result of the workers' uprising on March 8!), among other things, promised women the right to vote. And then they remember another socialist - Elena Grinberg, who proposed a specific date.

But perhaps the closest thing to the truth is another event: on March 8, 1857, women workers in the textile industry and clothing factories of New York, protesting against women’s low wages and poor working conditions, organized a march through the streets of Manhattan. Let me remind you that these women had to work 16 hours a day for pennies! Democracy after all... But after these protests, women were “equalized” in rights with men, and they received a 10-hour working day (like men!!!).

March 8, 1901 The first ever protest march of women housewives took place in Chicago - the so-called “pot riot” or “march of empty pots”. Using these dishes as drums, women sought equal political rights, the opportunity to work in production without restrictions or restrictions, but most interestingly, the right to serve in the army and police. Since then, all leftist parties in the United States began to apply these demands in their programs.

So the date of the holiday and its reasons can be discussed for a long time. But the main fact is that after the victory of the Bolsheviks in October 1917, this day began to be celebrated annually in Russia. At the global level, it was consolidated in 1921, when the 2nd Communist Women's Conference finally approved March 8 (February 23, old style!!!) in the USSR as International Women's Day. Why did they start from February 23, which can cause all men to be confused? It's simple - it was on February 23, 1917 that thousands of women took to the streets of Petrograd demanding “bread and peace!” So what subsequently happened was a unique coincidence between Defender of the Fatherland Day and International Women’s Day with a difference in calendar styles. However, as smart people say, there are no coincidences.

And although March 8 remained a working day for a long time, the Soviet government “celebrated” it in every possible way: it reported to the people about its achievements in the field of women’s rights, and in 1925, for example, discounts on galoshes were announced for women in USSR stores! March 8 became a non-working holiday in the USSR in 1966. This was announced on May 8, 1965, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. And in 1977, the USSR convinced the UN to declare March 8 International Women's Day. More precisely, the International Day for Women's Rights and International Peace. True, it is no secret that in the Western world - at least at the state level - this holiday has not become a holiday.

It should be noted that in the late USSR and modern Russia it ceased to have a political connotation. This is a day of universal male admiration for women. One of my friends from Germany told me in the mid-90s, watching how bouquets were being bought up on the eve of March 8:

- Oh, tomorrow is your Russian Valentine's Day!

To which I answered him that this is not Valentine’s Day for us, but we are simply reminding ourselves that we can’t live without women, that everything rests on them, that men are strong in attack, and women are strong in constancy. And in general, we always love women, and March 8 is a kind of culmination for us, in which there is no political or any other background.

By the way, many foreigners, and especially foreigners from Western Europe and the USA, openly envied our women on March 8th. Journalists wrote about how Femininity Day is celebrated in the USSR, and even in schools boys place bouquets and cards on the desks of their classmates... It is noteworthy that the Soviet Minister of Culture Furtseva even wanted to cancel this day (back in 1961!), considering it offensive to Soviet women.

One way or another, the day of femininity remains with us. It remained throughout the entire USSR in one form or another. Today March 8th is officially celebrated in 31 countries around the world. But not in all countries March 8 is International Women's Day. This day is celebrated in the following countries: Azerbaijan, Angola, Armenia, Afghanistan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Vietnam, Guinea-Bissau, Georgia, Zambia, Israel, Italy, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kiribati, People's Republic of China (but working day), DPRK (North Korea), Congo (“Congolese Women's Day”), Costa Rica, Cuba, Laos, Madagascar (day off for women only), Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Poland, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan (“Mother’s Day”), Ukraine, Croatia, Montenegro, Eritrea. It is celebrated in different ways... For example, in seemingly socialist China, on March 8, it is customary to congratulate only elderly and honored party leaders and public figures. The rest of the women continue to build a bright future on this day...

And here in Russia - after Europe’s distortions towards same-sex marriage and other “gender equality”, March 8th also acquired, as men now say, the “correct” meaning. This is the day of love for a woman... On one of these days I ironically wrote:

Once upon a time you took us away from paradise,

To the ends of the earth, to the very, very edge...

Why did you do this - I don’t know, probably to love and seduce,

To return us to paradise, at least for a little while...

And how can the Earth not spin now?

We definitely won’t be able to return there without you!

Today it seems to us that this bright holiday, saturated with the first spring sun and warmth, has always existed. And if representatives of the older generation still remember the meaning of the name “International Women’s Day”, and some have not forgotten the name of the one who invented March 8, then young people know almost nothing about it. Perhaps only a few remember school history lessons from the early 20th century. Meanwhile, the history of the emergence of the women's holiday is not as romantic as we would like. But behind it there is a very specific name, and, in fact, the basis of this day is the life story of one woman, the one who came up with the holiday of March 8 100 years ago.

Clara Zetkin - revolutionary and just a woman

On March 8, 1857, a demonstration was held in New York by women workers in textile and shoe factories, who demanded a reduction in the working day (at that time 16 hours) and improved working conditions. And half a century later, the women's holiday will be timed to coincide with this event. The date is clear, but who came up with the holiday on March 8, you ask. So, 1857 is also significant because it was then that a daughter, Clara, was born into the family of a modest rural teacher from Saxony named Eismann.

It is unknown what the fate of the intelligent and respectable girl would have been like if, as a student at a pedagogical educational institution, she had not met emigrant socialists and had not been carried away by their ideas. Among the participants in the youth circle was her future husband, the Russian Jew Osip Zetkin, who fled to Germany from persecution by the tsarist authorities. Clara Zetkin joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany and became one of the activists of its left wing. Having shocked her family and friends a lot, the girl left her family forever for ideological reasons, for which she received the nickname “wild Clara.”

In 1882, the one who would later come up with March 8 was forced to follow Osip to emigrate to Paris, where she became the common-law wife of the revolutionary (they never officially got married). In their marriage, they had two sons, Maxim and Kostya, and in 1889 Clara’s beloved husband died of tuberculosis. In order to somehow survive, the woman writes articles, does translations, teaches, and even works part-time as a laundress. She is active politically and becomes one of the founders of the Second International. Known as a theoretician of the socialist movement in Europe, Clara Zetkin also became famous as a fighter for women's rights, seeking to grant them universal suffrage and soften labor laws.

Soon the opportunity arose to return to his native Germany. Here she not only continued her difficult struggle, but also became close to Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, who became her close friend, but also married the artist Georg Friedrich Zundel, who was 18 years younger than Clara. Years later, the rather unusual union of a revolutionary and a talented painter would fall apart due to different attitudes towards the First World War, and the age difference would play its fatal role. For Clara Zetkin this will be a serious blow.

Already middle-aged, but still an energetic lady, she is now organizing the Communist Party of Germany. Since 1920, she has been the oldest member of the Reichstag, the head of the International Organization for Assistance to Revolutionaries, and one of the leaders of the Comintern. With the rise to power of the Nazi Party in Germany in 1932, Clara Zetkin emigrated to the USSR, where she soon died at the age of 75.

History and name of the holiday March 8

As for the holiday of March 8 itself, it is necessary to mention the International Conference of Women Socialists, which was held on August 27, 1910 in Copenhagen. It is significant because Clara Zetkin came up with a proposal to establish an international day for women's rights. The idea was supported, and starting the following year, annual events were held in many European countries in the spring dedicated to women's defense of political, economic and social freedoms, as well as the struggle for peace. True, the date of March 8 was fixed only in 1914.

In the UN calendar of memorable dates, the name of the holiday on March 8 sounds like “Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace,” and it is not a holiday at all. In all states that still celebrate it, this event is of an exclusively political nature. March 8 received the status of a holiday and day off only in the Soviet Union and already in 1965, turning into a day of honoring all representatives of the fair sex. Gradually, it completely lost its ideological coloring, and it was forgotten who invented the holiday on March 8, and in most post-Soviet countries it is still celebrated today as a day of spring, beauty and femininity.