Not a lot of Americans celebrate the International Women’s Day (IWD). Marked on March 8th, this holiday is the celebration of women and their achievements in culture, economics and politics. In Russia March 8th is a mix between Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day: boys and men give the women in their lives flowers, cards, small gifts. It’s a big deal!
My friend once jokingly said that being an international holiday, Women’s Day must have gotten lost somewhere in between the nations, since it’s only celebrated in Russia and former Soviet Union bloc. Apparently, it isn’t so! IWD is an official holiday in China, Italy, Vietnam, Brazil and many other countries. Although the premise is the same – appreciation of women – each country has a different way of celebrating it. In Italy, men give women yellow mimosas and sometimes chocolate. In Portugal and Romania, girls throw women-only dinner parties with friends and colleagues. In Brazil, Croatia, Hungary, Moldova, Poland & Bulgaria men give flowers to their mothers, daughters, girlfriends, co-workers, and teachers. And in Armenia, the entire period between March 8th and April 7th is considered a Women’s Month!
Being a woman is one of the most magical experiences you could have in life. Sure, sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be a boy, but I know that at the end of the day I couldn’t live without my feminine curves, rosy lips, glitter on my lashes… Without the dresses, dangerously high heels, and the special treatment we girls get from the universe – have you ever heard of a boy being treated like a princess??
This weekend, I want you to feel proud to be a woman. Wear a beautiful dress. Slap on some red lipstick. Blow kisses to the world like the magnificent creature that you are. XO
Thank you for telling me about such a holiday! I had absolutely no idea that their was a Woman’s Day, aside from Mother’s Day. I will be sure to tell all of my frinds when I go out tonight :D
I’m amazed to say I had absolutely no idea this holiday existed. You can bet your life I’ll be celebrating on Sunday. Thanks for the tip!
It’s good you reminded me, because it would have slipped my mind until the day of. This is one holiday I like to celebrate because there’s actually a point to it. I think it’s a shame that the holiday isn’t so widely celebrated in the States.
awesome! had no idea, i’m gonna dye my hair and do my make-up and am being taken out for yummy chips!
What a phenomenal holiday! Thinking of all the things women have overcome in countries across the board, this day is well-deserved.
I think it’s interesting that things like this have been lost, many countries used to consider women like gold, and that they were fragile, not allowing them out in the sun to get tan, and were treated with such great respect because we are, in the end, the givers of life.
I think this Sunday I deserve a delicious home-cooked meal! Not that I’m ever out of luck on that sort of thing, my boy treats every day like Women’s Day…. LOL.
Hey, thanks for posting about Women’s Day! I had no idea it existed. :D Sadly, I will be celebrating with tons of homework, but I’ll be doing it in a dress, for sure. ;)
Well, like everyone else, I had no idea that this even existed! It’s not celebrated at all here in the UK, which kind of sucks! But I will definitely be celebrating thiis with my mum and sister on Sunday! I wish someone would bring me a huge bunch of balloons like that one day… Thanks you, again, Doe! :)
On this day I will dress girly, spoil myself and walk with pride that I am a women!!
-Miss Sin
I never knew a day like this existed! I’m definetly gonna make sure I spoil myself! Besides, whats not to like about being a girl/woman, it gives you every excuse you need to feel like and be treated like a princess
Awesome! We don’t celebrate at all in Canada. :( Perhaps I’ll start a trend :P Oh btw Doe, there are some fabulous new unique shoes at dolleydagger.com :D
*http://www.dollydagger.co.uk/
oopsies!
They reminded me of somethign you would wear ^^
I am ABSOLUTELY going to have to tell my boyfriend about this – another holiday for me to get chocolates, flowers, and presents cannot be missed! I without a doubt cherish and love my femininity and express it in its fullest with makeup, fun jewelry, girly clothes, girly hobbies… I’m definitely a girly girl!
I never heard of a boy being treated like a princess, but I have heard of a boy being treated like a Queen. ;-)
I’ll definitely be celebrating International Women’s Day (up here in Canada) :-)
My very global company is doing a ton of events this and next week to celebrate IWD, even in the states!
I want balloons and a giant blue dog! How fun! Totally cheered me up.
We have this holiday in Spain too, well, I have to go to work to the office and so on, but I mean that everybody knows it is the Women’s Day on th 8th of March every year, this week I’ve been seeing advertisments at the metro stations etc to remind it, and it appears on the TV news etc, but we dont get flowers and so on, still. I think it is getting bigger every year, I had never seen in the last years advertisments at the metro station, they say: ‘what if women went on strike?’ I like it, Im sorry for my English, have a nice weekend!! kisses!
my family is russian and 8th of march is a fun holiday. my dad brings home bouquets for all of us and we usually do something special for dinner.
happy iwd!
I’m from Bosnia and for me Woman’s day is very special. Now I live in France and their perception of this holiday is totally different. They mainly see it as an opportunity to talk about gender parity. To me it’s a day that should be celebrated. I remember when I lived in Bosnia how my Dad bought red roses for my mother every year. Last eyar, he bought me an amaryllis and a rose for my mum. Now I’m a woman too!
Why have I never heard of this before?
I haven’t heard much about this before, but it just so happens that I’m going out on that day and I was planning to get dressed up…so now I’ll make an extra special effort and pamper myself even more than usual ;)
Thanks for sharing this, Doe!
x
I’ve heard of this before!! I think it’s wonderful that a day like this exists (and it also happens to be my birthday ♥)!!
have you ever heard of a boy being treated like a princess??
No, but I’ve heard of a boy being treated like a prince. :)
MARCH 8TH IS MY BIRTHDAY!!! I’m going to be 19!!!
International holiday? Sounds like international stereotype day. I’m probably just being a cynic here, but I don’t need the government telling the men in my life to appreciate me or that I need to dress up and wear heels. XD
I love being a woman! =)
I didn’t realize it was celebrated like this. I think I’m going to dress up glam and take a stroll through the city. Then make gifts for my female coworkers.
I live in Sweden and I think most swedes know of this day, but we don’t make a big deal out of it. I’ve never been given any gifts and I don’t know of anybody else who has either. Then again, we don’t make a big deal out of Valentines Day either (although it’s probably a bit bigger than International Women’s Day). Suits me pretty well, I’m not a big fan of holidays overall, I prefer unbirthdays. ;)
Here we celebrate this day too. And officially too!
And it’s fun fun fun! :)
After I read this I made it the theme of my weekend! I’m going to spread the word. And this is not the first time you’ve inspired me. Ever since I stumbled upon your blog you’ve been inspiring me in so many ways. Thank you so much for that :)
I didn’t really know that there was such a day but now I do, thanks to you! <3 This is such a great holiday and to be honest, I don’t know if it is celebrated here. But I’m still glad that there is such a day because women are still treated worse than men, I think, and this can remind people that everybody should have the same rights. Sadly enough, this reminds me of having had a conversation with a friend of mine about women being worse at sports than men. ;__; But I still love the idea of this holiday. And now I’m going to get myself some sweets to celebrate IWD. :)
And it’s also my mom’s birthday
ahhh this is so exciting! oddly enough, my spring break starts tomorrow and I planned on spending a little bit on myself for once this week. Wonderful that it falls on a holiday, now I have an excuse!
and to Rosemary,
I disagree that its being stereotypical. Being a woman doesn’t mean you have to be girly, bad at sports or whichever of the many stereotypes for women there are. I’m pretty sure woman’s day doesn’t say “hey ladies, its a girl holiday! you have to dress up!” I think Xenia’s just saying its nice to think about ourselves sometimes, as a lot of people kind of put themselves to the side. But I know where you’re coming from =]. I’m not a big fan of valentines day, and lately I spend more time at the gym and such than I do at a mirror.
But I think its nice to be appreciated =] I still get a lot of shit for being a girl sometimes in the workplace and at the gym and such.
oh, I also hope you don’t think I was trying to be rude or argumentative by the way =]=] I didn’t intend to do so, I was just playing the devil’s advocate a bit.
Ooh I don’t think the Netherlands do something about womans day :(
Susan wrote: “Ooh I don’t think the Netherlands do something about womans day :(”
There was a demonstration against countries which don’t support female rights today in Amsterdam..
What a great holiday – to go all feminist, it’s nice to see a holiday that recognises women.
The picture with the balloons is gorgeous!
I just learned about this holiday today. Right now I’m working a show with the ‘Burn the Floor’ dance company and the majority of our cast is from Russia, Bulgaria, and Slovenia. Today the female lead brought yellow long-stem roses for all of the girls in the cast and the technical crew. I think it’s an amazing idea and plan to celebrate it from now on.
As a side note, I love that picture–so colorful!
*squees* I got roses this weekend for “international womens day”. I didn’t really ask him about it or anything, but he told me that he was looking at his calendar and saw the date, and decided to buy me some roses. He even bought his mom a single rose =) So sweet.
My coworker from Russia mentioned International Woman’s Day. It made me smile. Specially as I just love hearing people speak when they have an accent.
However, heavy accent (of any language) + radio + important information you are supposed to hear = not so good. Like monkey playing telephone.
Haha I must disagree with you dear Doe Deere. Here in Romania women don’t throw parties ( I mean, they can if they want,haha) , here men, boys and even girls,women give their mothers,aunts,etc [women and girls generally] flowers and something sweet.It’s VERY important here seeing that on the 1st of March we celebrate the beginning of the spring. Women’s day has a bit of Mother’s Day here too. Oh and the men and a beer factory renowned here keep trying to collect signatures of men, the reason is that the factory wants the 9th of March to be Men’s Day. Haha. Patethic =D
Where is that photo from of the big dog? I love it! x
When I 1st read the title i felt guilty that I had missed the holiday and worse never known it existed. Then I read that it isn’t really celebrated here and feel a little guilty for America.
I think we should do like Russia here! If my brother had to give me a flower just for being his sister I’d be ecstatic! though him expressing kindness may cause him to explode. The idea of womens only parties sounds like lots of fun too. I haven’t done anything like that since sleepovers in middle school.
I’ll go mark my calendar for next year! (I always go through them when i change them out and jot down birthdays and such on the new ones)
and one more thing! If you’d like to see a boy being treated like a princess come over to my house! I always refer to my 15 yr old lil brother as the Little Prince when arguing with my parents. He’s spoiled rotton and like nearly every other boy in his grade , metrosexual! They all have to have the most expensive clothes and shoes which they clean every day before going out and their hair always has to be styled and always must smell of the latest axe scent. My brother even bought a leather polisher for his basketball shoes! My parents call him a girl but other than that give him everything he wants; His wish is their command. While I get to pick the cutest thing at payless 2-3 times a year.
prince…or princess?
[...] to Doe Deere for the [...]
I hope you all enjoyed international womens day. I did stuff and at the same time i remembered this blog how weird.