August is a spectacular month. Not only is it the month my only sibling (a spectacular individual) was born but it is the month of celestial action. There are more visible meteor showers in August than any other month. The Kappa Cygnids, the Alpha Capricornids and the Perseids all show up in August. So keep your eyes on the night sky. There are a lot of religious observances in August, and even more national celebrations, but I did find one day that I had not heard of, and I think should be celebrated officially internationally. August 9 is International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples according to the United Nations. Pretty much every nation in the world has an indigenous people(s) and no matter the current state of affairs they should be remembered. Every two weeks a language dies. By 2100 linguists believe that over half of the world's 7000 spoken languages will become extinct. Some estimates put that figure up to 90%! Language is one of the primary aspects of culture. When we lose a language we lose a precious piece of cultural identity and history. And for indigenous people, this is the liklihood; successive generations will slowly shed their customs, beliefs and language as they assimilate into the larger culture of a region. So let's appreciate these differences while they are here.
For August: 🐌Read a book with a celestial body or event on the cover 🐌Read a book with a MPG (main page genre) tag of either Astronomy or Culture 🐌Read written by or about an indigenous person
August is a spectacular month. Not only is it the month my only sibling (a spectacular individual) was born but it is the month of celestial action. There are more visible meteor showers in August than any other month. The Kappa Cygnids, the Alpha Capricornids and the Perseids all show up in August. So keep your eyes on the night sky.
There are a lot of religious observances in August, and even more national celebrations, but I did find one day that I had not heard of, and I think should be celebrated officially internationally. August 9 is International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples according to the United Nations. Pretty much every nation in the world has an indigenous people(s) and no matter the current state of affairs they should be remembered. Every two weeks a language dies. By 2100 linguists believe that over half of the world's 7000 spoken languages will become extinct. Some estimates put that figure up to 90%! Language is one of the primary aspects of culture. When we lose a language we lose a precious piece of cultural identity and history. And for indigenous people, this is the liklihood; successive generations will slowly shed their customs, beliefs and language as they assimilate into the larger culture of a region. So let's appreciate these differences while they are here.
For August:
🐌Read a book with a celestial body or event on the cover
🐌Read a book with a MPG (main page genre) tag of either Astronomy or Culture
🐌Read written by or about an indigenous person