All - Leep Calendar

Sixty-four percent of men whom have had a heart attack experienced a warning sign up to three years earlier: Erectile dysfunction Erectile dysfunction can be a forewarning of serious health problems or a temporary situation due to increased stress. Whatever the cause, it can be agonizing for men and their partners to deal with. National Impotence Day in the United Kingdom seeks to provide men and their partners with the information necessary to treat or overcome impotency. Dozens of resources are available on the charities website. National Impotency Day (also referred to as Think About Sex Day), is sponsored by the Sexual Advice Association, a non-profit devoted to all aspects of human sexuality.

Africa

Feb

League of Women Voters Day (1920): February 14

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The League of Women Voters was founded by Carrie Chapman Catt on February 14, 1920 at the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. The struggle to obtain the right to vote for women lasted 72 years. The League began as a "mighty political experiment" designed to help 20 million women carry out their new responsibilities as voters. It encouraged them to use their new power to participate in shaping public policy. Today the League of Women Voters is a powerful advocate for a variety of women’s rights issues and has upwards of 150,000 members.

Africa

Feb

One Billion Rising, Global Dance: February 14

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The One Billion Rising for Justice campaign is rapidly building upon the energy and momentum that was created in early 2013 when one billion activists in 207 countries came together to strike, dance, and rise to end violence against women and girls. This year’s campaign is a call to women, men, and youth around the world to gather on 14 February 2014 outside places where they are entitled to justice. More than 100 countries are already signed on to Rise outside court houses, police stations, government offices, school administration buildings, work places, sites of environmental injustice, military courts, embassies, places of worship, or other public spaces for justice, marking the call to end the rampant impunity that prevails globally. “In 2013, one billion rose around the world to end violence against women and girls in the biggest mass action in the history of the world. This year we are escalating and connecting the dots. We are rising for gender, economic, racial, environmental Justice. We are rising and dancing with our bodies, to end the violations towards our bodies and the body of the earth,” said V-Day Founder and award winning playwright Eve Ensler. The expanded One Billion Rising website features activist videos, daily news updates and photos, information on joining the campaign and much more. Individuals and organizations can get involved with One Billion Rising online by adding to the thousands already signed up. The “This is What Justice Looks Like” project launches today as a forum in which activists can share their definitions of justice in the form of text, image, and video in an online collage on the campaign website. The series debuts with videos from activists in Syria, Haiti, the Philippines, South Africa and a new monologue by Eve Ensler. Contributors are encouraged to visualize what justice looks like, harnessing their power and imagination.

Africa

Feb

Pet Theft Awareness Day, Ntl.: February 14

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Pets do get stolen and sometimes 'sold' back to their owners for a reward. The National Humane Education Society encourages pet owners to take precautions each Valentines Day to insure they have current information on each pet in the event it is stolen or lost. Precautions include: ID Tags and Microchips Current clear photo of face and body markings Supervise pets when outdoors Never let them run at large Register your pet with Social Media such as Nextdoor And if your pet does go missing, immediately canvas the neighborhood, put up posters, notify services like PawBoost and contact your local shelter.

Africa

Feb

Race Relations Day: February 14

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Race relations day is supported by multiple religious organizations, but does not have a specific sponsor. Coinciding with Valentines Day, it is a day to promote interracial and interfaith appreciation in love and in life.

Africa

Feb

Sex, National Thinking About Sex Day (UK): February 14

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Think About Sex Day in the United Kingdom always falls on Valentine's Day. It is about looking at sexuality and how we relate to each other as well as what to do when problems arise. The Sexual Advice Association takes a traditional, satirical look at the issue of one partner wanting and another not in the first video presented. The purpose of Think About Sex Day is to improve the sexual health and wellbeing of men and women and to raise awareness of the extent to which sexual conditions affect the general population.

Africa

Feb

Sweethearts Day, National (AU): February 14

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HeartKids Australia hosts Sweetheart Day to raise awareness of childhood heart disease and encourage donations to continue providing support, advocacy, growing awareness and further research into children's heart disorders.

Africa

Feb

Valentine's Day (269 AD): February 14

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Saint Valentines Day commemorates the work of Bishop Valentine, who died in 269 AD. At that time, Christianity was not a major faith, (that changes in 361 AD) and the Roman Empire ruled 1/4 of the world’s population. The Roman’s decided married men did not make good soldiers because they always wanted to return to their families. Their solution? Outlaw marriage. Bishop Valentine was imprisoned for performing marriages. Couples used to pass notes through his cell window (why we send Valentines) and he’d marry them in secret. Eventually, Emperor Claudius ordered Bishop Valentine executed for his part in illegally marrying men and women. However, the order was primarily because the bishop tried to convert the emperor to Christianity. In 496 AD Pope Gelasius declared February 14th as St. Valentine’s Day to honor the anniversary of Bishop Valentine’s martyrdom. St. Valentine is the Patron Saint of affianced couples, bee keepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travelers and young people. Origins and Meaning of Valentine's Day by Lorne Caplan, for Couples Company, Living in North America, we tend not to pay too much attention to the marketing machines that are constantly telling us to buy this or that. At least we're not completely aware of it. However, subliminally, we are overwhelmed by efforts to extract our hard earned cash on synthetic holidays, like Valentine's Day. That isn't to say some of these "Hallmark Holidays" can't be ideal opportunities to reconnect with people that we care about. It is just that we have allowed others who have ulterior motives to tell us what to do and how to respond on events like Valentine's Day, which had dubious beginnings in human history to begin with. Conflicting Origins of Valentine's Day - What we are familiar with today, wasn't always how this event was celebrated. Instead of chocolates, flowers and gifts to share with our spouses, prospective dates (those we hope to make our sweethearts), girlfriends or boyfriends, in ancient Rome, disallowed marriages were performed in secret under the reign of Roman emperor Claudius II. It seems he didn't want single men getting married. They didn't make good soldiers and one priest, who didn't agree with the Emperor's decree (which always boded ill in those days, you just didn't disagree with an Emperor), performed marriages in secret. Alternatively, this same Valentinus may have instead been protecting early Christians as well as helping to feed and cloth jailed Christians, for which he would have also assuredly paid with his life. Most people who defied those in power during Roman times, would usually be paraded about, tortured and starved before being publicly put to death. It was a kind of entertainment, not dissimilar to Roman gladiators slaying each-other for sport. So legend has it that this erstwhile priest sent a message from his dungeon cell (jail cell suggests some humanity and It's unlikely there was any afforded this supporter of young love and the downtrodden) to his jailers daughter, whom he fell in love with. It is said that she showed him kindness and visited him during his incarceration. This letter of affection was signed "Valentine" and thus, the legend had a martyr, a story of blossoming love and a villain of course, who's irrational and evil plans to squash romance, love and passion was overcome in death. Sounds like a Disney cartoon doesn't it? It is variously agreed, that Valentine was made a Saint for his death on around 270 BC, which was then commemorated in February, to celebrate his support and good deeds for singles and Christians. A more likely scenario has Valentine's origins as an effort to convert the debauchery, physicality and essentially, rampant copulation during the festival and feast of Lupercalia into a Christian holy day. You see, this was a fractious period in human history, where pagans and Christians were at war to dominate civilization. Lupercalia was a springtime celebration of renewal and a time of purification, which was a good idea when ancient Rome was so in need of cleansing with open sewers and so many other aspects of a rank and putrid society that most modern people can hardly even consider. This cleansing began at the Ides of February (the 15th) and continued for a brief amount of time thereafter, but not before a goat or sheep was ritually slaughtered at the mouth of the cave to which the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, were thought to be cared for by a she wolf. The festival and offerings were also dedicated to Faunus, The Roman god of agriculture. Do you see how this festival can be co-opted to become, conveniently, a holiday for a new religion as most ancient pagan rituals were? The Luperci, an ancient order of priests, led this ritual festival and therefore preserved their role in their society, provided their followers with an event to celebrate as well as keep masses under control and subservience. To make this event even more involved, young boys were said to take strips of the slaughtered animal and slap the blood soaked meat on crops and women to promote fertility. Yum! Not quite as endearing as a box of decadent chocolates is it? Practices got a little more merry as time dragged on and by the beginning of the Christian era, young women would place their names in an urn, to which bachelors of any age, would pick and become paired with that women for the year. This pairing often ended in marriage and certainly after some, or rather a lot of, carnal activity went on. This tradition went even further by the middle-ages, when young men and women pinned names to their sleeves for a week to ward off would be suitors, while they secluded themselves with the woman they chose. This is where the expression "wearing your heart on your sleeve" came from and no, it wasn't at all gender equivalent. Sorry ladies. We men didn't "get it" until much, much later! Needless to say, this fun (it wasn't always a match made in goat meat heaven) was banned as the Christian church became more powerful in the waning years of the Roman empire. In 498 C.E., Pope Gelasius declared February 14, St. Valentine's Day. The lottery pairing was banned as un-Christian, however the celebrations of renewal and coupling were maintained through to the middle-ages. This "fear" of Valentine's Day continues today, with the Iranian government and theocracy banning anything related to Valentine's Day. Getting back to the history, with the ascendency of Gaul (modern day France), Spain and England as Christian powers, these countries inserted the realities of bird's mating seasons being in the middle of February, further solidifying the perception that Valentine's Day was a celebration of coupling and fertility. The ancient worship of mother earth and Druidism (which died out around the same time as Pope Gelasius attempted to quash another fun human activity) practiced by the ancient Celts, was also rolled into modern St. Valentine's celebrations, by combining the fertilization of the earth by the great father that occurred around the Spring solstice in March. The Renaissance Romance With wars raging for control of precious metal and the modern world, it was inevitable that some stories of love and romance should permeate the desperation and futile existence of whole populations caught up in this struggle. Apparently, it was the Duke of Orleans, Charles, who sent a "greeting" to his wife from his prison cell in the Tower of London. You see, he was captured during the battle of Agincourt, and in 1415 (when it was dated), he was trying to get word out of his and France's predicament in a carefully worded letter. This is considered the oldest Valentine "card" in existence, which was followed up by the English king Henry V, who hired a writer to send a Valentine's note to Catherine of Valois. Some attribute the flourishing of Valentine's affection to the father of British literature, Geoffrey Chaucer who died in 1400 AD. He recorded the detailed rituals and mating habits of birds, to the amusement of the royal courts. Ultimately, British King Henry VII declared February 14 as Saint Valentine's Day, formally ensconcing it into our modern year calendar. This constant fighting between to intractable and intertwined enemies would go on for centuries more, but the holiday, if you can call it that, had made it's mark and was further institutionalized in Britain by the middle of the 17th century with the proliferation of the printing press (invented in the middle of the 15th century). This allowed more people to hear authors like Chaucer through the Town Crier. Not only did most people not read, they also couldn't write for the most part, which is why most hand-written cards were completed by scribes and signed by the one sending the card and signed by an "x", which is where "x" gained it's image as an expression of love and a kiss. While printed notes were still far too expensive for the masses, most people sent written notes to their partners through the middle of the 18th century. With the industrial revolution, it became affordable to buy pre-printed cards and send them. In 1797, a primer for men called "The Young Man's Valentine's Writer" was published, to help the linguistically challenged. Versus and poems were provided by this primer and printed on cards that could be sent anonymously, with racy text that would otherwise be frowned upon during the prudishness of the era. Most cards, however, were still handmade, representing a higher station in life and an ability to provide for the chosen Valentine. Americans too, began to send printed cards as postage rates became more affordable and by 1840, a woman named Esther Howland, created the first mass produced Valentine's Day cards. It is believed her desire to help women gain appreciation for their hard work and foster commitment from men to join with women in marriage. The Age of Consumerism The National retail Federation projected that consumers will spend over $18 billion dollars on Valentines Day in 2017. Cards, flowers, chocolates and jewelry are the most popular gifts. The first Hallmark Valentine's Day card was printed in only 1913. A legend ties the first flowers given on Valentine's Day as those chosen by a French princess. She gave them to him on Valentine's Day during a party in his honor. This 17th century gift, was unattainable to the vast majority of people due to it's cost and rarity. As a symbol of love, the red rose was often chosen in the Victorian era, when Dutch flower distribution improved to the point that this sentiment could reflect the favorite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Richard Cadbury, in 1868, put his confections in a heart shaped box and gave it to his daughter. He denied that it had anything to do with the holiday, but those who could afford such luxuries started to adopt it as a ritual along with hand-written and printed cards. Despite the value of the holiday today, it was not until after the Second World War and the boom in the economy, that small gifts were regularly exchanged along with cards. Today, 75% of all chocolate is purchased by men for Valentine's Day; women buy the majority of chocolate throughout the year. Men tend to purchases lingerie, flowers and chocolate within two days of February 14th; women begin buying their special someone a gift by January 15th, a full month in advance of the holiday. Women also tend to take care of themselves too. Almost 15% of women buy themselves flowers on Valentine's Day. During the 1980's, DeBeer's, the South African diamond conglomerate, saw an opportunity to extract some revenue from an increasingly wealthy North American population by marketing diamonds and jewelry as a Valentine's Day gift option. The campaign was highly successful. With over a billion dollars in chocolate sold for the holiday and over 110 million red roses sold within three days of February 14th, you can see why it has become an important event during the calendar year for retailers.

Africa

Feb

Viticulturist's Day (BG): February 14

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Wine lovers will love this day, celebrated annually in Bulgaria. Viticulturist's Day honors the men and women involved in the study, science and production of grapes and the products created from them. This holiday and festival of wine and merriment has been part of Bulgarian culture since the 4th Century BC. It is celebrated each year in honor of the ancient god Dionysus, the god of wine and merriment.

Africa

Feb

Childhood Cancer Day, Intl.: February 15

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International Childhood Cancer Day is set aside to bring attention to childhood cancers, support their families and focus on finding a cure. Within the United States there are approximately 12-million cancer survivors who were diagnosed under the age of 21. Seventy-five percent of these children survive 10+ years after treatment. The most common cancers for children are: Leukemia: 34% Brain Tumors/Central Nervous System Tumors: 27% Lymphoma (Hodgkin & Non-Hodgkin): 8% The American Society of Clinical Oncology reports: “Childhood cancer survivors are at risk for developing late effects, which are side effects that occur more than five years after treatment. These can result from both the cancer itself and the cancer treatment. Because more than 80% of children treated for cancer survive five years or more after treatment and are presumably cured, preventing and recognizing both physical and emotional late effects is an important part of cancer care.”

Africa

Feb

Flag Day (CA)(1965): February 15

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The search for a new Canadian flag started in earnest in 1925 when a committee of the Privy Council began to research possible designs for a national flag. However, the work of the committee was never completed. Forty years later on February 15, 1965 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada officially proclaimed the Maple Leaf Flag the official banner of Canada.

Africa

Feb

Gumdrop Day, Ntl.: February 15

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You know them by several names: Jujubes, Juicy Fruit and even DOTS. Gumdrops, the sweet or spice candy, first gained popularity in the 1920s and quickly became a staple at movie theaters. Unlike chocolates, they don’t melt in your hands. Gumdrops are made with pectin or gelatin, sugar, juice and spices.

Africa

Feb

Hippo Day, World: February 15

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Hippopotami, or hippos, are the third largest animal by weight in the world (after the whale and elephant). Their name is Greek for 'river horse', and they do spend hours a day submerged in water. Each animal can weigh up to 8,000 pounds, and as herbivores, they play an important role in the ecosystem. A hippo in the wild typically lives about 40 years. World Hippo Day is an unofficial event with no sponsor.

Africa

Feb

Love Reset Day: February 15

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It’s the day after Valentines and the moment of truth has arrived. How do you feel about your relationship? Love Reset Day is about taking care of yourself first and ending any relationships that aren’t giving you what you need.

Africa

Feb

Lupercalia (Spring Cleaning Day): February 15

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An ancient Roman celebration in the beginning, Lupercalia occurred in the last month of the Roman year, one month prior to the Vernal Equinox. The entire month prior to spring was set aside for cleaning and washing up as they prepared for their New Year, which began in March. Today it signals the beginning of spring cleaning in the Northern Hemisphere. In occult circles it is known as the pagan Valentine’s Day. This is likely due to its original focus on newlyweds and procreation. In ancient Rome priests used skins freshly stripped from sacrificed goats to cover the loins of young men. They would then run through the street with priests slapping them with goat strips. Newlywed women would line the roads. To be slapped by a priest with goat skin was considered good luck in conceiving and would guarantee an easy birth. As with most Roman festivities, a feast was included.

Africa