Chess is not only an intellectual game, but a real science and a difficult sports competition. For a long time they were the privilege of exclusively kings and representatives of aristocratic society. Today it is difficult to find at least one person in the world who has never laid out pieces on the board or who does not know the rules of this ancient game. Millions of people around the world are fans of chess, and thematic tournaments are held in many countries every year. This activity not only gives a lot of positive emotions, but helps to develop intelligence, creative thinking, memory, form and improve individual qualities, the desire to win, perseverance, intelligence, self-discipline, concentration and more. With the development of computer technology and the Internet, chess has become much easier to play and has become even more popular. Just a few years ago it was very difficult to find books devoted to this strategy. All literature was instantly sold out. Some people were forced to play by correspondence, telling each other the moves in numerous letters. Depending on the distance between the chess players, one game often lasted several years. For many years, since 1966, in all corners of the planet, World Chess Day is celebrated every year on July 20, established by the decision of FIDE, an international organization that was founded back in 1924. Currently, 170 different federations are its participants. FIDE's main activity is to spread and develop the game around the world, as well as to promote and increase the level of chess knowledge and culture. Members of the organization establish the rules of the game, the conditions for holding international competitions, and assign world chess titles. Currently, under the auspices of FIDE, over 40 official tournaments are organized for the younger generation, the elderly, women and men. The very name of chess comes from the Persian language; it literally translates as the ruler died. India is considered the birthplace of the game, where its predecessor, chaturanga, originated in the fifth century. In Rus', this activity appeared approximately in the 9-10 centuries. Chess is a board game. The board is divided into 64 cells, where 32 different pieces are located (16 black and white). The game involves two people. The point of the strategy is to checkmate the opponent's king. According to official data from FIDE, chess is currently recognized as a sport in 105 countries around the world. In our country, in almost every city there is a club where chess fans gather. Every year on July 20, they host tournaments, entertainment events, and educational lectures. On July 20, 2004, world chess champion Anatoly Karpov took part in a simultaneous game held in the Kremlin. During the event, he drew with Vladimir Zhirinovsky. The rivals used artistic diamond figurines worth a total of 150 thousand dollars.

The international holiday unites people from different countries in the sweet territory of the “cake empire,” regardless of religion, age and nationality. The holiday pushes the boundaries between people, teaches them to love, understand and appreciate relationships. The holiday call “I will come to you with a cake” symbolizes a warm, friendly visit with a sincere, deep message. From Italian, everyone’s favorite dessert called “torte” is translated as “intricate, twisty.” When, and even more so who made it for the first time, is not known for certain. According to various sources, the history of the cake goes back about 2,000 years. There are still disputes between Greek and Italian confectioners (tortaio) for the right to primacy in creating a culinary masterpiece. The idea of ​​creating Cake Day belongs to the non-profit community “Milan Club” of the Kingdom of Love. This is a global international project that brings together artists, musicians, poets, writers, cooks and other creative personalities. Its mission is to create large-scale cultural events and peace initiatives. The open club began its work in 2009. That’s when the idea of ​​making special musical cakes came up. The first international cake was baked by Milena Gornstein in Israel. The elegant Sweet Dream dessert was a 2-tier design with black and white piano keys at the base, and sheet music and a saxophone on top. A win-win color scheme was used - white, black and gold. The cake was dedicated to Anton Vuim's musical overture. For the first international day of celebration, many cakes were baked - a kaleidoscope of desserts from different countries was posted on the official website of the Kingdom of Love. The organizing committee summed up all the parameters of the cakes and came up with one giant dessert. Confectioners from 9 different countries took part in its production - Israel, America, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine. Every year more and more participants join the sweet flash mob. They include both famous confectioners and ordinary people who love to bake and more. A birthday cake can be drawn, molded, knitted, mosaiced, embroidered, made from balloons and any other materials. The theme of the July holiday changes every year. In 2012, the large-scale theme of astronautics was chosen, in 2013 - “Planet of Love”, in 2014 - “Parade of Planets”, in 2015 - “Visiting a Fairy Tale”, in 2016 - “Time Travel”, in 2017 - “Garden of Love” " On July 20, in countries that have picked up the sweet baton, there are exhibitions of exclusive cakes, auctions of art and confectionery items, fairs, competitions and show programs. The main event of the day is a pompous and colorful parade of cakes, as well as educational master classes for children and adults, and dynamic flash mobs. On this day, it is customary to send invitations to friends, invite them to tea, bake or order cakes. The organizing committee of the Kingdom of Love is preparing a festive report of events from around the world with detailed photo and video reports. The holiday is widely covered in the media, participants share their impressions on popular blogs and forums, and post their own photos and videos on social networks. In Russia, the initiative to celebrate Cake Day was supported from the very first days. In addition to the entertainment and cultural events, a useful charity workshop has also been added - events for orphans, as well as children and teenagers from low-income families. Anyone can take part in the celebration, regardless of culinary abilities. The main thing is that he is obsessed with a bright idea - to fill the world with goodness and love, to please and surprise his friends, to express his gratitude to them in the form of a delicious dessert.

Daytime sleep helps a person relieve stress, reduce fatigue and irritation. In the afternoon, brain activity and concentration decrease, which is why the body needs rest. Recognizing this fact, in progressive companies, managers encourage their subordinates to nap during the day. For countries with hot climates, siesta is a traditional way of midday rest. Their citizens, like residents of the northern regions, celebrate Daytime Nap Day on July 20th. This is interesting: Catherine Deneuve claims that one of the secrets of beauty and prolongation of youth is an afternoon rest. The French actress emphasizes: “In all women's magazines I say that the main thing is sleep. I can easily fall asleep for 10 minutes in almost any circumstances.” Taking a nap is useful for increasing performance, improving memory, attention and mood. Scientists say that during daytime sleep, the body produces cerebrospinal fluid, which washes the brain and brings it useful substances, moisture and neurotransmitters, incl. serotonin is the “happiness hormone”. This is interesting: Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain, died at 90 years old. When asked how he managed to live to such an old age with an intense political career, he answered: “I never stood when I could have been sitting, and I never sat when I could have been lying down.” England's participation in World War II required great concentration from the country's leader, who argued: "When the war began, I needed to sleep during the day, because it was the only way to cope with the responsibility that fell on me." Afternoon naps are the norm for kindergarten return children. Adults rarely sleep during the day, although this type of rest, according to scientists, is the key to maintaining mental acuity into old age. Your daily routine changes with age. Older people begin to sleep after lunch because the body needs rest. It helps maintain fluency and memory, as well as clearer spatial orientation. This is interesting: Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of the 32nd President of the United States, always took an afternoon nap before important speeches. Margaret Thatcher asked her subordinates not to disturb her between 14.30 and 15.30. At this time, the Iron Lady was sleeping. Daytime rest increases labor productivity by 11%, brain activity by 9%, and strengthens physical health by 6%. Thanks to it, oddly enough, the risk of insomnia is reduced and the time of night sleep increases by 20 minutes. Each organism is individual, as are the habits of a particular person. However, scientists still recommend not to overuse daytime sleep: it is advisable to take a short nap, for a maximum of 90 minutes, and have time to get up before sunset. Prolonged sleep disrupts natural biorhythms, leading to headaches, a feeling of weakness and depression. This is interesting: Great people had a special attitude towards night rest. Julius Caesar, Benjamin Franklin, Nikola Tesla and Leonardo da Vinci slept no more than 3-4 hours a day. And the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer - 15-20 hours, Albert Einstein - at least 10-12. Emmanuel Kant, if the servant forgot to wake him up, could sleep from 22.00 until noon the next day. From this we can conclude that genius does not depend on the duration of any type of sleep - night or day. An afternoon rest will allow the brain to “reboot”, prevent a person from burning out at work, and help enhance the sensory perception of the world through the organs of vision, taste and hearing. Daytime sleep at least 3 times a week reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases and, in particular, heart attack by 40%. People who rest during the day are not lazy at all. On the contrary, they are very productive and hardworking. Paying tribute to the undoubted benefits of a midday nap, residents of many countries around the world celebrate Daytime Nap Day on July 20th.

People dreamed of rising into the sky and flying to the stars at different stages of the development of human civilization. The most important stage in the exploration of near-Earth space and the upper layers of the atmosphere was the flight of Yu. Gagarin. The Soviet ship "Vostok" launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in 1961. In honor of the triumph of science and the power of human thought, a holiday was established - Aviation and Cosmonautics Day, which is celebrated on April 12 all over the world. The confrontation and rivalry between the superpowers, the USSR and the USA, during the Cold War was manifested not only in the arms race. America claimed primacy in space programs, organizing spacecraft launches from Cape Canaveral. In February 1962, a US citizen flew around the Earth for the first time on a Mercury MA-6 - 41-year-old John Glen. And on July 20, 1969, three American astronauts landed on the Moon. This became another epochal event in the history of mankind. In honor of the landing of Apollo 11, a holiday was established in the United States - Space Exploration Day, which is celebrated on July 20. American spending on the Space program was unprecedented for that time and amounted to $9 billion. The USA dreamed of restoring its global prestige and taking the palm. On December 21, 1968, American astronauts, being experienced test pilots, flew into space and entered the orbit of the Moon. Having completed 10 orbits around the planet's satellite, James Lovell, Frank Borman and William Anders returned safely. The space mission that followed this flight a year later, Apollo 11, ended with the first landing of men on the Moon. It took several days, lasting from July 16 to July 24. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left the ship - walked into outer space and planted the US flag on the Moon. The crew members took samples of lunar soil weighing about 22 kg and brought them safely to Earth. Concerns expressed about possible bacteriological contamination of the Earth by organisms unknown to science turned out to be unfounded. In America, the astronauts were greeted as national heroes - millions of joyful compatriots took to the streets of cities with flowers and posters. The pilots were personally greeted immediately after landing by President Richard Nixon, standing at the window of the quarantine van. The flight was widely covered by the media, as was the entire lunar mission, preparations for which took place under the guns of journalists' cameras. The establishment of Space Exploration Day was one of the events planned by NASA, which wanted to perpetuate the historical event - the landing of people on the Moon. The astronauts' trips around the United States were also broadcast on Soviet television. In 1970, the Apollo 11 crew visited the USSR, where they were given a warm welcome and a banquet was organized in honor of N. Armstrong's 40th birthday. The birthday boy gave A. Kosygin, who was the Chairman of the Council of Ministers at that time, a jar with a sample of lunar soil. The program of flights to the Earth's satellite was curtailed in both the USA and the USSR due to the high cost. Initially, no one planned to leave the Moon for decades. But since 1969, manned flights with landing on a satellite have no longer been carried out. In memory of this historical event, there are newsreels, memories of astronauts and the US national holiday - Space Day.

Global warming and the fight against it have been the main trend of recent decades. Not only scientists, but also ordinary people are concerned about rising air temperatures and melting ice in the Arctic. Anti-warming enthusiasts consider changing the position of the Earth's poles to be one of the ways to solve the problem. July 20 marks World Jump Day - an action that, according to participants, should help move the planet to a new orbit, moving it further away from the Sun. Events in honor of World Jump Day have been held since 2006. The idea of ​​jumping at 11:39:13 GMT was supported for the first time by more than 600 million people living in the Western Hemisphere. The action, aimed at shifting the orbit, extending daylight hours and establishing a favorable climate in all regions of the Earth, has become traditional. And now millions of people jump every year on July 20 at the same time around the world. The holiday has nothing to do with science - its value is to draw attention to the problem of global warming. The action was initially doomed to failure according to people familiar with the laws of physics. To temporarily change the Earth's orbit, the event participants had to jump at the second escape velocity (11.2 km/s), which, of course, is impossible. But even if they succeeded, the planet, according to physical laws, would still return to its previous orbit. Scientists are considering various options for shifting the Earth's axis. Some propose using electric rocket engines. Each time the probe leaves the planet, it creates a small impulse, similar to the recoil from a small arms shot. In theory, rocket launches will be able to move the Earth away from the sun towards Mars. To do this, you need to make only 300 quintillion launches of launch vehicles with a full load. Other scientists propose using a laser beam or performing a gravitational maneuver to exchange impulses between the Earth and another rotating celestial body. So far, all these theories have not found application in practice due to the lack of necessary technologies. The initiator of World Jump Day is Thorsten Lauschmann from Germany. With his light hand, the first action took place in 2006, which the artist called an art installation. 600,256,820 people responded to Lauschmann’s call on the Internet and registered on the website for a joint jump. The web resource was counting down to “hour X” - 11:39:13. At the appointed moment, the site could not withstand the influx of users and “fell”. But this did not stop enthusiasts - people were ready to take care of the planet in such an unusual way every year. Therefore, the jump became a tradition and grew into World Jump Day. The action does not in any way affect the tilt of the earth's axis, but it gives participants a lot of positive emotions and a good mood.

The appearance features of representatives of the Negroid race include not only black skin color and curly hair, which creates an air cushion and protects against overheating. A distinctive feature of many African Americans is large, sensual lips. Thus, nature took care of increasing the area of ​​the mucous membrane through which excess moisture evaporates to cool the body. Wide noses with large nostrils also serve the same purpose. White-skinned people have clearly defined, plump lips - a sign of sexuality. That is why cosmetic manipulations to increase them are so popular today. Large lips are an indicator of health and good fertility in the fair sex. Men feel this at the subconscious level. In their eyes, women with full lips look more attractive than those who do not have them. Lush cheeks, sung by A.S. Pushkin, M.Yu. Lermontov and other classics of literature of the 19th century, became the reason for the establishment of a funny celebration. July 20th is the Lipslap Festival. In the 1984 Soviet cartoon "In the blue sea, in the white foam..." the daughter of the sea king sings: The appearance of the heroine of this hand-drawn musical fantasy on the theme of Armenian folk tales is bright and memorable thanks to her unusually large lips. They look so caricatured on most modern glamorous girls, who never stopped pursuing artificial beauty. The holiday, which falls on July 20, is celebrated not only by those with a “fish” mouth, which cosmetologists have worked their magic on, but also by people who are naturally endowed with large, drooping lips, which is why their speech does not always sound clear and intelligible. This defect in appearance is more than compensated by character traits. Physiognomists claim that lip-slappers have good control over their feelings and emotions, so it is difficult to piss them off. If necessary, these people are able to give a worthy rebuff to the offender without raising their voice. This is how actor G. Burkov portrayed his hero Guboshlep, the leader of the raspberry thieves and a former prisoner, in the film “Kalina Krasnaya”. In common parlance, inattentive, awkward and absent-minded people are called not only gapes and bunglers. "What a lip-slapper you are!" - sounds addressed to klutzes from others. This is often the name given to naturally clumsy, sluggish people. Therefore, the funny holiday of July 20 is celebrated not only by those with large, plump lips, but also by mumblers and bunglers who have missed a single happy moment in their lives.

Holidays in Kyrgyzstan - National Guard Day

According to the folk calendar, Avdotya Senognoika is celebrated on July 20 (July 7, old style). Avdotya is a holiday named after the church day of honoring the memory of Saint Euphrosyne, who bore the name Evdokia before she was tonsured as a nun. Evdokia lived in Rus' in the 14th-15th centuries, was the wife of Prince Vladimir Donskoy. Together with her husband, she took care of the inhabitants of her lands, organized the construction of monasteries and churches, and contributed to the painting of holy icons. In her old age, she became a nun in a convent she built. On July 7, 1407, the soul of the princess left the earthly world. Evdokia was popularly called Avdotya, and Senognoika was named for its frequent precipitation during this period. They were the reason for the damage to the hay. When there was heavy rain, the hay stored for the winter began to rot. In order to avoid this, the peasants hurried on dry days to cut the grass, dry it and hide it in stacks under cover. Only then the approaching thunderstorms were a joy after the heat. With Avdotya, the harvest period began - the time of harvesting grain crops from the fields. On this day, the peasants prayed for an easy harvest, for a timely harvest and its successful storage. Traditionally, women with sickles reaped the cornfields. They walked into the field, singing a common song and carrying with them a sickle wrapped in linen. The first cut sheaf with ears of corn was wrapped in linen and carried to the temple after work for illumination. The consecrated sheaf was kept in the room near the icons. In the afternoon they drove the flies out of the room. This sheaf was kept until the Feast of the Intercession (October 14), then it was fed to livestock so that the winter feed would benefit them. So that the lower back would not hurt from hard work, the reapers made belts from grain stalks and charmed them to take away pain from the back. Women could secretly lie down on a harvested field, ride around it a couple of times and read a spell, asking the earth for energy and strength to collect grain. Those who wanted to know the future sometimes guessed in the fields. To do this, they threw a sickle to the ground: if its handle touched the ground, then prosperity awaited the fortuneteller. However, a tip stuck into the ground promised serious health problems or even death. If there was a thunderstorm on Avdotya Senognoika, then summer was expected with frequent rains until the beginning of autumn. A whitish sky at lunchtime was observed as a sign of a sudden change in weather. Moisture on the bottom of the quinoa leaf foreshadowed imminent rains. The evening cries of cranes announced clear days. Also, sunny weather was predicted by woodlice, which opened its inflorescences in the morning.

Holidays in Bulgaria - Ilin-day in Bulgaria (Ilinden)

Orthodox holidays on July 20:

Feast of the Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God

Memorial Day of St. Akakios of Sinai

Memorial Day of St. Thomas Malein