Few people know that March 2 is celebrated as International Match Day. There are no festivities on this day, but you can visit the match museum (Russia, Rybinsk). There you can see ancient types of matches, as well as admire a collection of matchboxes. There are similar museums in Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. Modern technologies have stepped far forward, but still such a simple thing as a match remains our assistant, which saves energy and time. I struck a match on the box and it burned. But once upon a time, getting fire was a very difficult task; it was obtained by friction or carving. The very first matches were invented by the chemist Chapsel in France in 1805. To light such a match, use a lens or a drop of sulfuric acid. Therefore, such matches were quite dangerous. And in 1847, the scientist and chemist Boettcher produced the safety matches that we use to this day. In 1851, such matches began to be produced in Sweden, and therefore for a long time they were called “Swedish matches”. It is known that by 1848 there were already more than 30 match factories in Russia. What is a modern match? This is a wooden stick (most often made of aspen) with a special flammable mixture at one end. The composition of a match head is not only sulfur, as most people think. It contains Berthollet salt, chromium peak, pyrolusite, zinc white, red lead, glue, ground glass and, of course, sulfur itself. In addition to ordinary household matches, there are hunting matches (resistant to wind and rain), thermal matches (burn at a higher temperature), fireplace matches (differing in length), cigarette matches, signal matches (have a colored flame), and decorative ones. The material for a matchstick can be not only wood, but also wax or cardboard. There are matches that can ignite if rubbed against any surface, not necessarily against a box. Today, matches have found other uses besides the main one. Craftsmen make crafts from matches, children are taught to count using matches (instead of counting sticks), they are used for magic tricks, instead of toothpicks, cotton swabs, etc.

In the USSR, public people's squads were created to help law enforcement agencies. They not only patrolled the streets of cities and towns, but since 1960 they even helped the border troops in protecting the state border. Activists in the citizen groups were recruited from employees of enterprises, collective farms, housing offices and other house management bodies, and residents of rural settlements. March 2, 1955 is known in history as the Day of the Creation of Voluntary People's Teams. Civilians were involved in maintaining order at mass celebrations back in Tsarist Russia under Alexander III. For his coronation in 1881, a voluntary national guard was created. The young state of workers and peasants received its first such experience in 1926. Then, in some institutions and industrial enterprises of Leningrad, public order commissions (POC) were formed to help the police, which fought against hooligans and drunkards. In 1927, the COP consisted of more than 2,300 activists from the city on the Neva. In the same year, the NKVD issued a decree creating the position of rural enforcers, who monitored order at fairs and bazaars, the serviceability of roads, and guarded crime scenes until officials arrived. In 1928, social assistance cells for the police (osodmil) appeared in many cities of the country. They were subordinate to local councils, but the maximum effectiveness of the volunteers’ work was achieved through their direct interaction with law enforcement agencies. Therefore, after 4 years, the Osodmils were renamed into police assistance brigades - brigademils. The etymology of the word "combatant" is rooted in the past of Ancient Rus'. Its princes needed fighters for personal protection and protection of their territories from external enemies, and to restore order within their domains. The princely warriors were called warriors. Among them were leaders - governors. The vigilantes had many responsibilities. The people who served at the court were the prince's confidants - they looked after his property, gave political advice, and raised his young male children. Therefore, the choice of a name with a hysterical reference for groups of riot activists is not surprising. The initiative to create VND, voluntary people's squads, belongs to the Kirov plant, located in Leningrad. It was the workers of this enterprise who were the first to react to the resolution of the Council of Ministers of March 2, 1959 on the participation of workers in maintaining order in the USSR. Following the 120 activists of the Kirov plant, squads were formed at the Nevsky Machine-Building Plant, Russian Diesel and other enterprises. The distinctive symbols of the DND were red armbands and badges, awarded along with the organization’s membership certificate. Activists from among the vigilantes not only patrolled populated areas, but also detained dangerous criminals, repeat offenders and violators of the USSR border. In the ranks of the DND volunteers, selection, moral and initial professional training of personnel for the Soviet police took place. In 1972, the number of vigilantes was almost 7 million people, in 1984 - already 13 million. Every year, activists from the DND prevented many crimes and detained up to 5 thousand criminals. The high moral consciousness of the Soviet people and sense of duty did not allow them to remain aloof from the problems of society, which is why they provided all possible assistance to the police in maintaining law and order in the country. DND was disbanded in 1990 due to the collapse of the USSR. But paying tribute to the history of the state and the initiatives of Soviet citizens, March 2 will forever remain in the memory of grateful descendants as the Day of the Creation of Voluntary People's Teams.

Teenagers have a flexible psyche and are very susceptible to outside influence. It is difficult for teenagers to navigate the large flow of information in the modern world. The instability of behavior and non-trivial reactions to its manifestations during puberty are associated with hormonal changes in the body and the inculcation of stereotypes that threaten the existence of humanity. March 2 is World Adolescent Mental Health Day. The events dedicated to it, according to the initiators, are aimed at eliminating stigma in the form of misconceptions about the mental state of teenagers. World Teen Mental Wellness Day is designed to draw attention to the mental well-being of children of generation Z, i.e. born in 1999-2012 A world day dedicated to this issue was created in 2020 at the initiative of the Hollister Confidence project. It is organized by the Hollister Trust Fund, which is focused on issues such as achieving justice for young blacks and people of color, transgender inclusivity, social equality for LGBT people, etc. According to social surveys, 64% of Generation Z teenagers lack attention and care. This is partly due to the fact that their parents work hard to achieve family well-being, get their children a good education and create other opportunities. A father or mother does not always have free time to discuss his problems with a teenager. The situation is often aggravated by the fact that teenagers live in single-parent families and have little contact with their other parent. Such teenagers not only experience a lack of attention from adults, but also do not gain an understanding of the patterns of behavior in marriage between a man and a woman and the experience of relationships in a two-parent family. This factor negatively affects their future life and mental health. Part of the mental discomfort of Generation Z is due to the deliberate erosion of the concepts of traditional family and gender relations. The psychological health of a child is closely related to the atmosphere inside the home, which forms the little person’s confidence in the future. Love and adoration give the child the understanding that he is valuable and very important to those closest to him. Juvenile law, with the practice of removing children from families, deprives young fragile souls of an anchor, traumatizing them for the rest of their lives. The second blow to the child’s psyche comes from the forcible inculcation of ideas of gender reassignment, early onset of sexual activity, the practice of sexual self-satisfaction and non-traditional relationships between people. Teenagers of Generation Z are an example of a policy successfully pursued since the days of the hippies to undermine a person’s idea of ​​himself as a person who has naturally male or female sexual characteristics. In European countries, Canada, the USA and Australia, the possibility of changing gender is promoted and instilled in children from kindergarten age. Information about methods of contraception and its types is also presented long before the child develops sexual interest in the opposite sex. In middle and high schools, advertising for LGBT people and free relationships between people, devoid of love and other spiritual values, continues. As a result of this policy, society has disoriented teenagers who find it difficult to identify themselves as individuals, determine their gender and sexual preferences. Many pubescents do not consider themselves non-binary, gay, bisexual or transgender, but are forced to recognize themselves as such for the sake of fashion and social pressure. All of these trends have a negative impact on the mental health of adolescents. The Hollister Confidence Project is coming to the aid of teenagers - a global initiative to combat bullying of people of color and dark-skinned people, creating equal rights for indigenous peoples and representatives of LGBT communities. Thus, the Hollister Trust Foundation popularizes what shakes the inner world of teenagers and negatively affects their mental state, creating a lot of reasons for the establishment of World Adolescent Mental Health Day.

The CD's birthday is celebrated every year on March 2nd. It was on this day in 1983 that the world corporations Sony, Philips, and Polygram demonstrated to the public the first 12-centimeter disk on which Beethoven's 9th symphony was stored. The information was recorded using a special laser. Its duration was 70 minutes. At first, only audio files could be recorded. After some minor modifications, graphic objects, video files and other digital data began to be stored on media. The holiday, dedicated to compact discs, is the personification of achievements in the field of computer technology. At the end of the last century, rapid development of this area began. The emergence of a small storage medium was perceived by society as the greatest step towards a digital future. This device at one time became a real breakthrough in the music world. Most music lovers and popular composers decided to celebrate their professional holiday on March 2nd. Great musicians believe that it was discs that became the most powerful influence on the development of modern music. Cassettes and records faded into the background, giving way to innovative technologies. The first mechanical objects designed to work with sounds could not reproduce human voices. T. Edison created the phonograph, which led to the appearance of the famous organ-organ. The development of sound systems occurred very quickly. First the phonograph appeared, then the gramophone, gramophone, and tape recorder appeared. Over the course of several decades, humanity has gone from old phonographs to new compact discs. From 1978 to 1983, specialists from Philips, Sony, and Polygram actively worked to improve existing sound media. Floppy disks appeared in 1981, and CDs appeared in 1982, on which a lot of information could be stored. The name for the new development was chosen in such a way that it would be heard by all buyers. The Compact Disc had a round shape, a hole in the center, and was covered over the entire area with a thin layer of metal. The audio track is a spiral recess, information from it is read using a laser beam. In the UK, the first disc was released on March 2, 1983. And now, every year, music lovers celebrate the birthday of the CD on this date. The sensational event amazed the general public. CDs began to be distributed as music albums of favorite artists. Today, such information carriers are gradually becoming a thing of the past. Digital devices for working with files are rapidly replacing each other. Although in almost every home you can find a disk that may not be used, but takes pride of place on the shelf. In this regard, many musical figures do not forget to celebrate the holiday on March 2. After all, along with this format, the music came to life. ABBA's songs were recorded on Compact Disc, which became the first pop music album. At first, only audio files could be recorded. After some time, CD-R and CD-RW appeared for storing various data (photos, pictures, videos, and so on). CD-RW is a reusable device. The end of the last century and the beginning of the current one were a time of records in CD sales. By 2005, more than 200 billion discs had been purchased worldwide. Which is an average of about 30 disks for every inhabitant of our planet. But after that, the era of such digital devices began to decline. Memory cards are being replaced by flash drives.

The 1984 Soviet cartoon “How Petya Pyatochkin Counted Elephants” is about a playful boy who couldn’t fall asleep during the day. A kindergarten teacher helped him overcome difficulties. The teacher suggested that Petya count the fairytale elephants, after which the boy finally fell asleep. The behavior of an absent-minded and inattentive person is characterized by the idiom “counting crows” or “catching crows.” This phraseology is often used by parents and teachers to address thoughtful and distracted children. In honor of the catchphrase, a funny Crow Counting Day was invented and widely celebrated on March 2nd. The idiom, like the mythical birds, is present in many languages ​​of the world. Odin's ravens Hugin and Munin, who flew around all nine existing worlds, have long been symbols of secret knowledge and wisdom. The supreme deity of the northern peoples is often depicted with two birds on his shoulders. Huginn and Muninn are first mentioned as characters in skaldic poetry in the collection of myths "Younger Edda". According to legends, every evening, returning to Asgard and sitting on the shoulders of the Father, these wise birds told Odin about everything they saw and heard during the day. Therefore, upon closer examination, the expression “counting crows” lacks the lightness and superficiality usually attributed to it. The black bird, which our ancestors treated with great respect and reverence, is a symbol of wisdom and a harbinger of death. Chernobog, who reigns in the world of the dead, was considered the patron saint of black crows in the mythology of the ancient Slavs. This bird, in their opinion, had prophetic gifts and wisdom. With the advent of Christianity, the symbolism of the crow underwent changes. Orthodox believers began to believe that ravens were inhabited by the souls of sorcerers, evil people and suicides. This is where the roots of the expression “death croaked,” etc. come from. “Why is she alone, Lizaveta Prokofyevna, condemned to take care of everyone, to notice and predict everything, while everyone else is to count only crows?” - the author asks in the novel F.I. Dostoevsky's "Idiot". At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. the well-known expression began to acquire a negative connotation. Counting crows was carried out by people who were far from reality, who were known as careless students and dreamers. Poet Irina Borzykh writes in one of her poems for children: The daydreaming and contemplative attitude towards reality of some people became the reason for the establishment of an unusual holiday. Everyone who is at heart a bit of a slacker, a slacker and a dreamer who loves to live in isolation from reality, celebrates Counting Crows Day on March 2.

Funny holidays - International Rescue Cat Day

Baha'ism, which is a monotheistic religion, was founded by Baha'ul. Admirers of this teaching consider its founder to be the last among the “manifestations of God.” The world center of this religion is Haifa. The founder of the doctrine not only “created” the rules, but also approved a special calendar created by his predecessor the Bab. Among followers of the monotheistic faith, it is called the Badi calendar or the Baha'i calendar. A special feature of the calendar is the unusual definition of the day: the period between two sunsets that follow each other. The religious calendar has 19 months, each containing 19 days. According to the basic teachings and the “instructions” of the founders of the religion, the month of Ala is the month of Fasting. The month of Ala begins on March 2 according to the Gregorian calendar. Translated from Arabic, the month is called “Exalted”. The most important religious festival celebrated in the month of Ala, which has become special in the Bahá'í calendar, is the Feast of the Nineteenth Day of the Month of Ala. Since this celebration is very important for adherents of this religion, it is not surprising that the holiday itself consists of 3 parts. The first part of the celebration is spiritual. Church members read scriptures and prayers. In their opinion, this not only helps to turn the hearts of believers to God, but also creates a special atmosphere of spiritual unity among them. The second part is devoted to administrative and organizational issues. Representatives of Local Spiritual Assemblies inform parishioners about the decisions made by this local government body. This information is essentially a report regarding the offerings made by the believers at the previous Feast of the Nineteenth Day of the Month of Ala. The community treasurer provides a report on its financial status. People who come to the meeting exchange news, discuss the situation inside and outside the community, and also make their own proposals. At the same time, not only adults and teenagers, but even children take part in the discussion. At the Festival, community members can not only hear representatives of national and international teaching, but also express their wishes to them. Thus, the Festival becomes a unifying link between the local community and the system of administration of the Baha'i religion. This promotes a closer connection between believers, and also allows the “ordinary” parishioner to take part in the collective process of renewal and development of society. Having finished with administrative affairs, believers of the Baha'i religion devote the rest of the day to refreshments and friendly communication. The founders of the religion recommend that parishioners use more stories in their conversations that would not only be eloquent, but also contribute to the elevation of the soul and its aspiration to God. In addition to conversations at the table, the final part of the holiday may include performances by artists, music, a variety of games and other entertainment. Community leaders are encouraged to include in their speeches elements of local cultural customs that most clearly characterize the culture of a particular area.

March is a special month in the Bahá'í calendar because it is a period of fasting for 19 days. These days, followers of the religion refuse food and water. Abstinence lasts from sunrise to sunset. Minor children under fifteen years of age, pregnant and lactating women, travelers, sick and elderly persons are exempt from fasting. Due to the fact that fasting ends on the eve of Nowruz (the holiday of the arrival of spring and the New Year according to the solar astronomical calendar), it always falls during the same period of time - the spring months in the northern hemisphere and the autumn months in the southern hemisphere. The fast is observed as follows. At sunrise, Baha'is wake up and begin the new day by reciting prayers, and only after that have breakfast. In some regions, people eat first and then begin prayers. Fasting is not only a “fasting period”, and prayer plays a very important role in this matter. Every day, while reciting the obligatory prayer, Baha'is take stock of the past day and recharge themselves with energy for the next. In a similar way, the post sums up the results of the past year and energizes us for the future. Bahá'ís are a monotheistic religious movement whose founder is considered to be Bahá'u'lláh, who was born in 1817 and lived until 1892. The international center is located in Haifa. Baha'i is one of the few revealed religions to have a personal collection of sacred books. The faith originated in the 19th century, thanks to its creator Bahá'u'lláh. Today it has over 5 million adherents. The essence of the teaching is the inextricable unity with God, faith and humanity. The Scripture says that the only religion on Earth is faith in the Lord. Religions, like pyramids, have several sides and only one top from which they all emanate, this point is God himself. It doesn't matter which side of the pyramid a person chooses, because sooner or later he will reach the expected goal - the overall top. Like all believers, Baha'is strictly adhere to fasting, starting on March 2 and continuing until the 20th. It consists of completely abstaining from food from dawn to sunset. In addition, drinking water and smoking are prohibited. There are no restrictions on the quality of food - after midnight you are allowed to eat whatever you want, the main thing is in moderate doses. The key task of fasting is to cleanse thoughts, body and soul, to think about life and its real values.

The Slavs honored not only Perun, Svarog, Yarilo, Mokosh, Lelya and Mara, but also the “small gods”, organizing holidays in honor of the brownie, the goblin and the kikimora. It was believed that these conventionally evil spirits also helped people, like other representatives of the pagan pantheon. One of the gods constantly in the dwelling was the kikimora, which I.V. Dahl called it an “invisible girl” in his dictionary. The dry old woman was depicted with disheveled and tangled hair with a ball of tangled threads, because... loved to spin. A playful and restless spirit could take the form of a little girl or girl with a long braid, and sometimes a dog, pig or hare. In the northern regions, kikimora was called Shishimora, Shishiga, and even simply Mara. She lived in a hut behind the stove, a bathhouse, a barn and other outbuildings, as well as in the forest and swamps. In order to appease the evil spirit that brought trouble to people, the Slavs came up with Kikimora Day, which was celebrated on March 2. It was believed that it started in a hut built in a bad place or cursed during construction. According to legend, a sloppy and ugly old woman appeared as a result of curses and the abduction of children by evil spirits, the death of an unbaptized or murdered child, the passing of suicides, etc. Kikimora creaked the floorboards in the hut at night, drove horses, attacked sheep and cows - plucked feathers and cut wool with livestock, she loved to play pranks in the house, hiding spindles and tows. To protect the animal from its mischief, the Slavs hung a stone with a hole in the poultry house (chicken god) or a throat cut off from the jug. It was believed that the kikimora could not sit still, so it constantly jumped up and stomped its feet. People most often hear the noise that this playful spirit makes, but they see it much less often. With established contact with the owner of the house, the kikimora could warn of impending trouble. A sloppy, ugly old woman dressed in rags, living in a swamp, could have a husband - a devil. She was famous for taking children left unattended by their parents into the thicket. This is how the kikimora taught her careless father and mother to be smart. A prankster living in a hut was often called the brownie's wife. Both of these spirits only caused trouble if people disrespected them. That is why our ancestors celebrated holidays dedicated to the minor gods throughout the year. In honor of Kikimora Day, stories about an evil spirit were told, and fortune-telling was carried out for the future by deciphering the knocking sound it makes. Yarn, spinning wheels, and bobbins for weaving lace were hidden from the evil old woman, who was treated in honor of the holiday. The noisy kikimora was driven out with a juniper broom, which was used to sweep the hut, and amulets were hung on windows and doors for protection. All this helped to calm the evil spirit and turn her neighborhood into a benefit for the residents of the house.

The day of Fyodor Tyrone and Mariamne Kikimora is celebrated according to the folk calendar on March 2 (February 17, old style). This name comes from Saints Theodore and Mariamne, whose memory the church honors on this day. Theodore Tiron preached the Christian faith in the 3rd century in Amasia in what is now Turkey. When the persecution of Christians by pagans began, Theodore was captured. He was tortured and tormented, forcing him to change his faith, but the saint remained faithful to God. For this he was burned at the stake. Righteous Mariamne was the sister of Saint Philip, one of the 12 apostles. Having taken a vow of chastity, she went with the apostles to spread the word about the deeds of Jesus Christ. By order of the pagan emperor, she and her brother were imprisoned. Philip was executed on the cross, and his sister was released, after which she continued to convert people to Christianity with sermons. But, in contrast to the Orthodox vision, the people accepted Fyodor and Mariamne as negative characters. Fyodor was considered a terrible tyrant, who, realizing that he was behaving incorrectly, had mercy on his people and even provided assistance. They prayed to him for lost things, asking the saint to find them or return them in case of theft. They also turned to him for help in finding a missing person. Over time, the peasants called Mariamne a kikimora, imagining her as a short old woman with tousled hair, the wife of a brownie or a goblin. With bad owners, the kikimora could do various dirty tricks: knocking objects at night, dropping them, disturbing children’s sleep. If a kikimora sat down to spin yarn at night, she did it so poorly that the housewife had to redo everything in the morning. Therefore, they prayed to Saint Mariamne so that the yarn would be even and smooth. The day of Fyodor and Mariamne ended the period of winter weddings. It was during this time that unmarried girls used it to tell fortunes about their betrothed. They went out into the street at night and looked around. If they met a woman first, then matchmakers were expected in a given year. However, they avoided looking at the sky, because it was considered bad luck to see a star fall. According to signs on the day of Mariamne and Fyodor, future weather conditions were predicted. If the fog descended, the peasants prepared for a cool May. Thin elongated clouds from the west foreshadowed rain in a day. The return of birds from warmer climes promised the early arrival of spring. The weather on this day showed what the summer season would be like.

Ethiopian Holidays - Adwa Victory Day

Orthodox holidays on March 2:

Every year on March 2, Orthodox Christians remember the Holy Martyr Hermogenes (Hermogenes), Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. Ermogen (in the world Ermolai) was born in the 30s of the 16th century, according to some sources, into the princely family of the Shuiskys or Golitsyns, according to others, into a family of Don Cossacks. As a teenager, he went to the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery (Kazan). Soon he took monastic vows and became a priest in Kazan. To this time, the end of the 80s of the 16th century, there is evidence of the miraculous appearance of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God during the service of Hermogenes in the Church of St. Nicholas Gostiny (the church at the Gostiny Dvor). After the terrible fires in Kazan, the immaculate maiden Matrona, the daughter of the archer, had repeated visions and persistent instructions to dig the earth on the ashes of the house in order to find an icon. Nobody believed the words of the young girl. Only after she herself began to dig the ground and took out the bundle in which the icon was wrapped, did people kneel before the holy image. Hermogenes, being at that time the Archbishop of Sviyazhsk and Kazan (1576-1591), served a prayer service before the miraculous icon, during which there were cases of healing from blindness. In the spring of 1589, Ermogen was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan of Astrakhan and Kazan. He was a very respected person, his activities were aimed at strengthening the Orthodox faith in the multinational region where Chuvash, Russians, Tatars, and Mari lived. The future martyr had the talent of a writer, expressed his thoughts well, and described the events taking place. At a time when the Orthodox faith needed support, Hermogen sent a letter to Patriarch Job about the need to celebrate the days of memory of the soldiers Stephen, John, and Peter. The Orthodox warrior-martyrs did not betray their faith, were tortured by the Tatars, and did not renounce their Christian views. John was from Nizhny Novgorod, and Peter and Stefan were Tatars baptized in Orthodoxy. Ermolai’s narrative, which was based on information obtained from reliable sources, shocked Job. February 24th was designated as the day to celebrate the death of the Kazan martyrs, and their names were included in the synodikon for prayers on the Week of Orthodoxy. Hermogenes contemporaries describe him as an ardent fighter for faith in God. After entering the rank of metropolitan, he began ascetic activity to convert foreigners, Muslims, and pagans to the Christian faith. Even after baptism, representatives of the Volga region peoples who re-entered the ranks of the Orthodox did not adhere to the traditions of the Christian Church. The Metropolitan put a lot of effort into strengthening his faith, often with the use of physical force. He was adamant in upholding church canons. Many churches were built, sermons were read, and the illiterate population became familiar with the Holy Scriptures. Hermogenes' activity occurred during the Time of Troubles. After the death of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, the last representative of the Rurik dynasty, together with all the people he prayed for Boris Godunov to accept the throne. In 1605, after the accession of False Dmitry to the throne, Ermogen openly opposed the marriage of the new king with the unbaptized Catholic Maria Mnischek, and was adamant in defending the Orthodox canons. He fought against the interference of Poles and Poles in Russian affairs. Hermogenes did a lot of work in glorifying Archbishop Herman of Kazan; he wrote the lives of the wonderworkers Guria and Barsanuphius. According to eyewitnesses, Hermogenes was a very intelligent and well-read man, adamant in matters of faith. After Vasily Shuisky ascended the throne, Ermogen became Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. The saint ended his earthly journey in the Chudov Monastery at the age of 82. The holy martyr was starved, but until his last breath he offered up prayers to the Lord, zealously serving the Russian people and the Orthodox faith. The day of the death of Hermogenes, February 17 (March 2, new style), is the day of remembrance of the saint.

Memorial Day of the Great Martyr Theodore Tiron