Health Education - Breast Cancer Awareness Night
The information session on being breast aware and the importance of cervical and breast screening took place for SECA, as part of International Womens’ Day and as part of the Neighbourhood Renewal program. The event was held at the Fir Trees Hotel on 6th March 2008. The women attending the evening event recieved information on being breast cancer aware, a chance to use the breast cancer training model and to recieve information on cervical and breast screening.
The session was organised by SECA in conjunction with the Health Promotion Department and the Western Social Care Trust . The session received extremely positive feedback, with all participants reporting an increased understanding of the importance of being breast aware and attendance at cervical and breast appointments.
Bobby Rao, Development Officer, said it was a very successful evening and hopes to organise similar events in the future.
For more information on breast cancer call the Breast Screening Unit at Altnagelvin Hospital on 02871 611363 or 02871 611443.
Saint Patrick’s Day
| March 17, 2008 |
Saint Patrick’s Day is an annual feast day which celebrates Saint Patrick (circa 385–461), one of the patron saints of Ireland. It takes place on 17 March, the date on which Patrick is held to have died.
The day is the national holiday of the Irish people. It is a bank holiday in Northern Ireland, and a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Montserrat, and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. In the rest of Canada, Great Britain, Australia, the United States and New Zealand, it is widely celebrated but is not an official holiday.
It became a feast day in the Roman Catholic Church due to the influence of the Waterford-born Franciscan scholar Luke Wadding[2] in the early part of the 17th century, and is a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics in Ireland. The date of the feast is occasionally moved by church authorities due to March 17 falling in Holy Week; this last happened in 1940, when Saint Patrick’s Day was observed on 3 April in order to avoid it coinciding with Palm Sunday, and will happen again in 2008, when it shall be held on 15 March to avoid the second day in Holy Week.[3]
Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated worldwide by Irish people and increasingly by many of non-Irish descent (usually in Australia, North America, and Ireland), hence the phrase, “Everyone wants to be Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.” Celebrations are generally themed around all things green and Irish; both Christians and non-Christians celebrate the secular version of the holiday by wearing green or orange, eating Irish food and/or green foods, imbibing Irish drink, and attending parades.
It was also on St. Patrick’s Day that Ireland’s national cricket team pulled off one of the biggest cricketing shocks by defeating top seeded Pakistan and eliminating them from the tournament in only their 2nd World Cup match. With that victory Ireland made it through to the next round of the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
The St. Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin, Ireland is part of a five-day festival; over 500,000 people attended the 2006 parade. The largest St. Patrick’s Day parade is held in Chicago and it is watched by over 2 million spectators. The St. Patrick’s Day parade was first held in Boston in 1737, organized by the Charitable Irish Society. New York’s celebration began on 17 March 1762 when Irish soldiers in the British army marched through the city. Ireland’s cities all hold their own parades and festivals. These cities include Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Derry, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick, and Waterford. Parades also take place in other Irish towns and villages.
Source: Wikipedia
Hola Mohalla
| March 14, 2008 |
Hola Mohalla or Hola Mahalla, is a Sikh festival that takes place on the first of the lunar month of Chet which usually falls in March. This festival marks new year as per lunar Nanakshahi calendar of Sikhs.
Hola is the masculine form of the feminine Holi. The word “Mohalla” is derived from the Arabic root hal (alighting, descending) and is a Punjabi word that implies an organized procession in the form of an army column. The Guru made Hola Mohalla an occasion for the Sikhs to demonstrate their martial skills in simulated battles because he thought that the hindu celebration was not suited for sikhs and made no sense.
Together the words “Hola Mohalla” stands for “mock fight”. During this festivals, procession are organised in the form of army type columns accompanied by war-drums and standard-bearers and proceeding to a given spot or moving in state from one gurdwara to another. The custom originated in the time of Guru Gobind Singh who held first such mock fight event at Anandpur in February 1701.
The foothills of the Shivaliks in Ropar district of Punjab’s north-eastern region, especially around the historic townships of Anandpur Sahib and Kiratpur Sahib, have, since 1701 been playing host to Hola Mohalla. Recently, the Indian government accorded it the status of a national festival. The military exercise, which was personally supervised by the guru, was carried out on the bed of the River Charan Ganga.
This annual festival held at Anandpur Sahib in Punjab and now replicated at other Gurdwaras worldwide was started by the tenth Sikh Guru, as a gathering of Sikhs for military exercises and mock battles on the day following the festival of Holi at Anandpur Sahib. It reminds the people of valour and defence preparedness, concepts dear to the Tenth Guru who was at that time battling the Mughal empire and the Hindu hill kings.
On this three-day grand festival, mock battles, exhibitions, display of weapons, etc are held followed by kirtan, music and poetry competitions. The participants perform daring feats, such as Gatka (mock encounters with real weapons), tent pegging, bareback horse-riding, standing erect on two speeding horses and various other feats of bravery.
There are also a number of Darbars where Sri Guru Granth Sahib is present and kirtan and religious lectures take place. On the last day a long procession, led by Panj Pyaras, starts from Takhat Keshgarh Sahib, one of the five Sikh religious seats, and passes through various important Gurdwaras like Qila Anandgarh, Lohgarh Sahib, Mata Jitoji and terminates at the Takhat (Keshgarh).
For people visiting Anandpur Sahib, langars (voluntary community kitchens) are organized by the local people as a part of sewa (community service). Raw materials like wheat flour, rice, vegetables, milk and sugar are provided by the villagers living nearby. Women volunteer to cook and others take part in cleaning utensils and other manual tasks that need to be carried out. Traditional cuisine is served to the pilgrims who eat while sitting in rows on the ground. (Pangat)
Source: Wikipedia
Easter 2008
| March 23, 2008 |
Easter, the Sunday of the Resurrection, Pascha, or Resurrection Day, is the most important religious feast of the Christian liturgical year, observed at some point between late March and late April each year (early April to early May in Eastern Christianity), following the cycle of the moon. It celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, which Christians believe occurred on the third day of his death by crucifixion some time in the period AD 27 to 33. Easter also refers to the season of the church year, called Eastertide or the Easter Season. Traditionally the Easter Season lasted for the forty days from Easter Day until Ascension Day but now officially lasts for the fifty days until Pentecost. The first week of the Easter Season is known as Easter Week or the Octave of Easter.
Today many families celebrate Easter in a completely secular way, as a non-religious holiday.
Source: Wikipedia
