It so happened that not a single international holiday, adopted in most developed countries, is timed to May 30. Nevertheless, it is on this date that Catholics in some states celebrate the Day of St. Jeanne Dark and the Day of St. Ferdinand of Castile, and in the United States they commemorate the people who died on the battlefields of the Civil War.
Religious holidays associated with Catholicism
The canonization of the famous Jeanne Dark took place in 1920 after the official decree of Pope Benedict XV.
The legendary Frenchwoman was born in 1412 in the small village of Domremi, and at the age of 12 the girl received her first revelation from above when she heard the words of the Archangel Michael and Saint Margaret, who promised her a special life mission.
Over time, voices appeared more and more often, as if pushing Jeanne to take active actions in the fight against the British, who had seized some territories of France.
Therefore, already at the age of 17, Jeanne Darc inspired the masses to an organized uprising against the enemy common to all Frenchmen. But, after several brilliant victories, the king of France and his entourage, fearing the growing influence of Jeanne, removed her from the command of the army. Then Dark was betrayed by the British accomplices and was subjected to trial, during which she was recognized as a witch and a heretic, after which she was burned on May 30, 1431.
The second holiday - the Day of Saint Ferdinand of Castile is celebrated in honor of King Ferdinand III, who lived from 1198 to 1252 and canonized in 1671 at the behest of Pope Clement X. a fair judge.
Under him and under his control, a code of laws was drawn up, which the Europeans used before the onset of modern times.
It was Ferdinand III who united Leon with Castile, liberated Andalusia from foreign invaders and recaptured Cordoba and Seville from the enemies. On his initiative, a university famous throughout Europe was founded in Salamanca. Many years before his death, the king took a vow, which he kept until his death on May 30, when Francis III was buried in the attire of a Franciscan tertiary.
May and Memorial Day in USA
Americans remember at the end of May the people who died in the hostilities of the Civil War between the North and the South. On May 30, special ceremonies are held in the United States in churches, in places of mass death and in cemeteries.
Memorial Day dates back to 1868, when General John Logan issued Order 11 and laid flowers for the first time on the grave of Allied and Confederate soldiers buried in Arpington National Cemetery. And the first state to recognize this holiday was New York in 1873, and then the rest of the northern states of the United States.
Already in the 20th century, Memorial Day received another attribute of its own - a red poppy, which is fixed on clothes. Americans on this day also deduct many charitable contributions and donate money to everyone in need.
