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Welcome to News From Italy, my blog about our Italian Adventure. Although this blog has now ceased publication I will be continuing to blog and I am sincerely hoping that my many followers here will move with me to Travel Tales blog to follow my next adventures wherever they may take me. The links to my other blogs are:-


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Wednesday, March 7, 2012

La Festa della Donna – International Women’s Day - March 8th 2012



Italy takes part in International Women’s Day, La Festa della Donna when women of all ages celebrate this special day dedicated to them with celebratory dinners or just get together with other female friends and are often presented with bunches of bright yellow Mimosa, the recognised symbol of the day here.


If you happen to be in Italy today and you are a women you may just get presented with a bunch of Mimosa and as an added bonus if you are in a mood for exploring a museum or two, entrance is free for women today!









International Women’s Day is recognised and celebrated in many countries around the world and the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and social achievements. Although originally a Socialist political event, the day grew in the culture of many countries, primarily in Eastern Europe. In many regions, the day has lost its political flavour, and become simply an occasion for men to express their love for women in a way somewhat similar to a mixture of Mother's Day and St Valentine's Day. In other regions, however, the original political and human rights theme designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner.


Last year year March 8th marked the centenary of one of the events that is thought to have been the birth of International Women’s Day. When in March 1911 more than one million women and men attended rallies in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination.


International Women's Day theme


Every year the United Nations choose a different worldwide theme for Women’s Day and many events take place not just today but throughout March, marking the economic, political and social achievements of women. Their theme for March 8th 2012 “Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty”.


Many other organisations develop their own themes that are more relevant to their local contexts. For example, the European Parliament's 2012 theme is "Equal pay for work of equal value". Whilst the International Women’s Day Website has chosen "Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures" as its 2012 theme.









On this day Festa della Donna International Women’s Day, let us give thanks to all those women who came before us and helped to grant us the freedom we all have in modern society.
Women are powerful these days and can help to to effect change and make a difference in other women’s lives around the world where they do not have the same freedoms that we enjoy.







Some of the information quoted here is from my own post from 2011 La Festa della Donna 2011 and the rest including the banner is quoted from the website for International Women’s Day


We have many Mimosa trees in the locality and these photos are ones I have taken in the last week. To enlarge photos just click on them.
The photos are Copyright All rights reserved by LindyLouMac Photo Collection

41 comments:

  1. Hi Linda. It is SO good to be back with you all once again! You and I are on the same wavelength with our posts today my friend. I just love Mimosa, so I wish I was over in Italy today! I hope that all is well with you and the family.

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  2. I didn't know Mimosa was the Italian symbol.

    I like your list of "themes", I hadn't realised that there is not one worldwide for the year. The UN matches my post better than the IWD's so I'm off for a swift edit. Thanks for the info.

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  3. Lindy, happy Women's Day!!!
    I love mimosa, the smell is so divine!

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  4. Hi Lindy: buona festa della donna

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  5. Auguri Lindy. Wonderful photos, mimosa always reminds me of my Australian Mother.

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  6. Happy Women's Day to you! Mimosa's grow well here as well.

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  7. How lovely that museums are free to women. :-) It is so nice when people honor each other like that. :-)

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  8. Everything looks so beautiful..Something so beautiful about spring and everything coming alive..Nice to celebrate Woman's Day during the month of March too..I have never really heard about it before..but that is me. Slow on so many topics..haha..
    Hope all is well with you, missed you and have to catch up on all my reading.
    Have a beautiful day..sending love and blessings your way, Carolyn

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  9. beautiful photos and what a wonderful jesture to women, who we know run the world, ha ha, Happy womens day!!

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  10. Happy Women's Day, have you been present ed with any mimosa or are you going to a special lunch?

    In today's Guardian:- http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/mar/08/international-womens-day-2012-commitment-education

    and

    http://allafrica.com/stories/201203080024.html

    Jackie in Surrey, UK.

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  11. Oh, wonderful! I am preparing my post for this day and, if you don't mind, I would like to link up to this awesome post. I have only experienced being presented with gifts on Women's Day once. :) I totally miss it.

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  12. I just read about this on Southamsdarling's blog as well. Happy day to you, my friend. I hope you have a wonderful day.

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  13. I didn't know International Women’s Day. It sounds fun and great. Thank you for sharing.

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  14. Another one who had no idea it was Woman's Day today. I just mentioned it to N and I got a grunt! I have seen no mimosa around here at all. We had masses of them in S.Africa. Enjoy your day. Diane

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  15. Lovely to see such beautiful photos of the mimosa tree. i remember your post from last year and thank you for the information on the day shared here on your blog. Although it was mentioned on our local news station - your post is more informative. Thank you for your birthday wishes, Lindy.

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  16. Enjoy the day. Here, it is a hidden holiday, especially during this tempestuous political season.

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  17. Happy la festa della Donna Day to you LindyLouMac! It's looking quite lovely there in Italy these days as your photos tell.

    Thank you for stopping by today (and your follow)...I am so happy you did.

    Yes...my husband and son are very patient with my taking over the dining room table to paint...but they are men and don't care too much about the way the house looks. I think if I had art supplies ALL over the house, they might complain, but for the most part, as long as they are fed they are happy. : )

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  18. Yes, great photos to celebrate women's day. I wish freedom for all women in the world and I congratulate you for being a woman. Greetings.

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  19. Beautiful photos of the Mimosa. I wish I could be there to celebrate with you. :)

    Thanks for all the sweet comments on my blog. You are always there to remind me to cherish the little moments with my girls while they are young and still want their Mama's attention. :)

    I hope you had the chance to read about their trip around the world? If you'd like to host them in Italy - that would be amazing. Let me know!! momalogues@gmail.com

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  20. Great shots of this delightful blossom! Feel free to post on my Floral Friday Fotos meme:
    http://floralfridayfoto.blogspot.com/

    I also enjoyed your words on the International Day of Women. Here's my take on it on my "other" blog:
    http://nicholasjv.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/international-womens-day.html

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  21. That is something that I did not know. I don't think that it is celebrated here in the UK. In fact this morning on the radio I heard a jingle saying 'Happy St Patrick's Day!' Only a week early.

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  22. Gli alberi di mimosa in fiore sono bellissimi. Fa male al cuore pensare che vengano tagliati per celebrare una festa che ha dimenticato i suoi presupposti ed è diventata un semplice evento commerciale.

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  23. wonderful blog...
    more info i got here.....

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  24. Happy "Festa della Donna"! It is not recognized in the USA on such a grand scale for some reason, Lindy, but perhaps bloggers like yourself that blog about it will change that!

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  25. I haven't seen a single mimosa in Waterloo yesterday, and Mr. G. declared that it is women day the whole year long (as far as I am concerned) lol !
    But we gain some places. There are quiet a lot of women in the Belgian government compared to other countries, I also have replaced all male doctors by females ! I think they understand female problems better than a man.

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  26. For us Aussies it's Wattle, celebrated Women's Day with my dearest friend and her parents, thank you for the wonderful post, ciao lisa x

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  27. You're right! By looking in the web there are so many recipes for cous cous that look good.
    I was asking for this one, because it looked so...mouthwatering
    Thanks and have a great weekend

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  28. Happy Women's Day! I've always loved the mimosa.

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  29. I am a litte late but happy Woman's Day. I had no idea about the mimosa...this is why I love your blog.

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  30. That's neat that women get free museum entry! I love your photos in this post, very pretty, I love the bright yellow color!

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  31. Giving a bouquet of Mimosa to women today is a brilliant way of celebrating us! I love this flower, it's pity they don't last too long once cut. Greetings, DeeBee

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  32. No one gave me any flowers!! Bummer, lol! Maybe next year??

    Still uploading photos of Turin this weekend, then I will be doing our second Venice trip. AND THEN we will be off to Portofino on the 31st!!

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  33. These are wonderful yellow blossoms. A lot of sunshine in it.
    Have a nice weekend, Linda. Kind regards, Synnöve

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  34. Wonderfully informative post. Love the yellows, too.

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  35. Such a wonderful way to celebrate. Although I've seen it mentioned on many blogs, no other posts have had so much information. Thank you, Linda. I certainly think it should be celebrated in this country! Have a great weekend. – g

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  36. A wonderful day indeed LindyLou!
    Thank you for all the information. I've seen this mentioned here and there, but never knew the significance of it.

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  37. those mimosa are buttery rich gorgeous!
    absolutely beautiful.
    hope your weekend is delicious:)
    -Jennifer

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  38. Wow! Très belles photos! J'adore le mimosa!
    I hope you had a wonderful Women's day.


    ***
    Bizzzzzzz****

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  39. Hope you had a wonderful Women's Day! :)

    Thanks for sharing a bit of the history... and some additional info about it.

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  40. Happy Festa della Donna! I know this is a little late, but IWD started off on a good note and just carried on through the weekend and onto Monday. Whew! I must take a breather now.

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  41. I was in Italy several years ago during this day (staying with my daughter's friends who were based in Aviano). It was a lovely surprise when I received Mimosa and found out about the special day. I still have it on my book shelf.
    Ann

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