November 22nd - World Events & Holidays

So what world cultural & historical events/holidays/celebrations occur on November 22nd?

Buss und Bettag-Germany: Buß- und Bettag is a day celebrated in the Evangelical Church. It is a day on which to change one’s direction and to turn to God as the Church year comes to an end and we move towards Advent. It was previously a national holiday, but this was changed from 1995 onwards to finance the new Pflegeversicherung. It remains a holiday in Saxony. Many families start their Christmas preparations on this day, for example they bake the first Christmas biscuits.

Buß- und Bettag (Repentance Day)-Switzerland : (see above)

Day of 1970 Invasion-Guinea: The 1970 Portuguese invasion of Guinea (known in Portuguese as "Operação Mar Verde", "Operation Green Sea") was a 22 November 1970 seaborne attack on the Conakry area of Guinea by Portuguese led Guinean dissident forces. While the attack, along with periodic incursions across the Guinea-Bissau border in 1971, were quickly repulsed, they had the effect of intensifing the internal repression of Ahmed Sékou Touré's regime, while doing little to slow the Guinea-Bissauan independence movement of the PAIGC, whose leadership in exile were the ostensible target of the attack.

Feast of St Cecilia-St. Lucia: Saint Cecilia (Latin: Sancta Caecilia) is the patron saint of musicians and Church music. Her feast day is celebrated in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches on November 22. She is one of seven women, excluding the Blessed Virgin, commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass. It was long supposed that she was a noble lady of Rome who, with her husband Valerian(us) and his brother Thateus, suffered martyrdom, c. 230, under the emperor Alexander Severus.

Independence Day-Lebanon: On 1 September 1926, France formed the Lebanese Republic. The Republic was afterward a separate entity from Syria but still administered under the French Mandate of Syria. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, while France was occupied by Germany. General Henri Dentz, the Vichy High Commissioner for Syria and Lebanon, played a major role in the independence of the nation. The Vichy authorities in 1941 allowed Germany to move aircraft and supplies through Syria to Iraq where they were used against British forces. The United Kingdom, fearing that Nazi Germany would gain full control of Lebanon and Syria by pressure on the weak Vichy government, sent its army into Syria and Lebanon. After the fighting ended in Lebanon, General Charles de Gaulle visited the area. Under various political pressures from both inside and outside Lebanon, de Gaulle decided to recognize the independence of Lebanon. On 26 November 1941 General Georges Catroux announced that Lebanon would become independent under the authority of the Free French government. Elections were held in 1943 and on 8 November 1943 the new Lebanese government unilaterally abolished the mandate. The French reacted by throwing the new government into prison. In the face of international pressure, the French released the government officials on 22 November 1943 and accepted the independence of Lebanon.

John F. Kennedy's Assassination-United States of America: The assassination of John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, took place on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Austin, Texas, USA at 12:30 p.m. CST (18:30 UTC). John F. Kennedy was fatally wounded by gunshots while riding with his wife Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy in a Presidential motorcade. The ten-month investigation of the Warren Commission of 1963–1964, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) of 1976–1979, and other government investigations concluded that the President was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. This conclusion was initially met with widespread support among the American public (1964–66), but polls conducted after the original 1966 Gallup poll show as much as 80% of the public hold beliefs contrary to these findings. The assassination is still the subject of widespread speculation and has spawned numerous conspiracy theories, though none of these theories has been proven.

National Stop the Violence Day-United States of America: Today is National Stop the Violence Day, when many radio and TV stations call for a one-day cease-fire on America's streets.