The Universal Day of Culture under the Banner of Peace, known also as the World Day of Culture, is an observance held annually on April 15 in many countries around the World to promote the protection of culture, the Roerich Pact and the Banner of Peace. [1]
The Universal Day of Culture was proposed by the author of the Roerich Pact - the Russian artist Nicholas Roerich. In several articles and letters, written in 1931-1935, he spoke about the Universal Day of Culture. In his "Greetings to the Bruges conference in 1931" Roerich defined the Universal Day of Culture as a day which "shall be consecrated to the full appreciation of all national and universal treasures of culture". [2] According to Roerich, the celebrations had to take place in all schools and educational institutions. [2] In 1933, in his "Prayer for Peace and Culture" Roerich includes also the churches into this list and specifies that on this day "the world will be reminded of the true treasures of humanity, of creative heroic enthusiasm, of improvement and enhancement of life." [3] On April 15, 1935, when the Roerich Pact was signed in Washington, Roerich mentioned this date as "memorable day" and "significant date", [4] which later led to consideration of April 15 as the Universal Day of Culture.
The International Movement for the affirmation of April 15 as Universal Day of Culture (IMAUDC [5] ) was established in December 2008 by NGOs from Cuba, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia and Spain. As of 2014, 40 organizations from 14 countries and 25000 individuals participate in the Movement. [6]
Lithuania is the first country in which the Universal Day of Culture is celebrated on government level since 2006. [7] On November 24, 2007 the 26th session of the Baltic Assembly adopted a Resolution, initiated by Lithuania, in which the Assembly proposed to the governments of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to proclaim April 15 as Day of Culture of the Baltic states. [8] At the celebrations in 2009 the minister of defense of Lithuania Rasa Juknevičienė, the minister of culture Remigijus Vilkaitis, ambassador of Day of Culture at Council of the Commission about the Culture of the Union of the Baltic Cities Aukse Narvilene appeared with salutatory addresses. [9] In her address to the Banner of Peace hoisting ceremony to mark the Universal Day of Culture in 2011 the Speaker of Seimas of Lithuania Mrs. Irena Degutienė said that this is a day, on which "people are exchanging ideas on the fundamental values, raising and addressing fundamental questions, and the word "culture" is uttered more often than usual." [10] She specified culture "not only as the artistic and creative heritage passed on from generation to generation, but also as our level of communication, capacity of building bridges of tolerance, and the level of trust in others who have different views and profess different faith." [10]
In 2012, during Universal Day of Culture celebrations, three Lithuanian towns - Dubingiai, Rietavas and Ylakiai - were proclaimed as towns of peace, where priority of culture is implemented in all aspects of public life. [7]
In Russia the Universal Day of Culture is supported by numerous institutions and organizations, including the Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography, the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts, The Nicholas Roerich Estate Museum in Izvara, The Union of Artists of Russia, local branches of the International League for the Protection of Culture, etc. [6] Celebrations are held annually in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Irkutsk and Berezniki. Notable Russian politicians and public figures are members of the Council of the International Movement. The members of the Russian Duma Elena Drapeko and Nikolay Rastorguyev, and the cosmonaut Aleksandr Balandin are among them. [11] The Association of Space Explorers in Russia also supported the Universal Day of Culture. [12]
In Brazil the celebrations are organized annually by Brazilian Roerich Institute, which was established in 1999. On April 15, 2010, the 75th anniversary of the Roerich Pact, the panel “Protection and Preservation of natural treasures: the challenges to the servers of culture” was held in Sao Paulo. The Banner of Peace has been hoisted as well. [13]
In Canada the Universal Day of Culture is celebrated in Edmonton, Alberta since 2012. They are organized by the Alberta Banner of Peace Association, with the participation of Alberta Interscience Association and Edmonton Theosophical Society in different years. [14]
The Universal Day of Culture is celebrated also in Argentina, Bulgaria, Belarus, Chile, Cuba, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Mexico and Spain. [6]
April 15 is also the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci.
The history of Lithuania dates back to settlements founded about 10,000 years ago, but the first written record of the name for the country dates back to 1009 AD. Lithuanians, one of the Baltic peoples, later conquered neighboring lands and established the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 13th century. The Grand Duchy was a successful and lasting warrior state. It remained fiercely independent and was one of the last areas of Europe to adopt Christianity. A formidable power, it became the largest state in Europe in the 15th century spread from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, through the conquest of large groups of East Slavs who resided in Ruthenia. In 1385, the Grand Duchy formed a dynastic union with Poland through the Union of Krewo. Later, the Union of Lublin (1569) created the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that lasted until 1795, when the last of the Partitions of Poland erased both independent Lithuania and Poland from the political map. After the dissolution, Lithuanians lived under the rule of the Russian Empire until the 20th century, although there were several major rebellions, especially in 1830–1831 and 1863.
Nicholas Roerich, also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh, was a Russian painter, writer, archaeologist, theosophist, philosopher, and public figure. In his youth he was influenced by Russian Symbolism, a movement in Russian society centered on the spiritual. He was interested in hypnosis and other spiritual practices and his paintings are said to have hypnotic expression.
The Treaty on the Protection of Artistic and Scientific Institutions and Historic Monuments or Roerich Pact is an inter-American treaty. The most important idea of the Roerich Pact is the legal recognition that the defense of cultural objects is more important than the use or destruction of that culture for military purposes, and the protection of culture always has precedence over any military necessity.
Romuva is a neo-pagan movement derived from the traditional mythology of the Lithuanians, attempting to reconstruct the religious rituals of the Lithuanians before their Christianization in 1387. Practitioners of Romuva claim to continue Baltic pagan traditions which survived in folklore, customs and superstition. Romuva is a polytheistic pagan faith which asserts the sanctity of nature and ancestor worship. Practicing the Romuva faith is seen by many adherents as a form of cultural pride, along with celebrating traditional forms of art, retelling Baltic folklore, practicing traditional holidays, playing traditional Baltic music, singing traditional dainos (songs), as well as ecological activism and stewarding sacred places.
The national flag of Lithuania consists of a horizontal tricolour of yellow, green, and red. It was adopted on 25 April 1918 during Lithuania's first period of independence from 1918 to 1940, which ceased with the occupation first by the Soviet Union, and then by Nazi Germany (1941–1944). During the post-World War II Soviet occupation, from 1945 until 1989, the Soviet Lithuanian flag consisted first of a generic red Soviet flag with the name of the republic, then changed to the red flag with white and green bands at the bottom.
The three independent Baltic countries – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – were invaded and occupied in June 1940 by the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Stalin and auspices of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that had been signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in August 1939, immediately before the outbreak of World War II. The three countries were then annexed into the Soviet Union in August 1940. The United States and most other Western countries never recognised this incorporation, considering it illegal. On 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union and within weeks occupied the Baltic territories. In July 1941, the Third Reich incorporated the Baltic territory into its Reichskommissariat Ostland. As a result of the Red Army's Baltic Offensive of 1944, the Soviet Union recaptured most of the Baltic states and trapped the remaining German forces in the Courland Pocket until their formal surrender in May 1945.
The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, or simply the Seimas, is the unicameral parliament of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of government in Lithuania, enacting laws and amendments to the Constitution, passing the budget, confirming the Prime Minister and the Government and controlling their activities.
The Baltic Way or Baltic Chain was a peaceful political demonstration that occurred on 23 August 1989. Approximately two million people joined their hands to form a human chain spanning 690 kilometres (430 mi) across the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which at the time were occupied and annexed by the USSR. The central government in Moscow considered the three Baltic countries constituent republics of the Soviet Union.
The Baltic Entente was based on Treaty of Good-Understanding and Co-operation signed between Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia on 12 September 1934 in Geneva. The main objective of the agreement was joint action in foreign policy. It also included commitments to support one another politically and to give diplomatic support in international communication. The endeavour was ultimately unsuccessful, as the combined strength of the three nations and their statements of neutrality were insubstantial in the face of the massive armies of Poland, Germany and the Soviet Union.
The Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania or Act of March 11 was an independence declaration by Lithuania adopted on March 11, 1990, signed by all members of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania led by Sąjūdis. The act emphasized restoration and legal continuity of the interwar-period Lithuania, which was occupied by the Soviet Union and annexed in June 1940. In March, 1990, it was the first of the 15 Soviet republics to declare independence, with the rest following suit over the ensuing twenty-one months. These events lead to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991.
The three Baltic countries, or the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – are held to have continued as legal entities under international law while under the Soviet occupation from 1940 to 1991, as well as during the German occupation in 1941–1944/1945. The prevailing opinion accepts the Baltic thesis of illegal occupation and the actions of the USSR are regarded as contrary to international law in general and to the bilateral treaties between the USSR and the three Baltic countries in particular.
There have been several designs for a peace flag.
The Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 refers to the military occupation of the Republic of Latvia by the Soviet Union under the provisions of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany and its Secret Additional Protocol signed in August 1939. The occupation took place according to the European Court of Human Rights, the Government of Latvia, the United States Department of State, and the European Union. In 1989, the USSR also condemned the 1939 secret protocol between Nazi Germany and herself that had led to the invasion and occupation of the three Baltic countries, including Latvia.
Soviet–Lithuanian Non-Aggression Pact was a non-aggression pact, signed between the Soviet Union and Lithuania on September 28, 1926. The pact confirmed all basic provisions of the Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty of 1920. The Soviet Union continued to recognize Vilnius and Vilnius Region to Lithuania, despite the fact that the territories were under Polish control since the Żeligowski's Mutiny in 1920. It also recognized Lithuania's interests in the Klaipėda Region. In exchange Lithuania agreed not to join any alliances directed against the Soviet Union, which meant international isolation at the time when Soviet Union was not a member of the League of Nations. Ratifications were exchanged in Kaunas on November 9, 1926, and the pact became effective on the same day. The pact was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on March 4, 1927.
Relevant events began regarding the Baltic states and the Soviet Union when, following Bolshevist Russia's conflict with the Baltic states—Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia—several peace treaties were signed with Russia and its successor, the Soviet Union. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Soviet Union and all three Baltic States further signed non-aggression treaties. The Soviet Union also confirmed that it would adhere to the Kellogg–Briand Pact with regard to its neighbors, including Estonia and Latvia, and entered into a convention defining "aggression" that included all three Baltic countries.
The People's Parliaments or People's Assemblies were puppet legislatures put together after the show elections in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to legitimize the occupation by the Soviet Union in July 1940. In all three countries, the elections to the parliaments followed the same script, dictated by functionaries in Moscow and borrowed from the examples of the incorporation of the Belarusian and Ukrainian lands into Soviet Union in the aftermath of the invasion of Poland in 1939.
Agni Yoga or the Living Ethics, or the Teaching of Life, is a Neo-Theosophical religious doctrine transmitted by Helena Roerich and Nicholas Roerich from 1920. The term Agni Yoga means "Mergence with Divine Fire" or "Path to Mergence with Divine Fire". This term was introduced by the Roerichs. The followers of Agni Yoga believe that the teaching was given to the Roerich family and their associates by Master Morya, the guru of the Roerichs and of Helena Blavatsky, one of the founders of the modern Theosophical movement and of the Theosophical Society.
The background of the occupation of the Baltic states covers the period before the first Soviet occupation on 14 June 1940, stretching from independence in 1918 to the Soviet ultimatums in 1939–1940. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia gained independence in the aftermath of the Russian revolutions of 1917 and the German occupation which in the Baltic countries lasted until the end of World War I in November 1918. All three countries signed non-aggression treaties with the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s. Despite the treaties, in the aftermath of the 1939 German–Soviet pact, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were occupied, and thereafter forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union, in 1940.
The banner of peace is a symbol of the Roerich Pact. This pact is the first international treaty dedicated to the protection of artistic and scientific institutions and historical monuments. It was signed on April 15, 1935. The banner of peace was proposed by Nicholas Roerich for an international pact for the protection of culture values.
Roerichism or Rerikhism is a spiritual, cultural and social movement that emerged in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, though it has been described as a "thoroughly Russian new religious movement", due to its close connection with Russia.
