X
Travsolo Solo Travel Easier
Travel easier with 30% off your 1st month — Request a Coupon

Different Ways Other Countries Celebrate Their Independence Day

Different Ways Other Countries Celebrate Their Independence Day

As we are all aware of, there has been a strong display of racial tensions and police brutality that continues to divide the United States. We have now landed on a particular day to commemorate our independence from the British, the same day we traditionally celebrate every year – whether it be with our family, friends or loved ones. This year is quite different in our opinion, the holiday joys aren’t what it used to be and people’s spirits have been tainted and battle tested. It begs one to ask one of the most fundamental questions “Are we actually, as a country, truly free?”

As a way to help people get back into the spirit of things and understand how travel helps us to appreciate our many differences as human beings, here are a couple of countries we can learn from their many different ways of celebrating their Independence Day and how they fought to liberate their people.

Singapore

 

 

When: August 9th

National Day of Singapore is celebrated in commemoration of Singapore’s independence from Malaysia in 1965.

Celebrations: Features a National Day Parade, an address by the Prime Minister of Singapore, followed by fireworks and celebrations. The entire city dresses for the occasion with flags lining the buildings, patriotic songs blasting on the radio, people decked out in red and white, and a huge National Day Parade. To top off the night, there is a giant fireworks show that sets off from Marina Bay.

India

 

 

When: August 15th

Independence Day, one of the three National holidays in India; The other two holidays are Republic Day and  Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, January 26th and October 2nd respectively. Independence Day is observed in all Indian states and union territories where everyone has the day “off”. .

Celebrations: On August 15th the Prime Minister raises the Indian flag and twenty-one gunshots are fired off in honor of the solemn occasion. The Prime Minister gives a speech that highlights the country’s achievements over the past year, along with raising important issues and discussing the upcoming year. He pays tribute to the leaders of the Indian independence movement. In state capitals, Chief Ministers of individual states unroll the national flag and celebrate with parades and historical-themed pageants. Kite flying is also an Independence Day tradition, with a multitude of different sized and shaped kites coloring the sky.

 

Mexico

 

 

When: September 16th

Día de la Independencia is a Mexican holiday celebrating the “Cry of Independence” from the Spaniards, which started a revolt that kicked off the country’s independence on September 16, 1810.

Celebrations: Independence Day is celebrated with festivals, fireworks, bell-ringing, tons of parties, traditional Mexican food, dance and music. Flags, flowers and decorations in the colors of the Mexican flag – red, white and green – cover the public areas of cities and towns throughout Mexico. “Viva Mexico” or “Viva la independencia” is shouted with pride among the crowds and fiestas.

 

Ghana

 

 

When: March 6th

Ghana gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1957 and became the first colonized sub-Saharan African nation to do so.

Celebrations: The country commemorates its independence with fireworks, parades, and marches. Ghanaian music is a very integral part of their celebrations. The coastal regions celebrate Independence Day on the beach with music and dances that marry the elements of West African tradition with hip hop music.

 

Ukraine

 

 

When: August 24th

Ukraine was part of the Union of the U.S.S.R. up until December 1, 1991, when around 90 percent of Ukrainians voted for their country’s independence.

Celebrations: Citizens of Ukraine get dressed up in traditional clothing and join the crowd on the streets of Lviv, Ukraine’s cultural capital. There is an annual international folklore festival called Etnovyr that showcases a variety of performing arts programs, exhibitions, and a variety of traditional street foods. Buildings across the country are adorned in the blue and yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag to commemorate the country’s Independence.

 

Thanks for reading! 

For more, find us on:

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

By Aimee Kuge


Would you like to show us how your country celebrates their independence? Follow us on our socials and let us know!

Experiencing Death to Understand Life – Conscious DeMi

TravSolo aims to inspire through authentic storytelling, by sharing real travel experiences

“Are you ready?” asked the mortician.

He was about to reveal my fiancé’s body for the first time since it happened. Since we were not married yet, I couldn’t see him in the hospital. I knew that if I didn’t do this, I was going to lose my last chance to see him physically.

We were donors…

There we were, in 2011, at the dinner table talking about what we wanted to do with our bodies after we died. I mean, we thought it was bizarre to talk about this now, especially since we were both only 30 years old. But because we had just gotten engaged, our lawyer thought it would be a good idea for us to sort out all the paperwork before we got hitched.

Did we want to be donors or not? Did we want to be buried or cremated? Where was the service going to take place, in Los Angeles, where we both lived or in our native states? How much money would we need to set aside to pay for all of this? Yada, yada, yada.

And just a few years later after we had this discussion, I found myself standing in front of his covered body holding his favorite suit. The day I bought him that suit, I never thought in a million years that, this suit was going to be the one I was going to dress him in for his funeral.

I took a deep breath as the mortician uncovered his body. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I mean it was him, but it wasn’t.

We had to lift him up, hold him and dress him, but we were having so much difficulty because he hardly had no base left. He had no eyes to see, no legs to walk, no hands to touch, no lungs to breathe, and no heart to beat.

And in that very moment, I had an epiphany.

 

I realized that I was wearing an earthly suit simply so I could actually experience earth – to hear earthly harmonies through my ears, to speak motivational and meaningful sounds through my mouth, to feel warmth and love through my heart, to touch and experiment through my hands, to see beautiful sights through my eyes, to taste deliciousness through my tongue, and to smell bliss through my nose. At that moment, I realized what our body’s purpose was. We were not born with this specific “suit”, so we could live in a square, work in an unfulfilling job, pay bills, and die.

No.

And at that moment, I knew exactly what I needed to do.

 

On the day of love, February 14th, 2014, I took a plane out to Kerala, India to unlearn everything that I had learned from the day I was born. I wanted to go back to zero. I figured I would go there to heal (do some yoga and meditate) and then I would figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life moving forward.

And well long story short, I am now healed and I never went back to LA. I have been traveling the world since then, non-stop. I guess it’s true, “time does fly when you’re having fun”. So far, I have experienced over 60 countries and its people and their culture in six continents.

 

Below are just a few examples of how I have used this human suit to experience my time here on earth.

I have eaten tasty couscous with the Berber’s in Morocco, I have drank foamy Ayran with the Kurdish people from East turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. I have enjoyed sizzling Saltah with Yeminis, I have ingested injera & wat with Ethiopians. I have gnawed at tort tulik mal with Kazakhstans. I have enjoyed the warm filling lablabi with Tunisians, I have forcefully swallowed baluts with Filipinos, I have held my nose while eating durians with Malaysians, I have swallowed sushi & saki with Japanese, I have eaten hot spicy pho with Vietnamese, I have eaten spitted on chowmein in the night markets with the Chinese, I have eaten crunchy fried tarantulas with special sauce with the Cambodians, I have eaten Shishkebab with Turks, I have eaten scrumptious empanadas with Argentineans, I have devoured wine and cheese with French, I have eaten goulash with the Hungarians, I have eaten paella & Sangria with the Spaniards, and I have even unawaringly tasted cuy with Peruvians.

I have smoked shisha with middle easterners in small tiny souks, I have gotten drunk off Glühwein at the Christmas markets with Europeans, I have experienced coffee readings from gypsies, I have consumed mushrooms with the hippies on the islands, I have danced with the Aborigines of Australia, I have drank ayahuasca from shamans in Peru, I have had extensive sloughing experiences from Greeks and Turks in their Hamams, I have karaoke’d with the Koreans, I have danced bangra with the Punjabi’s, I have practiced Ramadan with the Muslims, I have enjoyed Nyepi with the Hindu’s, I have meditated with the monks in Asia, I have learned to whirl from dancing dervishes from Konya and I have even dabbled my hands a bit as a snake charmer in India.

 

I have slept in 1,2,3,4, & 5 star hotels, sand hotels, ice hotels, hostels, hostals, airbnb’s, local’s homes, deserts, jungles, forests, airports, train stations & trains, bus stations & buses, taxi’s, tuk-tuk’s, coffee shops, and strangers homes (lol).

I am constantly scammed. I have almost been robbed, raped, and killed. I have gotten a few different types of malaria, food & water poisoning, fungi, and other kinds of bacteria that I cannot even pronounce, and I have even had a few near death experiences.

BUT if you were to ask me, would I change my life?

Hell. To. The. No.

Hi, my name is Conscious DeMi and I am a soulo-female traveler.

Sometimes when we think something “bad” has happened to us, in time, we actually realize it was a blessing in disguise. If I would have never experienced Death, I would have never had the nerve to live my dreams and travel the world soulo. So the next time you think something “’bad” has happened to you, I would take a good look at that situation and see what it actually is trying to teach you. Experiencing Death has actually taught me to live. And because Death motivated me and keeps motivating me, I have realized that while uncovering the world, I have actually uncovered my Self, all at the same time. I am currently writing a book about my Self-uncovery journey called, ‘Uncover The Hidden You’. I am writing this book with the hopes to inspire you to take that first step to soulo-travel or keep traveling the world, so you too can uncover the hidden you.

Sending you light, love, and life!

 

Thanks for reading!

For more, find us on:

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

By Chizoba Anyaoha


Thinking about solo traveling for the very first time? See others who have @travsolo for more inspiration.