Epilepsy Awareness Day or Purple Day

 

Epilepsy Awareness Day on 26 March aims to increase the public's knowledge of a neurological condition affecting nearly 50 million people worldwide. Also known as Purple Day, people are encouraged to wear purple in support of epilepsy awareness. 

The neurological condition, epilepsy, impacts the central nervous system causing seizures and other symptoms. The types of seizures vary depending on the cause and type of epilepsy. Some known causes of epilepsy include:

• brain injury
• genetics
• metabolic disorders
• immune disorders
• infection

However, sometimes no known cause can be found for epilepsy in a patient. While epilepsy is not contagious, any age group can develop epilepsy. The good news is that it's highly treatable. Although the condition can be confusing for children. In some parts of the world, treatment can be challenging to find.

Another important goal for the day is removing the stigma associated with epilepsy. Those with epilepsy can lead normal lives, especially when their epilepsy is controlled.

EPILEPSY AWARENESS DAY HISTORY

In 2008, Cassidy Megan of Nova Scotia, Canada launched Purple Day to encourage awareness of epilepsy and to cast away some of the myths that cloud the general public's view of the condition. While other awareness observances existed previously, Purple Day and its founder continue to gain a following and awareness is spreading around the globe.

Ludwig van Beethoven's Death Anniversary

 

German composer Ludwig van Beethoven, who passed away on 26 March 1827, aged 56,  is widely regarded as the most important musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western music, and as one of the greatest classical composers to ever live.

First taught by his father from the age of 5, who sought to popularise his son as a child prodigy following Mozart’s success, Beethoven did not attract attention until his adolescence.

His hearing began to deteriorate from his late twenties, and he experienced the last decade of his life in almost complete silence. After giving up public conducting and performing in 1811, he nevertheless continued to compose and produced some of the greatest masterpieces in his career.

Robert Frost's Birth Anniversary

 

Robert Frost, born on March 26, 1874, was an American poet, known for his representations of rural life in ways which explored social and political themes with an emphasis on American colloquial speech. He holds a record for receiving four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry within his lifetime.

Frost's grandfather bought a farm for him and his wife, which Frost worked for nine years while writing poetry in the mornings. His farming enterprise proved ultimately unsuccessful, but he wrote many of his most famous poems during this period.

While Frost moved with his family to England in 1912, they would return during World War I. He then went on to work as a teacher at Amherst College in Massachusetts, Middlebury College in Vermont, and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Independence Day of Bangladesh

The Independence Day of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (Bengali: স্বাধীনতা দিবস Shadhinôta Dibôs), taking place on 26 March, is a national holiday. It commemorates the country's declaration of independence from Pakistan in the early hours of 26 March 1971 by the leader of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Independence Day is commonly associated with parades, political speeches, fairs, concerts, ceremonies and various other public and private events celebrating the history and traditions of Bangladesh. TV and radio stations broadcast special programs and patriotic songs in honour of the Independence Day.

Generally, a thirty-one gun salute is conducted in the morning. The main streets are decorated with national flags. Different political parties and socioeconomic organizations undertake programs to mark the day in a befitting manner, including paying respects at National Martyrs’ Memorial at Savar near Dhaka.