“World Press Freedom Day: May 3 and its significance in Ukrainian tradition and culture”

May 3, 2023 – Wednesday. 434th day of the war in Ukraine.

What is today, May 3, a church holiday

May 3rd in the church calendar commemoration of Saint Theodore. He was born in Constantinople into a wealthy family, from childhood he led a pious and honest life. In his youth, he decided to leave secular life, so he left his parental home to labor in the desert. Theodore steadily endured all trials, ate little, drank only water, wore a sackcloth and slept little. He practiced abstinence, for which he received from the Lord the gift of miracles.

What is forbidden to do on this day

• Do not wash clothes, because you may have nightmares.
• Fishermen are forbidden to fish, because spawning begins.
• It is undesirable to work with plants, even indoor ones.

Folk signs and traditions for May 3

Among our ancestors there were many interesting signs on this day:

• they looked at what day it was: a clear night, many stars in the sky – expect frosts;
• crows circling over the house – to the bad news;
• mosquitoes appeared – there will be warming;
• thunder during a thunderstorm – for a harvest year.

May 3 was considered dangerous and very difficult by the people. They believed that on this day fevers tormenting people walk on the earth. Therefore, on May 3, people were sick a lot, especially children. To protect against fever, it was customary to use ashes and coals from the stove. They were wrapped in cloth and applied to the chest or head. According to tradition, 12 pies were baked on this date, and then they were eaten by the whole family for health.

Weather on May 3

Today, May 3, in Kyiv the sky will be covered with clouds, without precipitation. It will be cloudy in Lviv, it will rain from the middle of the day, which will stop until the evening. It is a clear morning in Kharkiv, but in the afternoon the weather will change to cloudy, without precipitation. It is clear in Odessa, only in the evening the sky can be covered with clouds, no precipitation is expected.

Air temperature in Kyiv – +20 during the day and +9 at night. In Lviv – +16 during the day and +9 at night. In Kharkov – +17 during the day and +7 at night. In Odessa – +16 during the day and +9 at night.

Memorable dates May 3

Calendar of important events in Ukraine and the world for May 3:

• 1791 – The Extraordinary Sejm of the Commonwealth adopts the first constitution in Europe and the second in the world (after the US Constitution);
• 1815 – the Kingdom of Poland is formed;
• 1841 – New Zealand is declared a British colony;
• 1880 – the first Lviv horse-drawn tram in Ukraine was opened;
• 1991 – the “Windhoek Declaration” is signed in the capital of Namibia, calling on the governments of states around the world to ensure freedom of the press and its democratic character;
• 1995 – by decree of President Leonid Kuchma, the first order of Ukraine after 1991 – Bohdan Khmelnitsky, was established;
• 2004 – Protestant churches that have existed in the Netherlands for hundreds of years separately are united into the Protestant Church of the Netherlands;
• 2014 – the Aidar volunteer battalion is created.

Name days: how to name a child born on May 3

What are the birthdays today? Alexander, Gabriel, Grigory, Nikolai, Stanislav, Theodore, Fedor.

The talisman of a person born on May 3 is Hawkeye. A valuable stone used to create various items. There has long been a legend that the hawk’s eye was once the left eye of the god Horus, which he lost during a skirmish with the god of war, Seth. This stone helps to sharpen intuition, even reveal a person’s ability to clairvoyance.

Born on this day:

• 1469 – politician and thinker, Secretary of State of Florence Niccolo Machiavelli;
• 1897 – Ukrainian director and actor January Bortnik;
• 1900 – Ukrainian theater and film actor in character roles Nikolai Yakovchenko;
• 1930 – Ukrainian critic, literary critic, translator Stepan Pinchuk.

What day is it today in Ukraine and the world

May 3 is celebrated in Ukraine and the world World Press Freedom Day. It is an occasion to remind about the need to respect the freedom of the media and an opportunity to discuss journalistic professional ethics. Today, there are two ways to limit the freedom of the press: to punish for the release of information or to censor the material. The position of censor appeared in Old Danish Rome in 443 BC.

The most famous example of cruel censorship in ancient times is the death of the Athenian Socrates. Censorship in the press began shortly after the creation of the printing press. For example, in 1501, Pope Alexander VI ordered printers to provide all copies of materials to church authorities before they were published.

May 3 also honors those journalists who died because of their professional activities. In 2020, about 50 journalists were killed. Moreover, this is increasingly happening not only in zones of armed conflict, but also in fairly peaceful countries.

Also May 3 Confectioner’s Day. The date is dedicated to professional chefs who produce sweets. Although it may seem the other way around, being a pastry chef is not easy at all. You need to have a good sense of smell and taste, to have skills even in sculpture and architecture. And also – to understand the composition of food products, the conditions and terms of their storage, to be able to combine different components.

May 3rd is also celebrated International Day of the Sun. The sun is an inexhaustible source of energy, thanks to which the ecology of the planet Earth was formed. The most important goal of the holiday is to remind people of those endless resources that the Sun gives us. For the environment, its energy is not harmful.

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