National days and celebrations unlike anything else have this power of explaining the country without using too many words.
You get the country`s essence, its legacy and priorities within the shortest possible timeframe and create meaningful connection with its culture.
And while we, as tourists, often focus on visiting different countries during certain religious events or famous food festivals, well-promoted music and cultural happenings, there are many other special dates worth our attention. One of them are special days dedicated to women.
Though women make up roughly 49.7% of the world’s population, according to the UN World Population Prospects 2024, we still don`t have enough dates celebrating us.
But there are some countries with a special focus on women and hopefully, others will soon be catching up 🙂
The Emirati Women’s Day (Dubai,UAE) August 28
In a few words, it`s basically a day dedicated to women`s legacy, leadership in the country.
The date itself goes back in the 70s, more specifically 1975, when women’s equality slowly became a major topic in the international media and a point of interest for politics.
The same year the UN declared International Women’s Year and held its first World Conference on Women in Mexico City.
It`s also a year when the UAE, a newly established state, founded the General Women’s Union, an important organization that plays a pivotal role in the country`s gender politics up to this day
Thanks to its work the female literacy rate in the country, which in the 70s was roughly 38%, grew to 95.8%.
Today UAE is one of those countries, where female leadership flourishes with legally reserved 50% of the Federal National Council for women, this supports female leadership more than anything else.
This year, the August 28th celebrations officially were extended for a month, so you`ll have time to enjoys this unique and powerful celebration and events related to it for more than a day.
One more reason to put August 28 on your calendar this year is the following, in 2026, Emirati Women’s Day celebrations have officially been extended into a full month, so you`ll have more than a single day to experience the country through a very different lens,and get to know the stories, achievements and cultural role of its women.
Bathukamma (Telangana, India) October 10–18
This may be one of the most visually spectacular things you`ll see in October, if you put this one in your calendar.
Bathukamma means ‘Mother Goddess come Alive’ is a nine-day festival centered around women, flowers, music, dance and the sense of community. It`s is mostly celebrated in Telangana. You may know this place for UNESCO World Heritage Sites like the Ramappa Temple, or as birthplace of Hyderabadi Biryani or the place hosting the world’s largest film studio complex. But it also has amazing, vibrant and women-centered festivals like this one.
Bathukamma celebrations will for sure make an unforgettable impression on you: women create elaborate floral arrangements, often using special seasonal wildflowers that bloom after the monsoon. Some local women paint these flowers to layer them and create spectacular compositions, which you`ll for sure want to share with all of your Insta feed.
Then women gather in circles to sing and dance, share the mood of festivity and gracefully carry the arrangements in procession toward water.
Bathukamma is a centuries-old autumn festival and has a few historical explanations, which eventually blended with the region’s agrarian cycles and rituals. This cemented the festival above any historical events and today many see it as a profound celebration of harvest, gratitude towards nature and power of feminine energy, her material strength.
So make sure to mark this special date and let`s move on to the other parts of the map.
The Women’s Day Off (Reykjavík , Iceland) October 24
Aren’t there days, when you want to just leave everything and hop off the train of responsibilities? Well, imagine some women have done it and collectively went on strike, which ended up changing not only their own destinies, but also the lives of all women in their country.
On October 24, in 1975, the women of Iceland collectively stopped working. Over the 90% of them, including women in rural communities went on strike for a Women’s Day Off (kvennafrí). No work, no cooking, no care for the children for one whole day.
How else to show your importance then by not withdrawing it completely and ask for better social conditions?
Back then the working women of the country earned less than sixty percent of what men earned and this single day changed the trajectory of history for all of them. Iceland’s parliament passed a law guaranteeing equal rights the following year.
Mark this day in your calendar and visit Rejkiavik to share this important date and take part in historical walks, tracing the route women took in the 1970s as they fought for their rights, take part in mass rallies, or explore cultural programmes and theatrical performances that bring the story to life.
And, experience what it feels like to be in a country where women collectively step away from work for a whole day.
Hinamatsuri or the Girls’ Day (Japan) March 3
Again a visual feast for your eyes and a totally different perspective on celebrating girls and protecting them from misfortunes.
For the celebrations families set up a tiered display of hina dolls (hina-dan). These dolls are not toys but a symbolic item that is believed to take away any misfortune from the child.
Hinamatsuri is also associated with the Peach Festival and it`s one of the reasons that the cities look like a blooming tree during these celebrations. The blossoms symbolize qualities such as longevity and the healthy growth of girls.
This tradition may be connected to an old purification rite in Japan. Back then people believed that impurities or misfortunes could be transferred from a person onto an object, especially if it`s human-shaped. The Kyoto National Museum describes this as one of the origins of the Doll Festival.
This day has a very unique angle, focusing on the very moment when future women need care and nourishment. This makes it truly worth visiting.
Women’s Month (Yerevan, Armenia) March 8–April 7
Well, we started this list from Women’s Month and will end with one.
Armenia’s special date, partially is connected to the globally historic date, International Women’s Day, the 8 of March, the pivotal 1917 women’s strike in Russia, which later was officially recognized by the United Nations in 1975 and turned into a global Women’s Day.
March 8 was among Armenia’s long-time favorite holidays, but after the dissolution of the USSR and strengthening of national identity, the Armenian government tried to replace some old celebration dates with new ones, putting more emphasis on national roots. And March 8 was slowly replaced with April 7, a date that has roots with its apostolic church traditions.
April 7 is connected to the Feast of the Annunciation in the Armenian Apostolic Church, it`s the day commemorating the announcement to the Virgin Mary that she would give birth to Jesus. This date is strongly associated with motherhood and the feminine energy in Armenian Christian tradition.
So in 1994, Armenia’s Supreme Council officially established April 7 as Motherhood and Beauty Day and made it a non-working day.
But March 8 didn’t simply disappear from people’s hearts and after seeing that common people still are attached to March 8, the government created an entire women’s month that starts from March 8 and ends on April 7.
During this month, the country’s capital Yerevan becomes a more vibrant, active space filled with flowers. Its restaurants and cafés run special programmes, and the atmosphere of celebration touches everyone.
Written by Ella Kanegarian for EuroDirections Magazine
