Razzar

ANZAC Day – 25 April – is probably Australia’s most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.

ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as ANZACs, and that name endures to this day.

In 1915 Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula to open the way to the Black Sea for the allied navies. The plan was to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul), capital of the Ottoman Empire and an ally of Germany. They landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Turkish defenders.

Over 8,000 Australian soldiers were killed. News of the landing at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians at home and 25 April quickly became the day on which Australians remembered the sacrifice of all those who have died in war.

The history of the Vatican as a papal residence dates from the 5th cent., when, after Emperor Constantine I had built the basilica of St. Peter’s, Pope Symmachus built a palace nearby.

The pope usually resided in the Lateran Palace until the “Babylonian captivity” (14th cent.) in Avignon, France.

After the return of the papacy to Rome (1377) the Vatican became the usual residence.

Tattooing used to be a male rite of passage, proving a man’s willingness to undergo pain to become his own man, and perhaps announcing a greater allegiance to masculinity than to social acceptability.

Lately, women are into getting tattooed so that they, too, can look independent, defiant, and out of anyone’s control.