The International Children’s Day is marked in many world countries, including Estonia, every year on the 1st of June.

This  International Children’s Day postage stamp features a design by a 6-year-old girl, Helina Madar, who won the Children and Nature drawing competition organised by Eesti Post in 2009.

The tradition goes back to 1925 when the Chinese consul in San Francisco in the United States invited orphaned Chinese children to mark the traditional Dragon Festival. Like then the main aim of the International Children’s Day is to bring happiness and pay special attention to the smallest among us. Everyday worries are forgotten on (read more)

published June 1st, 2010

The Estonian Ornithological Society picked has two species of shrikes, the red-back shrike (Lanius collurio) and the great grey shrike (Lanius excubitor), as birds of the year 2010.

The birds have a long tail and a strong hooked beak. The male shrike has a typical black eye mask. The red-back shrike is slightly larger than the sparrow while the great grey shrike is about the size of a small thrush. Shrikes can be seen in open and semi-open landscapes. Although shrikes are regarded as passerines they can be heard singing very seldom. Shrikes are carnivorous birds whose catch consists of larger insects, lizards, frogs, small (read more)

published May 4th, 2010

The first world fair, The Great Exhibition of 1851, was held in Hyde Park London under the auspices of Prince Albert.

The Crystal Palace, in which the whole world displayed its achievements, was built for the fair. At later world fairs participating countries have built their own pavilions. Since 1928 Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), headquartered in Paris, coordinates holding of the fairs. By today 156 countries have acceded to BIE. Numerous technological novelties of the period, such as the sewing machine (London 1862), (read more)

published February 17th, 2010