Zamenhof Day | |
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Official name | Zamenhofa Tago (Esperanto) |
Also called | Esperanto Literature Day, Esperanto Day, Zamenhof's Birthday, Book Day |
Observed by | International Esperanto community |
Type | Cultural holiday |
Date | 15 December |
Next time | 15 December 2024 |
Frequency | annual |
Part of a series on |
Esperanto |
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Zamenhof Day ( Esperanto: Zamenhofa Tago, Polish: Dzień Zamenhofa), also called Esperanto Book Day, [1] is celebrated on 15 December, the birthday of Esperanto creator L. L. Zamenhof. [2] It is the most widely celebrated day in Esperanto culture. [3] On this day, Esperantists hold information sessions and cultural gatherings to promote literature in Esperanto. [1]
The history of celebrating Esperanto on Zamenhof's birthday can be traced back to 17 December 1878, when at a birthday party for his 19th birthday he presented to his friends his Lingwe uniwersala, the first version of his international language. [4] [5] By 1887, this language had evolved into what is now recognized as Esperanto when he published the Unua Libro. December 15 previously used to be also known as Esperanto Day, [6] but that is now celebrated on 26 July, the day Unua Libro was published. [7] As of 1927 onwards, December 15 is celebrated within the Esperanto movement as Esperanto Book Day as it is customary to purchase a new book on Esperanto on that occasion. [8] [9]
15 December 2009 marked 150 years since Zamenhof's birth, and there were several events to celebrate. On this date, the authorities in his home town of Białystok, Poland, opened a new Zamenhof Center, [10] and a symposium honoring Zamenhof was held in New York City, featuring talks by Arika Okrent and Humphrey Tonkin among other professors. [11]
Also on this date, the search engine Google, in 33 national language versions (but not the international English one), bore a special version of their logo (a Doodle) emblazoned with the Esperanto flag in honor of the occasion, [12] [13] which generated, between the 30 biggest Wikipedia languages, 1,750,000 page views on the articles " L. L. Zamenhof". [14]