When is the holiday celebrated
International Beauty Day is celebrated every year on September 9, 2022 will be no exception.
history of the holiday
Over the course of time, each nation, each country formed its own idea of beauty. The ancient Greeks considered beautiful people with perfect proportions and symmetry in the body. It was at this time that the concept of the “square of the ancients” arose – a person’s height is equal to the length of his arms outstretched to the sides. The ancient Romans valued fragility and fair skin untouched by sunburn – women avoided the sun and bandaged their waist and chest to keep their slimness. Medieval Europe is a time when one could pay dearly for beauty. The famous “witch hunts” threatened beautiful girls with death – attractiveness was considered a sign of sinfulness. In the Renaissance, those ladies were considered beautiful whose neck was long and thin, their forehead high and clean, their hair blond and wavy, the figure not thin, but not overly full. Women of that time had to shave their hair above the forehead to visually enlarge it, and on the back of the head above the neck to make it seem longer. In the amazing era of Rococo, special attention was paid to clothing and hair – the first should be expensive and lush, the second – as elaborate as possible. Entire structures were sometimes erected on the heads of the beauties of that time – gardens, ships, flower baskets. Already later, harmony and aristocratic pallor came into fashion – court ladies for a long time tormented themselves with corsets and powdered with poisonous lead white.
In Our Country, beauty was perceived differently – in different ways in a rural environment and in an aristocratic one. Up until the XNUMXth century, “glorifiers” were considered the ideal of female beauty and virtue in the villages. This was the name given to girls who were attractive in appearance, with a good reputation, who knew how to dress and behave in front of people, who had intelligence and household wisdom. Beautiful girls were considered those who had a strong body, a round face, a long braid, black eyebrows and a blush on their cheeks – all this was perceived as signs of health and vitality. Slavutnitsy had to be modest, but also moderately relaxed – not to be shy to sing and dance when it was appropriate. At the same time, among the nobility, the concept of beauty was more European and changed in the same way as in Europe – from Kustodiev young ladies to fragile ladies.
However, in the XNUMXth century, most developed countries came to a more or less unified understanding of beauty. This is due to globalization and technological progress. On the one hand, the cultural influence of enlightened Europe on the whole world has increased, on the other hand, the beauty industry has grown stronger. It is the latter that owes its appearance to the International Day of Beauty.
The holiday originated in 1995, initiated by the International Committee of Aesthetics and Cosmetology SIDESCO. This organization is one of the most authoritative in the world; it began its work in 1946. International Beauty Day, on the one hand, proclaimed the importance of beauty in all its manifestations, and on the other hand, it has become a professional holiday for everyone involved in the beauty industry. In Our Country, beauty day has been celebrated since 1999 – it has been celebrated in our country for more than 20 years.
Holiday traditions
In the modern world, there is a tendency to move away from the universal standards of beauty – in women (and men) naturalness, grooming and self-confidence are valued. Beauty is a subjective concept, so everyone can celebrate the holiday – regardless of appearance, gender, age and occupation.
On this day, beauty contests are often held, and at all levels: from university to international. It should be noted that not only generally accepted beauties with a “standard” appearance participate in them, but also people with unusual faces and bodies. And no one canceled the intellectual and creative tasks at such competitions – external beauty is impossible without internal beauty.
Separately, on September 9, professionals in the field of beauty are congratulated – cosmetologists, stylists, makeup artists, fitness instructors, etc. In salons and gyms, customers are often offered discounts or free treatments on this day.
Interesting Facts
- The first ever beauty pageant was held in 1888 in Belgium. It had the status of the world, but was not publicly covered. The jury consisted of only men, and one of the stages of the competition was an interview – the candidates had to prove that they were not only beautiful, but also smart. The winner was an 18-year-old girl from Guadeloupe – crowns were not yet awarded at that time, so her prize was in cash.
- The first Miss World pageant was held in London in 1951. Since then, it has been held almost annually, and an interesting pattern can be traced: its winners are most often girls from Venezuela.
- From an overabundance of beauty, Stendhal’s syndrome can manifest itself. This is a mental disorder that occurs when in contact with the beautiful – as a rule, with works of art: paintings, sculptures, music, architectural objects. It manifests itself through palpitations, shortness of breath, sudden lethargy, dizziness, and hallucinations. The syndrome was named after the XNUMXth century Italian writer who first described it in his travel notes. First of all, impressionable people with a well-developed imagination are susceptible to Stendhal’s syndrome.
- The first cosmetologists appeared in ancient Greece, they were called “cosmetics”. These specialists developed balms and cosmetic oils that could later be used in personal care.
- A comic unit of measurement of female beauty was invented by mathematicians. She was called “millielen” – in honor of Helen of Troy, because of the abduction of which the great Trojan War began. Helen herself was described as a woman so beautiful that her beauty could move more than a thousand ships. Accordingly, 1 million is equal to the ability of a beautiful woman to move one ship. The beauty of Helen herself is equal to 1186 millennium – that is how many ships, according to Homer’s Iliad, landed at the walls of Troy.