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When is Light Industry Workers Day celebrated?
Several million people are connected with the light industry in Our Country, who daily produce the products we need: shoes, clothes, household items, without which the life of a modern person is no longer imagined. For such workers, a professional holiday was approved.
Light Industry Workers Day 2023 in Our Country falls on 11 June. It is also celebrated on the second Sunday of June in Belarus, Ukraine and other countries of the former USSR.
history of the holiday
Light industry is an industry that produces consumer goods. Its feature is the ability to quickly adapt to the changing world and make adjustments to the proposed range with minimal investment. This area also includes the production of products for the production of furniture, the chemical and food industries, healthcare, and agriculture.
The full-fledged activity of enterprises is very important for the development of the country’s economy as a whole. This is not only the production of finished products, but also the primary processing of the raw materials necessary for this.
The development of light industry as an industry begins in the 6th century, when spinning machines, looms, etc. appeared. However, the first prerequisites for mass production originated as early as 3 thousand years BC, when mankind mastered the skills of processing silk, linen, and cotton. In Switzerland, ancient fragments of fabrics and devices for their manufacture were found in a layer of silt. Archaeological excavations in India and Egypt tell us about the creation and sale of cotton fabrics. In China, as far back as XNUMX thousand years BC, they learned how to get a silk thread from a softened silkworm cocoon.
As for the clothing industry, its origin began in France, where several junk workers, after successfully selling the goods stale with tailors, organized a tailoring studio.
The emergence of footwear production also has a rich history. The first shoes were palm leaves wrapped around the foot, animal skin, papyrus. Convenience was out of the question. They began to think about this in ancient times, when they began to make soft, leather, stocking-like boots using a pattern for each leg.
If we turn to history, then in ancient Our Country they traditionally spun and wove, sewed and embroidered. These skills played an important role in the life of the peasants. Every girl from a young age was trained in these abilities. Linen, wool, hemp were used in the business.
In the XNUMXth century, the inhabitants of two settlements called Khamovniki, i.e. weavers, specialized in the manufacture of high-quality patterned fabrics for the royal court.
In the 60th century, manufactories and factories began to appear in Tsarist Our Country. In the 140s of the XVIII century in Our Country there were about XNUMX enterprises specializing in cloth, linen and silk production.
The rapid growth of the main industries occurred in the second half of the XNUMXth century, when the factories began to use the labor of hired workers instead of serf labor, but it was paid very poorly.
During this period, the entrepreneur Savva Morozov, having taken over the management of his father’s manufactory, in the shortest possible time made it one of the best in Europe, thereby allowing the light industry in Our Country to move to a new stage of development. Morozov studied the effect of dyes on fabrics, subsequently achieving long-lasting color fastness.
During the Patriotic War, most enterprises were destroyed, which became a difficult test for light industry, including, but even in such conditions, factories managed to provide the military with the necessary uniforms.
After the war, already by 1950, the volume of basic production showed a level higher than before the war, due to improved technical capabilities.
The Soviet Union was considered one of the world leaders in the export of products abroad, was at the head of the ranking for the production of shoes, textiles and garments.
Due to its rich history and economic importance for the development of the country, in 1980, the Day of Light Industry Workers appeared in the decree “On Holidays and Memorable Days”.
Traditions
On the Day of Light Industry Workers 2023, as in previous years, exhibitions of textiles, new products of modern industries are organized. Mandatory is the congratulations of the management of the employees of the enterprises, the presentation of letters of thanks to the honored masters of their craft. Employees of this industry accept congratulations from colleagues, friends and relatives. Not without a feast and outdoor recreation. No wonder the holiday is celebrated on a summer day.
Interesting Facts
- Every year, about 80 million tons of textile fibers are produced in the world.
- According to statistics, men’s clothes last longer than women’s. If women have an average life expectancy of clothing items – 3 years, then men – 6 years.
- The first clothes and shoes were made from animal skins.
- The most ancient footwear was found in Armenia, which is more than 5 thousand years old. Moreover, it practically does not differ from those that are now worn in Armenian villages.
- Evidence was found that ancient people did not just dress in animal skins, but followed certain fashion trends. For example, woolen overalls decorated with bones from mammoth tusks were found in the excavations.
- In the Middle Ages, people of wealthy classes wore bright clothes of red hues. The poor dressed in gray, the merchants preferred green.