ANZAC Day in New Zealand (25/04)

On April 25, New Zealand celebrates ANZAC Day — Day of Remembrance for Military Personnel Who Defended the Fatherland. On this day, soldiers who died in all the wars in which the country took part are remembered. First of all, we are talking about the Battle of Gallipoli in Turkey.

On April 25, 1915, troops from New Zealand and Australia, called ANZAC (short for «Australian and New Zealand Army Corps», Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, ANZAC), landed off the Gallipoli Peninsula with the aim of capturing the Dardanelles Strait and liberating it from the Turks. Both warring parties suffered heavy losses. New Zealand, among the rest of the countries embroiled in the war, lost approximately 2,700 soldiers.

ANZAC Day was first celebrated in 1916. Since then, the holiday has undergone many changes. But the day invariably remains an important holiday in New Zealand, with a traditional dawn service and the laying of flowers. Until 1920, the status of ANZAC Day remained very uncertain because the day of remembrance of fallen soldiers was not officially established. In 1920, the government supported the public's request to establish an official holiday on April 25. The law came into force in 1921.

After World War II, ANZAC Day for New Zealanders turned into a national holiday that united all residents of the country. It was during this period that it became a day of remembrance for those killed in all the wars in which New Zealand participated. Many more people began to attend the service that day. Thus, in 1957, about 6 thousand people attended the dawn ceremony in Auckland alone.

Traditionally, at dawn on April 25, a service for the dead takes place. Veterans of World War II gather at the city's main monument. The rest of the city residents join them in the flower-laying ceremony. A brief ceremony is accompanied by prayer and hymns. The ceremony ends with a minute of silence. Then everyone gathered sings the national anthem and plays Scottish bagpipes. The official part of the holiday ends at one o'clock in the afternoon.

Every year on this day, New Zealand honors its heroes — who fell in battle and returned home. There may not have been a military victory at Gallipoli, but there was a victory of spirit and desperate courage. Therefore, today, in peacetime, the day of April 25 for New Zealanders — is not a day of sorrow and sobbing, it is a day of bright memory of the men and women who defended the honor of their country.

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