Today, May 24, Ukraine and some other countries that use the Cyrillic alphabet celebrate the Day of Slavic Writing and Language. In Ukraine, the event was launched by presidential decree in 2004, UNN reports.
The creators of the Slavic alphabet, brothers Cyril and Methodius, were born in the Greek city of Thessaloniki in the ninth century to a military commander.
Cyril studied in Constantinople at the court of Emperor Michael III. Methodius entered military service at an early age. Later both became monks. They preached a lot.
But their greatest achievement was the creation of the Slavic alphabet. Cyril created the Cyrillic alphabet based on the Greek alphabet. Later, letters borrowed from the Glagolitic alphabet were added to it.
Cyril and Methodius translated church books and wrote their own works. This was the beginning of the Slavic book business.
The oldest book written in Cyrillic on the territory of modern Ukraine is currently considered to be the Old Russian Ostromyr Gospel, which dates back to 1057.
On May 24, 1972, Ralph Baer and his colleagues presented the world's first home game console, the Magnavox Odyssey. To mark the occasion, today is World Video Game Day.
For many years, game consoles have become a favorite pastime for hundreds of millions of children and adults alike.
Today is Parks Day in Europe. It was on May 24, 1809, that the first National Park in Europe was established in Sweden.
The purpose of today's event is to draw public attention to European nature reserves and to engage people in preserving nature and cultural heritage.
Today is also Aviation Technician's Day. The event was established in honor of the birthday of Charles Edward Taylor, who was born on May 24, 1868.
This talented American engineer and designer developed the aircraft engine for the Wright brothers' first airplane.
Since the first half of the 1980s, countries with a particularly developed pacifist movement have celebrated the International Women's Day for Peace and Disarmament on May 24.
According to the old church calendar, today is the Day of Remembrance of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius, the creators of the Slavic alphabet.
According to the New Julian church calendar, today is the Day of Remembrance of St. Simeon the Pillar, who lived in Syria in the sixth and seventh centuries.
Simeon was a monk and ascetic. According to legend, in order not to succumb to human temptations, he lived for many years at the top of a column that he built himself. He is believed to have had the gift of healing and prophecy.
On May 24, Semen, Stepan, Anton, Antonina, and Olena celebrate their name days.