From: benlizro@ihug.co.nz   
      
   23 February - Emperor's Birthday (天皇誕生日, TennÅ   
    tanjÅ   
   bi) (Japan)   
   24 February - Emperor's Birthday Holiday   
      
   Celebrations of Emperors' birthdays in Japan go back to 775 CE.   
   Wikipedia jumps from there to 1868 (Emperor Meiji, the modern era)   
   without saying whether the tradition was continuous. Skipping over some   
   other complicated points:   
      
   1) it is the actual birthday of the present Emperor, Naruhito (23/2/1960)   
   2) "It is enforced by the Emperor Abdication Law passed in 2017."   
   (Wiki). This law was to provide a legal basis for the previous Emperor,   
   Akihito, to abdicate, all his predecessors having been Emperor for Life   
   It provided clear rules for succession in the future, and (presumably in   
   one of the numerous annexes) for birthday celebrations.   
      
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor%27s_Birthday   
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Abdication_Law   
      
   Bound to be more of these in the future as we enter the new Age of Empires.   
      
   Meanwhile...   
      
   23 February - Defender of the Fatherland Day (День защитника   
   ÐžÑ‚ечеÑ�тва)   
   (Russia)   
   24 February - Defenders' Day Holiday   
      
   Also celebrated in Turkmenistan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and   
   Tajikistan (and some "states with limited recognition").   
   Ukraine abolished the holiday starting 1992 and, after the Revolution of   
   Dignity, has instated the somewhat similar Defender of Ukraine Day on 1   
   October.   
      
   [More or less] "marks the date in 1918 during the Russian Civil War when   
   the first mass draft into the Red Army occurred in Petrograd and   
   Moscow...." It was known as Red Army Day (or variants) until 2002 when   
   Putin renamed it.   
      
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defender_of_the_Fatherland_Day   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)