August 5 marks International Traffic Light Day around the world, alongside a range of national and religious holidays observed in different countries. Iran marks Islamic Human Rights Day on the date, and Russian painter Ilya Repin was born on August 5.
International Traffic Light Day
The first traffic light in the world was lit on August 5, 1914, on the streets of Cleveland. The device had two lamps, red and green, and a sound signal warned when the lights were about to switch.
The innovation reached Russia in the early 1930s. The first traffic light was installed in St. Petersburg at the corner of Nevsky and Liteiny prospects. A few months later, devices appeared in Moscow at the corner of Petrovka and Kuznetsky Most streets. Rostov-on-Don became the third Russian city to install traffic lights.
Islamic Human Rights Day in Iran
Iran observes Islamic Human Rights Day on August 5 to mark the adoption of the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam on August 5, 1990. The document was created as a response to the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, which some Muslim countries felt failed to account for the religious and cultural traditions of Eastern nations.
The Cairo Declaration establishes Islamic sharia law as its sole source and emphasizes virtues such as hard work and service to others alongside human rights.
World Oyster Day and Croatia's Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day are also observed on August 5.
Feast of the Pochaev Icon
The Orthodox Church marks the feast of the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God on August 5. According to legend, two monks settled on Pochaev Hill in 1240 and witnessed an apparition of the Virgin Mary surrounded by flames; after the vision vanished, a footprint believed to be hers remained imprinted on a stone, an image often included on copies of the icon.
The original icon's history dates to 1559, when a metropolitan from Constantinople gave it as a blessing to a noblewoman named Anna Goyska. According to tradition, the icon later began to glow, and in 1597 it was credited with healing Anna's brother, Philip. Anna then gave the icon to monks living on Pochaev Hill, whose community later grew into a large monastery.
The church also commemorates the martyrs Trofim, Feofil and 13 other martyrs, the righteous warrior Feodor Ushakov, the hieromartyr Apollinaris, bishop of Ravenna, and the hieromartyr Mikhail Troitsky on this date.
Folk beliefs for August 5
Tradition holds that housewives who make jam on August 5 should not let anyone, even family members, taste it, or the jam will spoil. Sleeping late and idleness are considered unlucky on this day, with fortune said to favor those who rise early and go to bed late. Cutting viburnum branches is believed to bring bad luck in love, and an owl hooting loudly is taken as a sign of coming cold weather.
Notable birthdays on August 5
Painter Ilya Repin was born on August 5. He was a full member of the Imperial Academy of Arts and belonged to the Peredvizhniki, or Wanderers, group of artists, and is regarded as a master of portrait, historical and genre painting. His best-known works include "They Did Not Expect Him," "Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16, 1581" and "Barge Haulers on the Volga," along with portraits of writer Leo Tolstoy and composer Modest Mussorgsky.
American astronaut, naval aviator and aerospace engineer Neil Armstrong, who lived from 1930 to 2012, became the first person to walk on the moon. His first step onto the lunar surface was filmed at 2:56 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time on July 21, 1969, and he spent two hours, 31 minutes and 40 seconds on the moon. Armstrong said the step was one small step for a man, but one giant leap for mankind.
Other people born on August 5 include Barcelona midfielder Gavi, 22; Russian theater and film actress Ksenia Nazarova, 48; Russian silent film actress Vera Kholodnaya, who lived from 1893 to 1919; and French writer Guy de Maupassant, who lived from 1850 to 1893.
