good morning
the first day in 2012
be your self ,
like your life .
صباح سسعيد
في اول يوم من عام 2012
<3
Did you know that celebrating the New Year is a tradition that dates back nearly 4000 years?
If you had lived in Mesopotamia and Babylon 4,000 years ago (c. 2000 B.C.), you probably would have celebrated the new year in mid-March, at the time of the Vernal (Spring) Equinox.
If, however, you were an Egyptian, your new year began with the Autumnal Equinox and the flooding of the Nile.
If you were Greek, the Winter Solstice began your new year celebrations.
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Isma'il Pasha, known as Ismail the Magnificent (December 31, 1830 – March 2, 1895), was the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the behest of the United Kingdom. Sharing the ambitious outlook of his grandfather, Muhammad Ali Pasha, he greatly modernised Egypt and Sudan during his reign, investing heavily in industrial and economic development, urbanization, and the expansion of the country's boundaries in Africa. His philosophy can be glimpsed at in a statement that he made in 1879: "My country is no longer in Africa; we are now part of Europe. It is therefore natural for us to abandon our former ways and to adopt a new system adapted to our social conditions". He also secured Ottoman, and international recognition as Khedive in preference to Wāli. However, Isma'il's policies placed Egypt and Sudan in severe debt, leading to the sale of the country's shares in the Suez Canal Company to the United Kingdom, and his ultimate toppling from power at British hands.
Marie Julie Clary Bonaparte ( 26 December 1771 – 7 April 1845) was Queen consort of Spain and the Indies, Naples and Sicily as the spouse of King Joseph Bonaparte, who was King of Naples and Sicily from January 1806 to June 1808, and later King of Spain and the Spanish West Indies from 25 June 1808 to June 1813. Julie Clary was born in Marseille, France, the daughter of François Clary, a wealthy silk manufacturer and merchant, and his second wife Françoise Rose Somis . Her sister Désirée Clary, six years younger than Julie, became Queen of Sweden and Norway (as Desideria) when her husband, Marshal Bernadotte, was crowned King Charles XIV John of Sweden (Charles III John of Norway). Her brother Nicholas Joseph Clary was created 1st Comte Clary and married Anne Jeanne Rouyer. On 1 August 1794, at Cuges ,she married Joseph Bonaparte, elder brother of Napoléon Bonaparte. In 1806, her spouse was made King of Naples, thereby making her Queen of Naples. In 1808, Joseph was made King of Spain and Julie became Queen of Spain. However, she never lived there, preferring Mortefontaine, in the Oise department of France. After the defeat of Napoleon's army Julie bought the castle of Prangins in Switzerland, near Lake Léman. After the Battle of Waterloo and the second downfall of Napoleon, Joseph bought a property in the State of New York near the River Delaware, with the proceeds of the sale of Spanish paintings taken from ransacked Madrid palaces, castles, monasteries and town halls. Julie went with her daughters to Frankfurt, where she stayed for six years, separated from her French-American husband. She later settled in Brussels and then in Florence, Italy, at the Serristori Palace. She did not socialize with the French people. She was described as charming, quiet, dignified and peaceful and generally well liked. In 1840, Joseph joined Julie in Florence. In spite of his adultery, she referred to Joseph as "my beloved husband". Joseph Bonaparte died in her arms on 28 July 1844 at the age of seventy-six. She died eight months later on 7 April 1845, at the age of seventy-three. They were buried side by side at the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence. Seventeen years later, in 1862, the self-proclaimed French Emperor Napoleon III brought Joseph Bonaparte's remains back to France and had them inhumed to the right of his younger brother, the Emperor Napoleon I. The remains of Julie are still at the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence beside those of her
daughter, Charlotte.
