The other Black Saturdays in history

MANILA, Philippines – Catholics commemorate Black Saturday as the day when Jesus Christ’s body lay in the tomb after he was tortured and crucified.

It is aptly called “black” day as a sign of mourning after Christ’s passion and death.

Outside the Holy Week celebration, however, the term Black Saturday has also been used to describe some unfortunate events or striking occurrences in history. 

Here are some of these events:

August 4, 1621 – The Five Articles of Perth, which imposed certain practices on the Church of Scotland, was ratified by the Parliament. A dark stormy weather ensued on that day, which the people believed as sign of Heaven’s disapproval of the Articles.

August 8, 1903 – A baseball game between the Boston Braves and Philadelphia Phillies turned into a disaster after the balcony of the sports complex collapsed, killing 12 people and injuring 232 others. The collapse happened after some 300 spectators rushed to the balcony, where a girl was heard crying for help as she was teased by drunk men.

December 28, 1929 – Around 8 Samoans were killed during a procession by the Mau movement, a non-violent movement for Samoan independence from colonial rule of New Zealand. New Zealand police opened fire during the procession, an attempt to resist the arrest of one Mau member. The Mau movement eventually led to the political independence of Samoa in 1962.

June 29, 1946 – The British launched a major raid throughout Palestine, arresting around a thousand people. The raid was an attempt to dissuade local factions from attacking British troops in the country.

January 26, 1952 – A series of anti-British riots took place in downtown Cairo, where some 750 buildings were burned and looted. The riots were triggered by the killing of some Egyptian policemen by British occupants. People behind the fires remained unidentified.

December 6, 1975 – During the Lebanase Civil War, the rightist Kataeb Party murdered between 200 and 600 Palestinians and Lebanese Muslims in the streets of Beirut. The outrage came after the group found that 4 of its young members were assassinated.

September 24, 1983 – The Hong Kong dollar exchange rate hit an all-time low of HK$9.6:US$1. The value of the currency fell due to financial instability and capital flight as Chinese and British governments fought over Hong Kong. A month after this event, the government decided to peg the local currency at a fixed rate of HK$7.8:US$1 to prevent Hong Kong’s economy from collapsing.

July 14, 1984 – As part of its expansion, the World Wrestling Federation or WWF (now called World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE) took over the Saturday night time slot of Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) in the TBS network, ending the 12-year run of GCW. Due to low ratings, however, the time slot was sold a year after.

February 7, 2009 – A series of bush fires swept across the state of Victoria in Australia. Some 400 cases of fires were recorded, with at least 173 people killed and 414 injured. The fires affected 78 towns and displaced an estimated 7,560 people. Fallen power lines, lightning, and cigarette butts were among the speculated cause of the bush fires. – Rappler.com

Sources: Wikipedia, A short history of Scotland, Worst spectator deaths at sporting events, Black Saturday – NZ in Samoa, Jewish Defense Organizations: The Role of Jewish Defense Organizations in Palestine, Lebanese Civil War 1975 – 1976, Hong Kong’s dollar peg, Black Saturday: WWE takes over World Championship Wrestling, Press conference: Bushfires death toll revised to 173.

Images from Agence France-Presse and Wikimedia Commons.