Everything has changed! The pandemic has taken the world by surprise leaving a mark that is more likely to never disappear.

Many lives have been shifted, the world’s economy has been disrupted and social and cultural issues have risen. As a result, new different norms and measures had to be implemented to prevent the virus spread such as social distancing. Social distancing – one of the main prevention measures set up – is still considered the most effective way to fight the deadly virus. Amid the pandemic, people have been called to stay home and cut off links to the outside world and all ties to anyone else apart from the family members living in the same house. That means, no more communication, no more interaction, and no more socialization have been allowed. Due to such a sudden social unrest, many problems related to culture and society came out. Many countries now struggle in preserving some of their culture, customs, and habits. Some of the most common social habits are being cast aside during the global pandemic outbreak: the handshake and the hug.

For a lot of people, handshakes and hugs are common forms of greeting, or more or less of a custom for certain individuals. When people meet standing closer than six feet apart, they tend to give a kiss to one another, have hugs, give high fives, give a pat on the back, greet with fist bumps, or squeeze other’s shoulder. Today, such forms of greeting and little points of social contact have become suspicious gestures and seem not to be possible anymore. Anthony Fauci, an American physician-scientist and immunologist, who was hosted for an interview in April 2020 with the Wall Street Journal podcast, suggested Americans should never shake hands again to stop spreading the disease: the “no to handshakes!”

It is no secret that some people already hated being hugged or shaken hands even prior to the pandemic; and they may probably rejoice seeing how these habits are now finally vanishing. However, what they do not realize is that social touch, categorized as a non-verbal communication, is one of the most powerful forces in human development, essentially and largely contributing to physical and emotional wellbeing. Indeed, it has always played a vital role in many different aspects of people’s daily lives. Hence, it would be weird to no longer see people interacting via touching. Anyway, there is still what is called the“elbow bump”, which seems to replace handshake and has become today’s new form of greeting among people, whether it is between classmates, workers, or family members.

It is well known that coronavirus has hugely changed the way people communicate and led to a kind of awkwardness and uncertainty. However, these should not impact how people see one another.

Sources: National Center for Biotechnology Information, US National Library of Medicine / TIME / Carissa J. Cascio et al., 2018. Social touch and human development

Every country, whether it is independent or not, has exclusively its own official currency.

What generally distinguishes a state from one another is first its language and then its currency. These two elements play a key role in defining national identity as they reflect the country’s cultural value and symbol.

A brief history of the Malagasy currency
Madagascar’s official currency is “Ariary” and has the ISO standard code of MGA. Ariary is a unique currency since it has been categorized as one of the only two non-decimal currencies in the world along with Mauritania’s ouguiya. Both currencies have sub-units that are a non-decimal fraction of the main unit: one ouguiya from Mauritania is the equivalent of five khoums and one Malagasy Ariary is worth five iraimbilanja (enacademic).

The Malagasy ariary and iraimbilanja have traced their root in the pre-colonial period. Ariary means “silver dollar” while iraimbilanja is literally named “one iron weight”. During the colonial period, French “Franc” was introduced into the Malagasy currency policy and started circulating throughout Madagascar making it its official currency at that time; but in the late 1960s following decolonization, it was changed into Malagasy franc. Indeed, it was partly spurred by the Central Bank of Madagascar which took the initiative to issue banknotes in 1974. Founded in 1925, the Central Bank of Madagascar, once named “La Banque de Madagascar” inserted the Malagasy franc alongside the French already circulating in the Big Island. However, in 1945 it was replaced with Banque de Madagascar et des Comores and the Malagasy franc became the Madagascar-Comores CFA franc. It was in 2005 that the Malagasy Ariary has been appointed the official currency of Madagascar. Since then, the Cental Bank of the Malagasy Republic also translated to Banky Foiben’i Madagasikara has kept introducing notes under different denominations shifting from 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 francs to 100, 200, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000 and 20,000 ariary.

Depiction of the Malagasy banknotes
Since the Malagasy banknotes have been issued and printed between 1994 and 2004, each denomination has got its own specific feature. Indeed, all the notes are made up of emblematic images representing the riches of Madagascar. The four largest denominations were issued in July 2017 with a special focus on “Madagascar and its Riches” mostly depicting its economic activities, biodiversity, culture, and touristic sites. According to a decree released by the Banky Foiben’i Madagascar, here is a list of the current notes with their depiction:

• The 100-ariary note which measures 114 x 60 mm depicts the Cathedral of Ambozontany.

• The 200-ariary note measuring 119 x 63 mm depicts the Amber mountains waterfall.

• The 500-ariary note with 124 x 66 mm depicts the site of Ambohimanga.

• The 1,000-ariary note measures 196 x 69 mm and depicts the Kamoro bridge.

• The olive green 2,000-ariary note measures 134 x 72mm and features a lemur on the front side, and a tropical pitcher plant on the back side.

• The red 5,000-ariary note measures 139 x 75 mm and represents a waterfall in the Ranomafana Park on the front side and a humpback whale on the back side.

• The brown-yellow 10,000-ariary note which measures 144 x 78 mm shows a picture of the port of Ehoala on the front side, and a “Valiha” and “Zafimaniry” carved wooden objects on the back side.

• The blue 20,000-ariary note measures 149 x 81mm and displays the image of the nickel processing plant at Ambatovy on the front side, and vanilla, rice, and lychees on the back side.

As far as the value of Malagasy ariary is concerned, like any currency, there are times it may increase and sometimes decrease, but that does not necessarily mean it loses of its value.

Sources: BanknoteNews / Central Bank of Madagascar / Continental Currency

It is always impressive to see a military woman, isn’t it? Indeed, the armed services may be empowering, yet frustrating for women.

Joining the army has always been regarded as an act of bravery, as it is not always easy for soldiers who choose such a career path to put their own interest aside to serve their homeland. Astonishingly, women appear to get more and more interested and involved in the military services. Over the past few years, a fast-growing number of women have enlisted in the army. Across the armed services in the United States, today, women represent 16 percent of the enlisted forces and 19 percent of the officer corps. In 2017, the Marine Corps was made up of 8.4 percent of women. The same year, up to 20 percent of the Air Force were women. In recent years, the US military services opened doors for women in order to break the restrictions on combat roles that have been long caused a controversy and a global issue. In fact, the success story of women in the armed forces always tends to be overlooked as if military career was a prerogative that is granted only to men.

Today it has turned out to be no longer the case. Women have been shown to pave the way for themselves and for the next generation and to make a giant step towards new career paths that once were closed to them. Currently, women are now spotted on the frontline as far as active-duty military and army leadership are concerned.

As we celebrate the International Women’s Day today, here we are pleased to share this testimony of a woman officer in the Malagasy army relating her success story and experience as a woman in the army:

“It is still difficult for the Malagasy society to accept women as leaders in the armed forces as we still live in a society that is more or less patriarchal. Sometimes, our troops get confused when we give them orders; while there are some who admire us for our courage and our strength, for the military training is really hard. We even come to believe that it is not meant for everyone. More than that, some of our subordinates and chiefs do respect us and consider us real leaders. In fact, they do believe in our ability both at workplaces and in the field.

As for my first military experience, I could say that it was tough at the beginning. The process of shifting from the civilian to the military world encouraged me to give the best of myself and to go beyond my limits since the trials required real mental, physical, and intellectual strengths. Once I got accustomed to this sudden change, I felt like I found my place in the military. The training at the military academy lasted about three years. After I had completed it, I started working and I had to search for ways to deal with my duties and how to interact with my chiefs, as well as my subordinates.

As an officer, I am proud of what I have been through, what I have learned, and who I am today. When you go on duty in the countryside, people get amazed to see that there are women in the army; and then they always thank us for serving the nation. When going on duty in urban areas, we are used to hearing people tell us that they wish their daughters would be like us”.

This Malagasy woman officer states that 10 percent of the total number of military officers in Madagascar are women, and the highest rank that women got thus far in the military position is “colonel”.

Here is her message to all the women who intend to enlist in the armed forces: “Well, to any young woman who wants to join the military, living as a female officer requires strength in all fields and patience. There are lots of challenges and duties, and once you have entered the world of armed forces, you have got to make it until the end. There is no way back. If you love it, you will make it even though it is hard. However, if that is not the case, I advise you not to commit to a military career. It may be deceitful for you when getting there”.

Sources: New York Times / Council on foreign relations (cfr.org)

What frightens you and what is your deepest fear? These are common questions that may pop up to people’s mind, yet to which they are not surely and correctly able to answer.

As a human being, fear is always present like faith and hope, and is first of all a state of mind that is mixed with emotion and then translated into its physical equivalent. Sometimes for example, when a person is found to face with a delicate or scary situation, either does this one immediately jump out of his or her wits; or just try to cool down and take it as if it was all under control. The most common fear that has been seen to paralyze people is the fear of failure.

Who will not be afraid of failing in one’s undertaking? People are so scared of being stuck that they have always searched for ways to avoid it at some point of their lives. Fear is one of the most powerful forces in life. It may affect one’s whole life: one’s thoughts, decisions, behaviors, and actions. As a matter of fact, fear takes many forms and is mostly known as “phobia”, which may happen like there are various things as small as they may be but scare us a lot. One person may be found to be afraid of even trivial things, yet easy to get out of; while there are people who may struggle with a fear that they cannot control and which they even find hard to handle with.This is the case of the phobia of failure as if you find yourself being constantly scared of making mistakes, avoiding failure at all costs or just being afraid of not achieving your goals, you may suffer from what is called “atychiphobia”. In other hands, there is also “achievemephobia” or when you are just close to your goal and/or on the verge of success, but then you might be self-sabotaging. At first blush, it may not look like a fear, contrary to the phobia of failure which is quite common and ubiquitous in people’s everyday life. Nevertheless, this is another type of fear that may also touch people, which sometimes appear to be latent at first. Indeed, the fear of success is real, yet remains unknown or overlooked by most people.

Ti Caine, a hypnotherapist and life coach based in Sherman Oaks, California explains how this fear of success exactly works. Success may happen like a process through which one person has set a goal, backed it with motivation, positive emotions and vibrations, and kept sustaining it with the right vision of the future until it is really fulfilled. However, there are people who do not grasp what this phobia is like and are sometimes found to be stuck at the last stage of success. It may happen like they are not conscious about how they are self-destructing themselves and their goals, and even worst, they have doubts about their worthiness to success. In fact, it may be induced by several factors such as the feeling of being rejected or besieged by relatives or friends, the feeling of being unloved if one keeps moving forward in one’s search for success. For people who struggle with this kind of phobia, the hypnotherapist suggests them to find and understand it well so as to tackle with the way they could escape from it. Some advices he would propose include the forgiveness, like what people who are afraid of succeeding needs to realize first that they let it happen making the fear hypnotize them to such a point that it rendered them to lose their real courage and power. So to combat it, the first step on which Cain insists is “to identify the fear zones”, after that “to forgive oneself”. How? Through asking some questions associated with the fear itself while pretending to be powerless like doing a kind of role playing. Some questions may vary, depending on each one, but here are some examples: What do I get to avoid? What emotion am I not willing to release? Or what am I afraid of losing if I succeed? These will help destroy the fear in the subconscious mind and redirect it again.

Whether it is achievemephobia or atychiphobia, these strategies are applicable to both kinds of fear.

Sources: Psychology today

How might it be to have a child who always gets outstanding academic performances and always behaves well?

It might be right to wonder which parents do not want their kid to display such a perfect image of being both a genius and obedient. That could be surely the dream of every parent! Yet, it might not happen like the way they always think it should or want it for many reasons. In fact, here adequate involvement of parents and family members in the education of a child is what is highly needed. Good education is not only a question of getting good marks at school; kids’ home environment plays a vital role in determining what kind of person the kid will become oneday. If parents want their kids to behave well and be successful in the future, they should above all participate in decision-making related to their education. Through parents’ participation, they create an environment that would allow interaction between both sides to take place. Then, it would facilitate the learning process of their children that spans over their lifetime. At the same time, it would probably encourage them more to study harder as they feel more secure seeing that there are people who really care for them and genuinely get involved in their well-being as a whole. Indeed, they feel comfortable wherever they are, whether it is at school or at home.

Here the issue is about how and what parent could do more in helping their children attain their goals both as a student and as a responsible grown-up in the future. To do so, parents and teachers should first be collaborative in making these things happen. It is the best and surest way how parental involvement would operate. In fact, this is a process through which parents and the school work together to improve the child’s education experience and academic performance. Some examples of parental involvement may include engaging in a discussion with the kid about their education experience after classes; helping them with homework; getting interested in what they do by knowing which school activities they chose to practice or get involved in and most importantly attending them; transmitting parental values and taking part in parent-teacher conferences. These are only school-related examples but there are more others that are likely to have more positive impacts on the whole education of a child, like how parents would raise their kids outside the school context; and correspondingly, it may surely engage more family members. Indeed, this is not a one-sided involvement process that includes only parent but also very importantly the entire family and other people such as caregivers.

Sources: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) / parentingforbrain.com

Are you a sea lover? Whether it is the case or not, you should not miss out the sumptuous marine spot in the North West of Madagascar.

Declared as a marine National park in 2012 thanks to its extraordinary landscape and seascape on the coastal region of the big island and has been under Marine Protected Area (MPA) since 2007, Nosy Hara, the little-known archipelago is categorized among the paradisiac islands in the world. The archipelago of Nosy Hara, located about 30 kilometers from cap d’Ambre is one of the beautifully discovered archipelagos in the region of Diana. These ones are made up of 15 small islands which most of them are uninhabited and remained intact. Some of these islands include Nosy Vaha, Nosy Lakandava, and Nosy Anjombavola. But, Nosy hara, the protected area which elongates over two to three kilometers of length is known as the most attractive and interesting one. This is due to its rich biodiversity with an outstanding landscape, as well as an abundance of sea resources. The island is covered by dry forest with huge trees and rocky cliff stones, well-known as “tsingy” that nestle up close to each other and squeeze everywhere on the island. Indeed, Nosy hara is called “mountainous island”; hara which comes from the Malagasy word harana essentially means mountains.

Fauna and Flora
So far as species are concerned, Nosy hara abounds in a variety of animal species, whether it is terrestrial or marine. Managed by Malagasy National Parks and funded by WWF, the archipelago has become a protected site and declared as a marine reserve. The little known paradisiac island with deep blue water inhabits about 400 marine species: 279 coral fishes species, 108 corals, 50 species of mollusks, three sea sponges, five species of sea turtles, whales and dolphins. It contains also more than 30 bird species, 20 reptiles and some amphibians. The National park of Nosy hara is mostly famous for being home to the world’s tiniest chameleon “Brookesia micra”, an endemic and threatened reptile species measuring less than 30 millimeters. Apart from the brookesia micra, other reptiles belonging to chamaeleonidae family are present in the dry forest such as the furcifer pardalis, also known as the panther chameleons, the gecko Paroedura fasciata, the velvet geckos or Blaesodactylus boivini, and the fish scale geckos (Geckolepis ssp). The fauna is so exceptional as the flora which features two species of baobas and pachypodiums standing tall as if they have served as the main decorations to the island.

Activities and park access
Even though the archipelago of Nosy hara is inhabited, activities are still available for tourists and holidaymakers. Two of the most popular activities on the island are swimming and snorkeling, since nosy hara is surrounded by coral reefs and is made of a vast natural aquarium of blue and crystal waters. It has even been said that the marine park is one of the world’s best places to snorkel at. Indeed, nosy hara is only accessible by boat; about 12 kilometers of boat trip from the port of Ampasindava, Antsiranana are needed to reach the known idyllic marine park of nosy hara. If you are an aquatic and nature amateur, but most importantly an adventurous, I urge you to go explore the archipelago of nosy hara along with its other small islands around. You will appreciate it!

Sources: ONTM / Madagascar National Parks

Student life is not as easy as people may think, especially when you begin to study at the university.

For students, it is always challenging as you make a transition from high school classes to something much more different than usual, as higher education can be. As if you go from childhood to adulthood, you grow up and find out something newer and greater than you have already learnt and known before. As how it goes being an academic student - as things may suddenly change – you may probably need to work whether it is part-time or full-time so as you can fund your studies and complete them successfully.   

Here we are talking of the concept of “work-study-life balance” rather than a simple “study-life balance”. For students who are not granted a fully-funded scholarship program - because even partially funded, they always need to search for a job to provide for their needs as students - more particularly those who pursue a master’s degree or doctorate. These are the ones who sometimes engage in a full-time job while undergraduate students are more likely to choose a part-time job due to the tight and fixed timetables.

The real challenge in becoming a working student is that undergraduates are often seen to be short on time. This is because they may struggle with managing their time and schedule, balancing their energy and handling stress. They need to juggle with increasing their academic performance by completing all the credits per semester and committing to finishing all the tasks allocated as an employee. Some students may even be found facing hard times leading to depression, and burn-out. In a study conducted by Gorgulho, et al. (2012) on the effects of working while in school, it has been shown that employee students struggled with maintaining a healthy and balanced life: they lack of sleep, they have poor eating habits, and they appear to be easily contracted by a chronic disease. 50 percent of students surveyed at a university reported to be sleep deprived (“Delayed Sleep and Sleep Loss in University Students”, 2015) and 35 percent of college students were estimated to be at risk for being overweight due to their poor nutrition (Huang, et al., 2003)

Faratiana, a master’s student at the University of Antananarivo who has already been a trainee and employee shares to us her experience on how she handles her study while working: “truth be told it is somehow difficult, mainly at the beginning, when you have no experience yet at juggling studies and work. But I was lucky enough as my boss at that time was very understanding of the fact that I was still a college student and that studies should always come first. Thus, they allowed me to monthly or even weekly arrange my work schedule according to the availability that my studies conferred me. Sometimes I had to attend extra classes, and I had to work extra hours or work even during Saturday mornings. When you juggle with work and study, you have to set an order of priority. What task in what time is more important? I remember we were assigned urgent tasks to complete at work, and because I knew it was vital I had to make the choice of skipping classes at the University. When you miss class like that,  you must count on your classmates’ support and borrow their notes”.

Sources: sites.psu.edu / “Quality of diet of working college students”, Bartira Gorgulho et al. 2012. / “Learning capability and storage capacity of two-hidden-layer feedforward networks”, Guang-Bin Huang. 2003 / “Delayed sleep and sleep loss in university students”, Leon C. Lack. 1986.

Have you ever heard about the story of Romeo and Juliet of Shakespeare? There is Malagasy version quite similar to this one, the legend of “Rabeniomby sy Ravolahanta”. This is a story known by most Malagasy people that occurred in the lake of Tritriva. Even if it is viewed as a legend, some people believe that this is real and it inspires them respect and fear.

Located 18km west of the town of Antsirabe on the road to Betafo, the lake of Tritriva is a natural site with beautiful sky-colored waters nestled at an altitude of about 2,000meters in a hollow of a mountain. A very long ago, the lake has been shown to be a volcano which erupted and then changed into a volcanic crater lake surrounded by a pine forest and perched high on a hill. Tritriva has attracted many travelers and foreigners’ attention and interest thanks not only to its splendid landscape, but also to the mystery which spans over the story of the lake. This mystery has made the place sacred and instilled locals’ belief and sense of respect. As a result, people of tritriva lake put some taboos or “fady” so as to honor and respect it, and whoever planning a visit to the site must avoid what has been forbidden such as swimming in the lake after eating pork.

It all began with the legend of “Rabeniomby sy Ravolahanta". An anecdote that relates the tragic and sad-ending story of two lovers named Rabeniomby and Ravolahanta. They fell in love but their relationship was not countenanced by the parents of both sides. Their union was impossible due to the difference in their social status; the family of the young man was well-off as they belonged to the noble rank, while that of the young woman was from a poor lineage. This social gap caused them to commit suicide by jumping wrapping each other into the lake. Since then, the legend on how a tree interlacing on the rim of the cliff where they jumped over started to appear. Inhabitants of the nearby village explain that the tree features the two sweethearts and that if someone pinches or cuts this tree, it will bleed. There was another story of a heady Chinese man who insisted on swimming in the lake after eating pork and shortly after, he was found dead. Since this tragic and strange incident, some people come to believe that there are really ghosts which hung around the lake and assume that it was maybe the spirit of the people who died in the water. Others just say that it is quite a normal if people die while swimming in a pond of 160 meter-deep and very cold which was formerly a volcano. It has been also declared that when someone died inside the reservoir, their dead body was found floating in the lake of Andraikiba, also a volcanic lake located 20kilometers away from the city of Antsirabe.

Both Tritriva and Andaikiba remain the favorite destinations of tourists and holidaymakers when it comes down to visiting the Vakinakaratra region. If you think of visiting one of them, given that each region of Madagascar has its own culture and custom, you should then keep in mind that wherever you go, you must pay attention to the “do’s and don’ts” of the place you visit. Enjoy your trip but do not forget to be respectful!

Sources: “The Volcanic Lake of Tritriva: Its Physical Features and Legendary History”. The Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine (London Missionary Society) /motmalgache.org / madagascartravel.com

Happy Valentine’s Day to all the lovebirds!

February, 14: today we celebrate a special day meant for lovers. It is always important to note that every special holiday hides a story behind it, whether it is true or a fiction; a legend or a tale, interesting or boring! Anyway, there is always a story to relate and maybe a symbol to which to refer when it comes down to celebrating a special day like Valentine’s Day.  

Valentine’s Day has a number of possible origins. One of the most common symbols to which we can refer the romantic holiday is the earliest popular symbol “Cupid”, best-known as the Roman god of love who features an image of a young cherub with bow and arrow. It has also been said that it has taken its roots in legend of two men both named Valentine. The first one was a Roman martyr who was beheaded on a 14th of February because of his refusal to worship the Roman gods, as he was a Christian priest. The other Valentine was an Italian bishop from Terni, who was also executed because he accepted to secretly marry a young couple, which was, at that time, against the laws of the Roman emperor. On the other hand, Valentine’s Day known as a romantic holiday has been thought to be popularized by Shakespeare, seen almost in his work, such as in “Hamlet” where the word Valentine’ s Day appeared. The custom with exchanging heart-felt gifts and cards has turned out to originate in the 18th century in England; it is in the 20th century that it has been spread. In fact, the card-sending tradition was first prompted by famous Middle Ages writers and poets. They created handmade paper cards for special days. Then, in the 19th century, the process of factory-made and mass-producing cards and other valentines’ gifts began. According to the National Retail Federation, Valentine’s Day brings up to 18 billion dollars per year in sales in 2017 thanks to these traditional gifts. It has been shown that 85 percent of American women buy Valentine’s Day cards, and that men buy over 70 percent of the flowers. Celebrating Valentine’s Day has come to be a kind of symbol for some; expressing the magic word “I LOVE YOU” and offering a gift for the loved one has turned to be a must and a very important thing to do when this special day comes. People are too eager to celebrate it but maybe do not appreciate the story.

So today, the famous day of love is celebrated by many people across the world, making this 14th day of February so special, not only for lovers, but also for families. Indeed, Valentines’ Day means much more than just a simple romantic holiday or a custom; it is more of a symbol, it is the celebration of love itself. Happy Valentine’s Day all!

Sources: American English / Psychology Today

Lying within Black Hills National Forest, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial features a huge sculpted faces of four great American presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a US monument located near Keystone in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It lies roughly 30 miles southwest of Rapid City, 10 miles northeast of Custer and north of Custer State Park. Also called America’s Shrine of Democracy, Mount Rushmore symbolizes the history and the ideals of freedom and democracy left as a heritage to American people. The 60-feet tall faces carved in granite into the mountainside of black hills are, indeed, a tribute to the four US presidents. The man behind the memorial, Doane Robinson, was strongly persuaded that they were America’s most prominent presidents who marked US history. At the same time, he thought of making it as a patriotic site that would represent both the past of the United States and the promise for the future. As a result, Mount Rushmore National Memorial – since its design – continues to attract more tourists worldwide and has been ranked among one of America’s most popular tourist attractions.

The sculpture and depiction of the Mount Rushmore
The idea of carving on the granite face of a mountain in the Black Hills first came from an historian from South Dakota, named Doane Robinson. He had in his mind the perfect images of iconic and historic heroes of the west and was too optimistic to undertake his monumental project; a project that caused quite a controversy among some. In fact, there is a gloomy story hidden behind the memorial revealing that the land where the memorial is located and what is around belonged to the Native American tribes known as “the Sioux”; for them the land was sacred. That is why we see today some Native American activists who continue to claim properties including Mount Rushmore. In August 1924, Robinson contacted an American sculptor named Gutzon Borglum and convinced him to work for the project. At that time, Borglum was already assigned to carve an image of the Confederate General Robert E. Lee into the face of Georgia’s Stone Mountain but was then fired. Shortly after, he finally accepted to work with Robinson and the sculpture of the four presidential heads began in 1927. Robinson wanted first Borglum to carve the face of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and later he suggested adding that of Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt. The project was finished in 1941. In July 4, 2020, for the first time in several decades, fireworks were displayed to commemorate the Independence Day at the Mount Rushmore National Monument. Other interesting things to see in Mount Rushmore
Many other amenities or facilities are present at Mount Rushmore sites, which will surely enable tourists to spend joyful moments and enjoy their journey in South Dakota. Among these is the Avenue of Flags, a walkway leading towards the mountain with 56 flags hung up side by side and arranged in alphabetic order. The 56 flags depict the 50 states, one district, three territories and two commonwealths of the United States.

If ever come over South Dakota, do not forget to drop by the Black Hills to visit the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Furthermore, Presidents’ Day is coming soon – a public holiday, observed annually every third Monday of February, aiming at honoring US presidents’ achievements and invaluable contributions to the United States of America.

Sources: National Park Service / HISTORY/ Mount Rushmore National Memorial