Day of the Vow

The Day of the Vow (Afrikaans: Geloftedag or Dingaansdag) is the name of a religious public holiday in South Africa until 1994, when it was renamed the Day of Reconciliation. The holiday is 16 December. Commemorating a famous Boer victory over the Dingane, the anniversary and its commemoration are intimately connected with various streams of Afrikaner nationalism.

Origin

The Day of the Vow traces its origin as an annual religious holiday to The Battle of Blood River on 16 December 1838. The besieged Voortrekkers took a public vow (or covenant) together before the battle, led by either Andries Pretorius or Sarel Cilliers, depending on whose version is correct. In return for God's help in obtaining victory, they promised to build a church and forever honour this day as a holy day of God. They vowed that they and their descendants would keep the day as a holy Sabbath. During the battle a group of about 470 Voortrekkers defeated a force of about ten thousand Zulu. Only three Voortrekkers were wounded, and some 3,000 Zulu warriors died in the battle.

Vow (disambiguation)

Vow or The Vow may refer to:

Books

Film and TV

Music

Songs

Acronyms

The Vow (song)

"The Vow" is the fourteenth and final UK single by the band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, and was released in November 1983.

The title track, and unusually for the band, its B-side, were taken from the fifth full-length Toyah studio album, Love Is the Law, which failed to match the success of its predecessors, and despite appearances on several television shows of the time, the single failed to reach the UK Top 40. The 12" single featured an additional non-album B-side, which appeared on the 2005 reissue of Love Is the Law, and the compilation album The Safari Singles Collection Part 2: 1981-1983, released the same year.

Track listing

7" Vinyl

Catalogue Number: SAFE 58

12" Vinyl

Catalogue Number: SAFE L58

Produced by Nick Tauber. Published by Sweet 'n' Sour Songs Ltd.

Both sides of all releases ran at 45RPM.

Personnel

Smith Commission

The Smith Commission was announced by Prime Minister David Cameron on 19 September 2014 in the wake of the 'No' vote in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. The establishment of the commission was part of the process of fulfilling 'The Vow' made by the leaders of the three main unionist parties during the last days of the referendum campaign. The Vow promised the devolution of more powers from the United Kingdom parliament to the Scottish parliament in the event of a No vote.

Following the No vote, Lord Smith of Kelvin was given the task to "convene cross-party talks and facilitate an inclusive engagement process across Scotland to produce, by 30 November 2014, Heads of Agreement with recommendations for further devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament". Ten representatives were nominated by the political parties with elected members in the Scottish Parliament; the Commission started its discussions on 22 October. Agreement was reached and the report published on 27 November 2014.