February 12: A Movement Born, An Empire Ends, and A Dictator Tried

February 11: An Empire Founded, A Vision Received, and A Leader Freed When mythology became national identity, a peasant girl saw visions that created miracles, and a prisoner walked free to transform a nation February 11 connects three moments when the mythological, the miraculous, and the momentous converged—when Japan's founding legend established an imperial line claiming divine descent, when a young French girl's visions created one of Christianity's most important pilgrimage sites, and when Nelson Mandela's release from prison signaled that even the most entrenched systems of oppression could fall. These stories remind us that nations build identity on founding myths, that faith transforms ordinary places into sacred spaces, and that moral authority can triumph over decades of imprisonment. The Myth That Made a Nation According to Japanese tradition, on February 11, 660 BCE, Emperor Jimmu ascended to the throne, founding Japan and beginning an imperial dynasty that has continued unbroken to the present day. The legendary first emperor was said to be a direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu, establishing the divine origin of Japan's imperial line. Japanese mythology describes Jimmu's journey from Kyushu to the Yamato plain, conquering rivals and establishing his capital. No historical evidence confirms Jimmu's existence—the date was calculated in the 19th century based on ancient chronicles that blend history and mythology—but this matters less than what the legend represents. National Foundation Day, celebrated on February 11, commemorates this mythological founding and reinforces Japanese cultural identity centered on the imperial institution. The legend served particularly important purposes during Japan's modernization—the Meiji Restoration used divine imperial authority to justify radical reforms, while ultranationalists before World War II invoked it to claim Japanese superiority. After Japan's defeat, the American occupation considered abolishing the imperial system but ultimately retained it, recognizing its cultural significance. Today's emperors are ceremonial figures rather than divine rulers, but the unbroken imperial line remains central to Japanese identity. The legend commemorated on this day demonstrates that founding myths need not be historically true to be culturally powerful, that nations build identity through narratives that connect present to ancient past, and that the line between history and mythology matters less than the meaning people find in the story. Japan's founding legend, whether fact or fiction, created an institution that has endured for centuries and helped define what it means to be Japanese.   Japan's legendary first emperor establishes an imperial line claiming divine descent, creating a founding myth that defines national identity The Visions at Lourdes On February 11, 1858, 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, a poor, illiterate girl suffering from asthma and malnutrition, was gathering firewood near a grotto called Massabielle outside Lourdes, France. She reported seeing a vision of a "beautiful lady" in white with a blue sash and yellow roses on her feet. Over the next five months, Bernadette experienced eighteen apparitions. The lady identified herself in the local dialect as "Immaculada Councepciou"—the Immaculate Conception—and instructed Bernadette to drink from a spring, which she uncovered by digging in the grotto. The water from this spring would become famous for miraculous healings. Church authorities initially dismissed Bernadette's claims, but investigation revealed her sincerity, and reports of miraculous cures at the spring mounted. The Catholic Church formally recognized the apparitions in 1862, and Lourdes transformed from an obscure Pyrenean town into one of Christianity's most important pilgrimage sites, attracting over 6 million visitors annually. The Lourdes Medical Bureau has documented over 7,000 unexplained cures, recognizing 70 as scientifically inexplicable miracles. Bernadette became a nun, never profiting from her visions, and was canonized as Saint Bernadette in 1933. The visions that began on this day created a place where faith and healing intersect, where the desperate seek miracles and sometimes find them. Lourdes demonstrates that religious experience—whether divine revelation or sincere delusion—can transform places and lives, that pilgrimage remains powerful in secular ages, and that hope itself may be healing regardless of its source. The peasant girl who saw visions in a grotto created something that endures beyond her own understanding. A peasant girl sees visions of the Virgin Mary at a grotto, creating one of Christianity's most important pilgrimage sites ❦ Free at Last On February 11, 1990, at 4:16 PM, Nelson Mandela walked through the gates of Victor Verster Prison near Cape Town after 27 years of imprisonment for his opposition to South Africa's apartheid regime. He was 71 years old, his hair gray, but his spirit unbroken. Wearing a dark suit and raising his fist in the African National Congress salute, Mandela walked hand-in-hand with his wife Winnie before a crowd of thousands and a global television audience of millions. His release came after years of secret negotiations between the apartheid government and ANC leaders, with President F.W. de Klerk recognizing that maintaining white minority rule was unsustainable. Mandela's release marked apartheid's beginning of the end. Within four years, he would be elected South Africa's first Black president in the nation's first fully democratic elections. His prison years had transformed him from militant activist into international symbol of resistance to oppression—his imprisonment made him untouchable, his continued dignity and refusal to compromise his principles elevating him to moral authority that transcended politics. Mandela emerged from prison without bitterness, preaching reconciliation over revenge, establishing truth commissions rather than tribunals, and showing the world that even decades of systematic oppression could end peacefully if leaders chose humanity over hatred. The man who walked free on this day proved that moral authority can outlast any prison, that forgiveness is stronger than vengeance, and that sometimes the oppressed become the teachers of their oppressors. Mandela's release wasn't just one man's freedom—it was the beginning of a nation's redemption, proof that even the most entrenched systems of injustice can fall when enough people say "no more."   After 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela walks free, beginning the end of apartheid and proving moral authority outlasts any cell