Yurtyzstan celebrates Yurtpyitaw Day

Ice on the Chunjiain River, with
Chairman Hakimoto Bridge in the
background.

Yesterday, Yurtyzstanis marked the third anniversary of the establishment of the nation's capital.

This year, Yurtpyitaw Day was relatively quiet, with a few small gatherings of citizens taking place and a New Light of Yurtyzstan journalist visiting to take pictures. Chairman of the Presidium J.J. Hakimoto and Social Democratic Party leader Yurt Myaung-hye, among others, enjoyed a banquet at the Foreign Residence.

Old Yurtpyitaw.

A delegation also visited Old Yurtpyitaw, the original site of the city. The capital was moved 20 April 2012 to a more defensible location with the enactment of the Territorial Migration Act. The old site is now a national park; the trenches dug in Yurtyzstan's early conflict with a neighbouring state is a designated historical site.

Old Yurtpyitaw, with the trenches at
left.

Yurtpyitaw Day is celebrated on 23 February; in 2011, the first yurt was raised at the old location of Yurtpyitaw on this date. The groundbreaking of the capital brought a flurry of activity and economic development. As a result, Yurtpyitaw has since held an important place in Yurtyzstani culture and its maintenance has contributed to the nation's activity.

The snow-covered Chairman Hakimoto
Bridge, seen from the University
of Yurtpyitaw quadrangle.