After becoming a Theodorist State on the 31st May 2013, the Regional Dominion of Burnham has been far from inactive. As well as physical tasks, including the procurement of a physical flag and recovering various paraphernalia from the Dominion’s past (such as badge of the Defence Marshal, a position dating back to the regional Dominion’s predecessor, the St Peters Republic (SPR)), the Supreme Soviet Gorsedh held it’s first meeting since the “May ’13 Revolution”. Three Doges (including Basileus Justinian I) and the Gorsedh’s sole observer, President Leon Simpson of Libereco, turned out for the proceedings.
Despite being one year, eight months and twenty-four days old since the SPR’s inception, Burnham did not have a celebration for its day of foundation. This, quite humorously, stems from the fact that what with all the frenzied activity being undertaken in the SPR at the time, none of the original citizens actually remember quite when the nation was founded exactly. It was generally agreed that the nation was founded on the 20th September, and so it was recognised to be that date (the first time news was posted on the SPR’s now-dissolved website) upon which the nation was born. As such, on the Gorsedh meeting of the 12th June, ‘Founding Day’ was officially made a national Event Day for the 20th September of every year. This motion received 100% of the vote, a show of full support for Burnham’s new cultural direction.
The recognition of Founding Day has been crucial to establishing the Burnhamite national identity, however it was not the most prominent motion of that evening (7:50-8:18PM, GMT). Instead, that prominence belonged to the motion enabling Basileus Justinian I, Monarch of the Theodorist Regional Dominion of Burnham & its Lands (TRDB&L) to become the creator of all Burnhamite culture that does not affect the National Calendar. The exact motion was as follows:
“…motion that the Basileus of the Theodorist Regional Dominion of Burnham and its Lands (TRDB&L) have the right to research, work on and publish articles and conventions of cultural elements pertaining to the TRDB&L, providing that these articles and conventions do not have lasting effect on the National Calendar.”
This motion received a 66% majority vote, giving Basileus Justinian I the right to begin work on entrenching Burnham within its own set of traditions and cultural ways. The Vanguard Monarch of Burnham insists that evidence of his cultural work will be made public soon.
Overall, the evening of the 12th June was a massive success, with the cultural roots of Burnham laid down during the founding of the SPR finally coming to bear fruit, nearly two years on from that hallowed day, on the 20th September.
