Does your state have "Admission Day"?

Factual Questions
1

Here in California there is the possibility of Cesar Chavez’s birthday being made into a holiday. I said to my husband "They should do that and replace “Admission Day” since that’s such a dumb idea for a holiday. It strikes me as dumb to celebrate the day the state was signed into the US because:

  1. so what if it wasn’t?
  2. I don’t think hardly anyone knows about it (I lived here for 5 years before I showed up at the library one day and couldn’t get in because it was “admission day”)
    and 3) As far as I know, (although, I admittedly haven’t given it much thought) I don’t think any other state celebrates this.

Do you have a similar holiday in your state, and if you live in California, do you know about this holiday? Do you get it off work? Do you have a turkey? Hide eggs? Do you think it’s as bogus as I do?

Dolce Far Niente

2

AFAIK, there is no such day here in GA.

Jeffery

3

Actually, in a a way, people in Georgia (and 12 other states) do have a day which celebrates the day they became part of the United States. I think it’s in July.

4

Oh, yeah…my point #4 should be that Independance day pretty much covers that sort of thing.

Dolce Far Niente

5

Why should it need replace admission day if neither “holiday” is more than simple recognition? The only time that would come into play is if state employees got a paid day off work. Last time I checked no one got February 14 off in Arizona.

6

Massachusetts has Patriots Day–the third (?) Monday in April to commemorate (I think) the battle at Lexington. The battle is recreated at dawn and then there’s a big pancake breakfast. The Red Sox play at 11:00 a.m. (the only major league game every season to start in the a.m.) and the Boston Marathon is run at noon (the wheelchair contestants start at 11:00, I think). If you go to the Sox game and get lucky, the game is out around 2:00 and you get to see the first runners come through Kenmore Square (home of the Citgo sign you can see over the Green Monster in Fenway). Pretty much the entire route of the marathon is crazy–thousands and thousands of people cheering on the runners. Patriots Day kicks ass, at least in the greater Boston area–I don’t know about the rest of the state.

7

As far as I know, there is no such observance in the great state of, er… Washington DC.

8

Lessee, March 1, 1803. Hmmm, it seems to be called, “Statehood Day,” but there are no official observances. Banks, gov’t offices, schools, libraries, all open for business as usual. Ooookayyy then, whatever.

9

“Admission Day” isn’t observed by many levels of government in California. I’ve been a government worker in California for over 10 years and I’ve never gotten the day off.
I think banks stay open. Possibly, state workers get the day off.
Most employee unions traded Admission Day off for either Columbus Day or the day after Thanksgiving.

10

Wasn’t what?

This is the first I’ve heard of it. When is it?

11

I have to agree with the previous poster. NOTHING is better than Fenway park on Patriot’s day.

Truth does not change because it is, or is not, beleived by a majority of the people.
-Giordano Bruno

12

[q]

                    quote:

                    Originally posted by voguevixen:
                    1) so what if it wasn't?
               Wasn't what?

                    quote:

                    and if you live in California, do you know about this holiday?
               This is the first I've heard of it. When is it?[/q]

I meant “so what” if it wasn’t admitted to the union. It would be it’s own country or something and have totally different holidays, I assume. I’m not sure when it is but I’m thinking it’s in September because when I saw the sign on the library I assumed it had something to do with back-to-school. (Y’know, admissions?)

Padeye: I don’t think of a holiday honoring Cesar Chavez to be the equivilent of one simply commemorating a piece of paperwork. It would mean a lot to the Hispanic community and I’m sure it would be well celebrated, much like Cinqo de Mayo or St. Patricks day for the Irish-Americans. The issue here is not “which is the more worthy holiday.” The issue is “what states have a holiday commemorating the date of their statehood and why?” Thanks for the info so far, it’s actually pretty interesting.

Dolce Far Niente

13

Just checked. The sdmission of California to the Union was on September 9, 1850.

I had forgotten about the day as a holiday since K-12. Seem to recall that was a public school holiday, either adjacent to or during “teacher institute”, whatever that was.

I believe whoever get a day off “for” it does so on a nearby day adjacent to a weekend.

vv:

[quote]
. . .the day the state was signed into the US because:

  1. so what if it wasn’t?

So what if the US didn’t win its Revolutionary War? . . .no firecrackers. No firecrackers anyhow in CA.US, because of fire danger, etc.

So what if the state had floated off out to sea, like some think it’s going to or should?

So what if it were part of Oregon?

So what if we celebrated its secession from Mexico in 1849 instead?

So what if we celebrate a date to eject SoCal from it?

  1. I don’t think hardly anyone knows about it . . .

Who would know about César Chávez next century if we didn’t have a holiday in his honor?

Who might’ve forgotten when such holiday was also/instead.

^^^^^

Would CCh’s birthday become a holiday because Latinos are jealous of MLKJr.'s Day? Or would we be celebrating a second Labor Day (which is on about the same date)? We already “celebrate” Cinco de Mayo, even though it’s no big deal in México. It’s really in honor and interest of all local merchants. How 'bout we have an Eiríkr Þorvaldsson (a.k.a Eric the Red) Day in honor of the Caucasian race. . .or maybe, particularly in CA.US, Gen. John Frémont. The latter was kind of raw also, I understand. Or a Fr. Junípero Serra Day, who seems to’ve been a little questionable also.

But why don’t we have some more interesting days, such as the days the last grizzly bear was killed in California, or the day of the 1906 earthquake. Or the day Pedro González finally avoided the Border Patrol, on his 22nd try, and made it up to Santa Rosa. Or the day when Leland Jefferson McElroy thought he had caught a coelacanth in S. F. Bay, but it turned out to be a product of an Emeryville artist. Oh, and I almost forgot, the Day Hardware Will Rise Again! (Crusoe doesn’t count; that’s only firmware.)

So how many holidays can we have at any one time anyhow? Don’t some companies let you celebrate your own birthday? Maybe we should have a different set of holidays every year throughout each decade. You know, Christmas one year, Hanukkah the next, Ramadan the third, then Kwanzaa. . .up to ten.

Ray (I ain’t admittin’ nothin’ and long live Sadie Hawkins Day.)

14

Here in Alaska, we have not just one admission day, we have two! Alaska Day, on October 18, celebrates the anniversary of the formal transfer of the Territory and the raising of the U.S. flag at Sitka in 1867. Seward’s Day is the last Monday in March, and commemorates the signing of the treaty by which the United States bought Alaska from Russia.

TT

“Believe those who seek the truth.
Doubt those who find it.” --Andre Gide

15

Admission Day usually falls on the week before the beginning of the traditional school year. Outside of teachers and students at year-round schools (like me) few people are even aware that it is an observed holiday. It isn’t one of those holidays that are observed on the nearest Monday, either, so 2 out of every 7 or so years there isn’t even a day off.

16

Having grown up in CA, I remember Admission Day with fondness, and mourn its slow passage into the scrap heap of failing holidays. When I was a kid, the first week of school was a really fun week, because it started on a Tuesday (after Labor Day on Monday) and usually was interrupted by Admission Day on the 9th, often turning it into a three-day week.

I will offer a very good reason to celebrate the day as a holiday: learning history. All to often, our history lessons never get past the American Revolution and the Civil War when talking about our own history. Often, you can ask people in a state about the history of that state, and they won’t have a clue how the state came to be, when it became a state, and what happened in the state thereafter. Admission Day always prompted some discussion of these things when I was a kid.

As for Cesar Chavez, well, let it just be said that he is no Martin Luther King. The continued political pandering to the hispanic community, while predictable, is offensive whenever it attempts to draw parallels between the lot of hispanics and the lot of the former slaves.

17

In my home state of Colorado, August 1st is Colorado Day. It does celebrate the admission of Colorado on 8/1/1876. IIRC, state offices are closed and so are banks. It was a moot holiday for schools, since it’s in the summer.

Interesting sidenote: Colorado was admitted 3 months before a presidential election. To save money, instead of holding an election, the legislature just appointed 3 electors, who voted Republican (Hayes).

There was much ado about election fraud that year. The loser won the popular vote (of the states that voted), but Hayes won by 1 electoral vote. And what put him over the halfway mark were electoral votes not backed by a state election!

Read all about it here.

Judges 14:9 - So [Samson] scraped the honey into his hands and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it; but he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey out of the body of the lion.

18

In addition to all federal holidays, the State of Texas observes the following state holidays:

Jan 19 Confederate Heroes Day (in honor of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and other Confederate heroes)
Mar 2 Texas Independence Day
Apr 21 San Jacinto Day
Jun 19 Emancipation Day (in honor of the emancipation of the slaves in Texas in 1865)
Aug 27 LBJ Day

As far as I know, these are observed with state office closings, but not school, city, or county office closings. The only exception that I can remember is San Jacinto Day, 1986 (the Texas Sesquicentennial year). That year, my state university closed for that day.

Brady Bunch Quote Of The Week:

“Oh, Mom, not glasses. I’ll look positively goofy!” – Jan

19

I think it’s called “Statehood Day” here in Nebraska, 1 March (1867).
Random: What makes you think 4 July (1776) was the admission date for the 13 colonies? The new series of quarters (based on order of admission to the Union) should give you reason to pause on that one. The first state admitted was Deleware in 1788, and I’ll bet it wasn’t on the Fourth of July.

My life was saved by rock and roll. --Lou Reed

20

Oops!

I meant to include a comment about how it seems that Texas would rather celebrate its uniqueness as an independent country than its admission into the US. Most of us probably don’t even know the date Texas was admitted into the Union. December something or other, 1845. There was no year-long statehood sesquicentennial celebration in 1995 like there was for Texas Independence in 1986.

Brady Bunch Quote Of The Week:

“Oh, Mom, not glasses. I’ll look positively goofy!” – Jan