Non-US native English speakers: share your holidays with me.

In My Humble Opinion
1

You’re not tired of these threads yet, are you? Because school just started and I know I’ll have more questions.

If you are tired of them…sorry. Don’t read this thread.

I want to teach my students about Holidays Around The World, specifically in English-speaking countries. I’m an American, so I already know about American holidays. But I don’t know what the rest of y’all are up to. I’d prefer to know about civic, not religious, holidays. But I guess religious holidays could be okay, if you want to share country-specific information that maybe I don’t know. Actually, they don’t even have to be real holidays, just special cultural days that you might think are special or worth noting if someone was sharing information about your country.

Thanks!

2

How about some regional American holidays? Juneteenth is a holiday in some of the Southern United States.

3

Guy Fawkes Night is the obvious one for Britain, being a big excuse for making lots of things go bang.

St Georges day passes with little event, other than a few people complaining that we don’t do anything to celebrate it. St Patricks day, however, has become an excuse for anyone who ever had any family member visit Ireland to get rat-arsed. St Davids & St Andrews days in Wales and Scotland? Someone else can tell you.

4

Traditionally in Scotland New Year (often called Hogmanay) has been a bigger deal than Christmas. My mum and dad (in their late 60’s) can remember when it was quite common for people to work on Christmas morning if it fell on a weekday. The usual thing is to stay in the house until midnight and at the stroke of twelve (the Bells, as it’s known) to shake hands or kiss everyone present. The first person to call at your door is called the First Foot, and ideally should be tall and dark, and carrying a lump of coal. It’s still quite common, especially in smaller places, for everyone to wander round the neighbours and have a drink in each house. Obviously many people end up very drunk, resurfacing in the early afternoon for the traditional steak pie and more drink.

For a week or two afterwards, when meeting a friend for the first time that year, the handshake or kiss and new years greetings are exchanged. Unfortunately, Christmas has gained in popularity in recent decades. We still get an extra public holiday on the 2nd of January though. It’s needed…

5

I’m not really aware of anything much happening for St Andrews day (30th November).

At Halloween I notice that US-style trick-or-treat is quite prevalant now, but this is a modification of our tradition rather than an import. The tradition was to dress up in a costume (not necessarily spooky, pirates were popular when I was wee) and tour the houses. You were expected to sing a song or tell a joke, in return for sweets, apples or monkey-nuts. This is called guizing (guy-zin). I don’t know how widespread this is/was outside Scotland.

Not a holiday, but Burns night (January 25th) is celebrated, mainly in the form of a Burns Supper. The supper doesn’t have to be held on the day, often decamping to a nearby weekend. I’ve only been to a couple, but they’re pretty enjoyable, especially if the speakers are good. Apparently the best and funniest speakers in the country are elderly Church of Scotland Ministers, who are fond of a drink.

6

From Canada, nationally:

Thanksgiving. Usually the same day as the US Columbus Day (second Monday in October), but otherwise, pretty much like US Thanksgiving: turkey with all the trimmings, family getting together, and so on.

Victoria Day. A Monday close to the 24th of May, Queen Victoria’s Birthday. Why celebrate her birthday? Because it was during her reign, and with her permission, that Canada became its own country in 1867. Traditionally regarded as the start of summer, celebrated with fireworks, and a day off. (And, if the TV commercials for beer are to be believed, plenty of beer. This is true enough, but I don’t know if you want to share that part with your class.)

Canada Day, July 1. Canada’s birthday. More fireworks; another day off. Much like the Fourth of July really.

Most provinces also have:

August Long Weekend. This is the generic name; it goes by “Civic Holiday” in Ontario, and “Heritage Day” in Alberta, but everybody knows what August Long Weekend means: the first Monday in August off, creating a long weekend. No real reason for it; it’s just a nice long summer weekend.

And the province of Alberta also has:

Family Day. A Monday in February. This creates a long weekend that breaks up the winter. I’m not sure why it was created, but I’m glad it was. When I lived in Ontario, there were no holidays at all between New Years and Easter. Now that I live in Alberta, Family Day breaks up that stretch.

7

BTW, in British English, “holiday” means what you would call a “vacation”, in addition to the meaning you have for it.

8

The first Tuesday in November is a holiday here in Melbourne…for a horse race. :wink:

Cup Day.

Probably the most important nationally though is ANZAC Day.

9

In addition to what Spoons indicated:

Though not a “holiday” Remembrance Day on November 11 commemorates the sacrifice of veterans. Commemorative events occur at cenotaphs across the country at 11 a.m., and the one from Ottawa is broadcast live nationally. The timing of course is tied to the time of the armistice that ended WWI. In some provinces, but not all, it is an observed day with most businesses closing (sometimes excepting retail). In others, such as Ontario, as near as I can tell, most businesses remain open.

Also, **Boxing Day **, on December 26, is another legacy of our days as part of the Empire. It seems to have now become Boxing Day in the sense of people carrying boxes and bags home from the mall.

Oh, and in Saskatchewan the August long weekend is Saskatchewan Day. Or, as Spoons said aka “the August long weekend”.

10

Australia:
Australia Day: Jan 26. Commemorates the formal possession by the English in 1788. It is promoted by the government, but is also controversial (regarding Aboriginal issues), and most of us treat it as nothing more than a long weekend.

Anzac Day: This is the one that is the de facto Australian national day. It commemorates a military defeat in WWI, and is seen by many as the true birth of our nation - or more to the point, the time when our nation reached adulthood. It’s all tied in with moving away from “Mother England” having been on the arse end of some bad British military decisions and treated as cannon fodder. We share this day with New Zealand.

Queen’s Birthday, Labour Day, etc: Just long weekends of bbq and beer, and most people don’t give the meanings a second thought.

11

There is no August Long Weekend in Québec - we have a holiday on the 24th of June for Québec’s national holiday, also known as Saint Jean Baptiste day, or “La Saint Jean”. For the most part, it’s just another summer holiday weekend, but it does also have a political connotation that occasionally raises its head, as does Canada Day. Makes for an interesting double weekend of festivities.

12

We too get Boxing Day on 26 December for much the same historical reasons. For us it seems to have become one of:

  • post Christmas sales; or
  • simple extension of the post Christmas summer torpor; or
  • going to the cinema for the new releases and to find somewhere air-conditioned to escape the heat.
13

Well, I did say “most,” after all. :slight_smile: Thanks for adding St. Jean Baptiste Day! (And thanks also to PastAllReason for the ones I missed.)

Kyla, perhaps your class would also like to know the holidays/celebrations we share with the United States, whether they are an official holiday or not:

January 1: New Years Day (official holiday)
February 14: Valentine’s Day
Easter (Good Friday is an official holiday; some employers, mostly government and its agencies, also give Easter Monday off)
Mother’s Day, same Sunday in May as the US
Father’s Day, same Sunday in June as the US
October 31: Hallowe’en
December 25: Christmas Day (official holiday)

I’m tempted to include Super Bowl Sunday–certainly enough Canadians (myself included) are glued to the TV that day, watching the game. :smiley:

14

Canada also has Labour Day (1st Monday in September) - not to be confused with Labor Day in the U.S. :smiley:

15

Thanks, everyone! Some of these holidays I know about, but weren’t positive about exactly when they were. I’m gonna have to print this thread out for future reference.

As for Canada Day…no can do. It’s your own fault for having it during summer vacation.

16

Most importantly, Labour day in NSW is the first Monday in October i.e. it’s this coming Monday. :slight_smile:

17

Here in New Zealand we have:
Jan 1st and 2nd
Feb 6th, Waitangi Day. Celebrates the signing of a Treaty between the English and the Maori, giving Maori protection under English law. Of course things fell apart a few years later resulting in wars. For most of us just a day off, but various groups get wound up and talkback radio goes more crackers than usual :rolleyes:
Easter Friday and Easter Monday. Nothing special for most of us, last chance to have a holiday before winter.
25th April, ANZAC day, same as the Aussies. We use it to commemorate our veterans and war dead. It’s not taken lightly by a fair number of us.
1st Monday in June = Queens Birthday, just a day off, some ski fields try to open this weekend.
4th Monday in October = Labour Day, first long weekend after winter, so there’s a rush to visit somewhere.
Christmas Day
Boxing Day, just a day off, nothing special.
Every region has it’s own holiday too.
If a holiday falls in a weekend, it’s pushed to the next Monday, except Waitangi and ANZAC.

18

From the Netherlands:

**Queen’s Day ** is April 30 just now. It is supposed to be a celebration of the birthday of the Queen, but it isn’t, it is the birthday of the Queen Mother. When the present Queen came in she left it in April. I am given to understand that this may have had to do with the fact that the present Queen’s birthday is in January, which does not offer the same lovely weather as the present Queen’s Day. The future King’s birtday is also in April so he will probably change it when he becomes King (at which point it will be King’s day).

The third Tuesday in September is Prince’s Day when the Queen outlines the government’s plans for the eyar ahead and gives a sort of State of the Nation speech. This is not a holiday (everybody has to work) but it is a celebration, with parades and many horse drawn coaches and so on. Then the MP’s gather for the ceremonial handing over of the budget (in a ceremonial briefcase no less). It used to be the official opening of Parliament for the year but it isn’t that any more.

**Carnaval ** is celebrated in the south but not in the north. Parades, costumes, much drinking and stagger- er, dancing. Prince Carnaval is elected and holds court throughout. There is usually a seperate children’s Carnaval which takes place mostly during the day. Technically I suppose this is religious as it has to do with Lent but th religious influence is nowhere to be found.

St. Nicholas is of course enormous down here, Santa hasn’t made a lot of inroads in this part of the Netherlands. It’s about 3 weeks long (mid November he leaves Spain on a steamboat to come here and rides into town on his white horse until December 6 when he goes home to Spain with all the bad children of Holland tied up in a sack) and is a great time to be a little kid.

Christmas is celebrated over 2 days, first and second christmas day, but consists of not much other than going to church if you are a church going kind of guy. Celebrating Christmas instead of Sinterklaas is considered, well, German around here.

New Year is huge and is really the family-and-friends-to-dinner part of what i associate with Christmas.

Rememberance of the Dead is May 4 and is the rough equivalent of Memorial Day. May 5 is Liberation Day – it’s celebrated every year but is officially a holiday only once every 5 years. Which I think has do do with making a long weekend in combination with rememberance of the dead.

The rest of the holidays which are uniquely Dutch or have nifty traditions or celebrations are also religious in nature – Pentecost, Martinmas, Easter.

19

A rather unique Canadian holiday is Regatta Day, held in St. John’s, the capital of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. An official civic holiday, with workers getting the day off, it is tentatively scheduled for the first Wednesday in August, but will be moved if the weather isn’t suitable for the boat race. It may be the only official holiday where the date is dependant on the weather :slight_smile: .

20

Adding to the above excellent posts about Canadian holidays, I shall add Aboriginal Day, celebrated in the NWT. More here: http://www.gov.nt.ca/MAA/aboriginal_day.htm