Yeah, but you are missing the doosie.
The Friday Before Grand Final holiday.
Yep, the last working day before the AFL grand final (traditionally played on Saturday) is a public holiday in Victoria.
Switch the focus to the Superbowl, or the start of the World Series, or NBL play-offs and you have a rolled gold excuse for the nation to drink Bud and holler USA! USA! USA!.
Homo Interneticus Appreciation day.
The Ramadan is not a holiday.
No, it is not a holiday.
Eid El Fitr is a holiday, not the Ramadan.
It’s celebrated at the same time as Halloween though, so I don’t see it being adopted as a “next” holiday. I am a little surprised that we haven’t seen more integration between Halloween and DotD customs. It seems like the perfect occasion for a little melting pot action.
I’d be thrilled if people got excited about Election Day…
To nitpick back, my intel says the holiday actually lasts a couple of days, only starting on the 31st—an adding on, augmentation, or a (somewhat truncated) back-to-back observance (not unlike, say, Boxing Day), rather than outright supplanting Halloween, certainly seems like it’d be plausible. Y’know, if we’re done spitballing, and we’re going to formally deliver a proposal to the Secretary of Holidays.
Unless that is a whoosh, I think you mean Cesar Chavez.
Last Thursday
Ha ha! Laughing at myself because when I read that I didn’t even realize it said Che Guevara. I totally read it as Cesar Chavez.
The wife and I were fortunate to find ourselves in the town of Tansen, Nepal for Diwali one year. Or Deepavali I think they called it there, as some people do, but it’s the same festival. Very lovely. The town being on a mountain slope, seeing the little candles alight in the windows both above and below us was magical.
Holi though I can do without. If there’s anything in the world worse than the Thai water-throwing festival of Songkran, where you can’t even walk down the block without a bunch of bozos drenching you repeatedly, and heaven help you if you’re a clueless tourist carrying expensive camera equipment, then it could have to be the powder-throwing festival of Holi. No, thank you.
November 1st is All Saints’ Day on the Catholic calendar; November 2nd is All Souls’ Day. Halloween means All Hallows’ Eve–since many older traditions show special celebrations beginning at sundown of the previous day–like the Sabbath.
The Church created the holy days to co-opt old European (sometimes called “Celtic”) celebrations of the dead; let their souls visit but then let them go back to where they belonged. (They can be scary.) After conversion, various Mexican peoples attached their old practices to the handy holidays.
So–Catholic (& some other Christian) churches celebrate both days. And Mexican/other Hispanic/Mexican-American communities set out feasts & flowers for the dead.
Halloween evolved into a day for kiddies to scavenge for candy–and for adults to indulge in high-jinks. El Dia de Los Muertos also added features like the urban satirical art of José Guadalupe Posada. Now some Mexican kids celebrate El Dia de los Brujas (Halloween) & Posada’s sarcastic skeletons may be seen north of the Border.
These holidays have never needed official government recognition to thrive.
I have never heard of this before. And it turns out that’s because it’s only happened once so far.
But yes, apparently it’s officially a holiday. Utterly ridiculous.
Whingeing about the government is one of the major sports in the US, isn’t it?
I agree completely, for what it’s worth.
Holi has the best of both - water-throwing AND powder-throwing! It’s not the kind of festival you want to take a camera to, unless it’s waterproof and/or disposable. As a camera-toting tourist, though, I do appreciate your concern.
Diwali! Food! Family! Lamps! Fireworks! (I wish there was less of the stupid loud crackers in India, though, and Diwali pollution is unbelievable, so maybe we can ease off on the fireworks and focus on the other good stuff?)
Ah, that looks like fun! Also a lot more inclusive. Much more my idea of a good Holi. How did you keep the powder out of the camera?
A great photo appeared in the international press about 15 years ago. Taken in Kathmandu during Holi. A Japanese lady had fled in terror from powder-throwing hordes. She’d run straight into the arms of a policeman. The photo showed her cowering against him as she looked back over her shoulder, terror etched into every line of her face, eyes bugged out. Apparently she had been unaware of this holiday called Holi when she booked her trip.
All that powder can’t be good for you. And what about contact-lens wearers?
But do you get presents?
George Clinton, not Bill or Hillary.
If you have Holi, you should also have Bhang, especially considering it’s probably going to be legal near you soon.
Melon Day! Have a cantaloupe and take the day off.