America has July 4th. Mexico has Sept. 16th. Russia has June 12th. And so on.
When do countries that have existed for thousands of years – UK, France, the Netherlands, etc. – celebrate their own independence days?
I’m curious to see what sort of response this gets (Hi, I’m from Texas, and we get two Independence Days).
If Russia’s June 12 counts as independence day, then probably the national holidays of all countries do, since they all commemorate a revolt, victoriuos war, or unification of a national state, all of which ended a period of oppression and instability.
Independence from who or what?
For a long established monarchy it makes little to no sense. The nearest you get in France is Bastiile Day. Unless you count VE day. But if you do that it gets really messy, as you might need to count Remembrance Day, and so on.
England has never been independent (in the ‘free from the colonial masters’ sense - the colonialists are still in charge).
Scotland, on the other hand may be soon!
I dunno, I understand the Romans pulled up stakes a while back. England has changed hands a number of times. The closest analogue I have noticed to American Independence Day is Guy Fawkes Day, which is more like “Someone tried to overthrow the government, and failed.” But then, I’ve never been to England, have only met a few English people, and so I’m hardly an expert.
The UK doesn’t really have one. The constituent nations have Saint’s Days, which are treated like national days, and (I think) in all the countries bar England, their respective Saint’s Day is a national holiday.
St. George’s Day however is not and its marking is kinda subdued as a) it’s got a connotation with thuggish hooliganism, and b) many English identify as British just as much.
Otherwise…Queen’s birthday? Not really. Guy Fawkes’ Night might count but it’s not really a patriotic expression and more an excuse to light things on fire.
The Netherlands has Liberation Day, the 5th of May, to mark the end of German occupation in WWII.
There’s really no equivalent of an Independence Day for the UK, we never had anyone to declare independence from. Usually it was us that people were declaring their independence from. Not that we’ve never been part of someone else’s empire, but Rome, the Norman Conquests and even the Glorious Revolution are just history and nothing to get drunk over (we don’t need an excuse for that).
We do like shooting fireworks and burning things to commemorate the foiling of Guido Fawkes plot to blow up Parliament, other than the Battle of Hastings the 5th of November 1605 is one of the most famous dates in English history; “Remember remember, the 5th of November, gunpowder treason and plot…” Incidentally, check out his signature before and after ‘interrogation’.
As mentioned St. George’s is our national saint, but few people really give a toss about his day (23rd of April), it’s definitely not in the same league as St. Patrick’s Day is in Dublin or the Irish diaspora.
In some ways, the British equivalent to Bastiile Day is Trooping the Colour, in that it involves a big military parade through the capital. But it’s not a public holiday (it’s always on a Saturday) and there are no nationwide celebrations.
In contrast, the Dutch equivalent, Koningsdag, is a public holiday and is marked by widespread public celebrations.
The UK has the eccentric custom that its public holidays are mostly just days when the weather might be good but avoiding the period when the schools are closed for the summer. In other words, when everyone can appreciate the day off from work or school. Crazy, I know!
In the sense of a National Day, there isn’t one. We don’t feel the need for such things.
I remember there being high-level discussions about it during Gordon Brown’s premiership as a means of whipping up national unity (I think there were concerns of Anglo-Scottish hostility which is overblown), and there was discussing a national British holiday.
But they couldn’t agree on a) what day, or b) what ‘British’ is.
Yes you did.
BUT
- They were only Normans , not Huns
- They were saving you from the vikings (Norway in fact tried to invade before the Normans, but well I suppose there might have been further attempts…)
- They faded away , so there’s no anniversary of their passing.
France reclaimed Normandy, so the Normans were in exile, and assimilated to be British.
That is a day that the English stopped paying tax to fund someone else’s war ??
What. First point is irrelevant, second point is wrong as the Vikings under King of Norway Harold Hardrada had been decisively defeated before Hastings in the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Third point is also wrong, they didn’t fade away or pass, they assimilated into a culture that is recognisably British just as the Anglo-Saxons before became culturally distinct from their Germanic forebears. So it would be historically inaccurate to celebrate an ‘independence’ from the Normans as they integrated into and influenced British culture as it exists today.
Dunno what the tax point has to do with anything.
Which is ironic, because that’s* what ‘British’ is.
*well, part of it, anyway.
There seems to be frequent discussion around the fact that we need more bank holidays, and someone always pipes up that April 23rd should be a national holiday because a) St George and b) Shakespeare’s birthday (supposedly).
Except 1) That date is only of national interest to England, not the UK as a whole and 2) April 23rd is sandwiched between Easter and the May bank holiday, precisely the time when we don’t need another day off.
I’d say ‘5th November/Bonfire Night/Guy Fawkes Night’ is the closest we get, as a day which most people are happy to celebrate and without religious connotations (anymore, anyway). It’s the only national celebration Cromwell didn’t try to ban (unlike Christmas). We don’t get a day off for it though.
I think this is probably the closest anyone is going to get - Guy Fawkes’ Night (aka ‘Bonfire Night’) has many of the same superficial features of celebration as US Independence Day.
I can’t help thinking that if we did have an Independence Day here, it would probably be marked as a more sober celebration (than Bonfire Night) - as per D Day / VE Day.
One option would be to celebrate all the national Saint’s Days, thus getting round the “England only” problem of St George’s Day. But that still leaves you with a) three crammed in to 6 weeks and b) having to cut other holidays to make up for it.
In terms of historic events to commemorate, it’s hard to pick something suitably resonant. VE Day could be made more of (I think it’s less soberly celebrated than ignored). 1066 is historic, but it might feel odd to celebrate “our” conquest. 1688 was unquestionably important, but it’s most relevant to England and Northern Ireland - and for the latter the surrounding events are somewhat contentious*.
A celebration of the Union might have worked until recently, but you’d be hard put to pick a specific date as it happened in distinct steps.
Basically, what it comes down to is that their isn’t a mythos of what it is to be British in the same way that there is to be American or French. So a random fireworks night is as good as it gets.
*British understatement alert.
We tend to do our national several years apart instead of annually - royal jubilees and the like. The monarchy is a fairly uniting force 
What about a country like Afghanistan, which, during the history of its identity as a nation, has been forced to gain independence from the Mongols, the Persians, the British, the Russians, and, soon, the Americans. Which “Independence Day” would they celebrate?
There’s a pretty full list right here.