In honour of the Victoria Day holiday this weekend, let’s take a look at some of the days that we ‘observe’ but haven’t made it to official public holiday status…yet. Some may seem odd but you’ve got to start somewhere
1. St. Valentine’s Day – we’ve been celebrating this one since Pope Gelasius I established the observance of Saint Valentine in 496 AD
2. St. Patrick’s Day – initially a religious observance of the patron saint of Ireland it has evolved into a reason to drink ‘green’ beer and party.
3. Mother’s Day – one of the earliest calls to celebrate Mother’s came in 1870 with printing of Mother’s Day Proclamation
4. Father’s Day – not as eagerly adopted as Mother’s Day, although observed as early as 1908, it took until 1966 for the first US Presidential proclamation of the celebration of Father’s
5. Halloween – derived from All Hallow’s Eve, it’s now the day to dress up to be whomever you want and eat lots of candy!
6. April Fools’ Day – A day to play tricks on friends, family and co-workers
7. Groundhog Day – Who sets the Groundhog’s alarm clock for him to emerge every Feb 2nd?
8. Cinco de Mayo – celebrating the Mexican Army’s victory over the French, this day is more observed outside of Mexico as more non-Mexicans celebrate (and drink beer) in Canada and the US.
9. Earth Day – The first Proclamation of Earth Day was in 1970 in San Francisco, the City of Saint Francis, patron saint of ecology.
10. Chinese/Lunar New Year – Celebrating the beginning of the new year in a number of cultures based on the lunar calendar.