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Victoria Day

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Revision as of 23:10, 17 May 2010 by Miesianiacal (talk | contribs) (But you can undo mine and others'? As you should already be aware: leave the status-quo and discuss your issues at talk to find consensus for change. Leaving odd cite needed tags)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) For other uses, see Victoria Day (disambiguation).
Victoria Day
A portrait in Ottawa City Hall of Queen Victoria, first sovereign of a confederated Canada
Official nameTemplate:Lang-en
Template:Lang-fr
Also calledMay Long Weekend, May Long, May Two-four, May Run
Observed byCanadians
TypeHistorical, Cultural, Nationalist
CelebrationsFireworks, parades
DateMonday on or before 24 May
2025 datedate missing (please add)
Related toReigning sovereign's birthday
Victoria Day 2005 fireworks display from Ontario Place, Toronto

Victoria Day (in French: Fête de la Reine), colloquially known as May Long Weekend, May Two-four, May Long, or May Run, is a federal Canadian statutory holiday celebrated on the last Monday before or on 24 May, in honour of both Queen Victoria's birthday and the current reigning Canadian sovereign's official birthday, and is also considered an informal mark of the beginning of the summer season. It has been observed since before Canada was formed, originally falling on the sovereign's actual birthday, and continues to be celebrated in various fashions across the country on the fixed date of the first Monday on or before 24 May. However, since the Quiet Revolution in Quebec, the same day was unofficially known in the province as Fête de Dollard until 2003, when provincial legislation officially named the same date as Victoria Day the National Patriots' Day.

History

King George VI in Ottawa, Ontario, on his official birthday, Victoria Day 1939
File:EIIR-VicDay.jpg
Queen Elizabeth II in Edmonton, Alberta, on her official birthday, Victoria Day 2005

The birthday of the monarch was a day for celebration in Canada long before Confederation, with the first legislation regarding the event being in 1845 passed by the parliament of the Province of Canada to officially recognize 24 May as the Queen's birthday. It was noted that on that date in 1854— the 35th birthday of Queen Victoria— some 5,000 residents of Canada West gathered in front of Government House (near present day King and Simcoe Streets in Toronto) to "give cheers to their queen," and on Victoria Day 1866, the town of Omemee, also in Canada West, mounted a day-long fête to mark the occasion, including a gun salute at midnight, pre-dawn serenades, picnics, athletic competitions, a display of illuminations, and a torch-light procession.

Following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, 24 May was by imperial decree made Empire Day throughout the British Empire, while, over the ensuing decades, the official date in Canada of the reigning sovereign's birthday changed through various royal proclamations: for Edward VII it continued by yearly proclamation to be observed on 24 May, but was 3 June for George V, 23 June for Edward VIII (their actual birthdays), and various days between 20 May and 14 June through George VI's reign as king of Canada. The first official birthday of Elizabeth II, whose actual birthday is 21 April, was the last to be celebrated in June; the haphazard format was abandoned in 1952, when the Governor-General-in-Council moved Empire Day to the Monday before 25 May, and Elizabeth's official birthday in Canada was by regular vice-regal proclamations made to fall on this same date every year between 1953 and 1957, when the link was made permanent. The following year, Empire Day was renamed Commonwealth Day, and in 1977 it was moved to the second Monday in March, leaving the Monday before 24 May solely as Victoria Day.

The reigning Canadian monarch has been in Canada for his or her official birthday twice: the first time being on 20 May 1939, when King George VI was on a coast-to-coast tour of Canada and his official birthday was celebrated with a Trooping the Colour ceremony on Parliament Hill. The second time was when Queen Elizabeth II was in Canada from 17 May to 25 May 2005, to mark the centennial of the entries of Saskatchewan and Alberta into Confederation; no events were organized to acknowledge this fact.

Victoria Day celebrations were marred by tragedy in 1881, when a passenger ferry named Victoria overturned in the Thames River, near London, Ontario. The boat departed in the evening with 600 to 800 people on board— three times the allowable passenger capacity— and capsized part way across the river, drowning some 182 individuals, including a large number of children who had been with their families for Victoria Day picnics at Springbank Park. The event came to be known as the Victoria Day disaster.

Practice

Official protocol dictates that on Victoria Day, the Royal Union Flag must be flown from sunrise to sunset at all federal buildings— including airports, military bases, and other Crown owned property across the country— where physical arrangements allow (i.e. where a second flag pole exists, as the Royal Union Flag can never displace the national flag). Several cities will hold a parade on the holiday, with the most prominent being that which has taken place since 1898 in the monarch's namesake city of Victoria, British Columbia. Other common celebrations include an evening fireworks show, such as that held at Ashbridge's Bay Beach in the east end of Toronto, and at Ontario Place, in the same city. As a federal holiday, Victoria Day remains a holiday in Quebec. However, in 2003, the province's legislative assembly passed legislation that dedicated the same day as National Patriots' Day, which commemorates the patriotes of the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837. This replaced the Fête de Dollard, which had been celebrated by Quebecers on Victoria Day since the 1960s, and which commemorated Adam Dollard des Ormeaux.

Across the country, Victoria Day serves as the unofficial marker of the end of the winter social season, and thus the beginning of the summer social calendar. Banff, Alberta's Sunshine Village ends its lengthy ski season on Victoria Day, and, likewise, it is during this long weekend that many summer businesses— such as parks, outdoor restaurants, bicycle rentals, city tour operators, etc.— will open. Victoria Day is also a mark of the beginning of the cottage season, the time when cottage owners may reverse the winterization of their property. Gardeners in Canada will similarly regard Victoria Day as the beginning of spring, as it falls at a time when one can be fairly certain that frost will not return until the next autumn.

The holiday is colloquially known as May Two-Four in parts of Eastern Canada; a double entendre that refers both to the date on which the holiday usually falls (24 May) and the Canadian slang for a case of 24 beers (a "two-four"), a drink popular during the long weekend. The holiday weekend may also be known as May Long or May Run, and the term Firecracker Day' was also employed in Ontario.

See also

References

  1. "Victoria Day 2010 Canada - Victoria Day 2010 Long Weekend in Canada". About.com. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
  2. ^ Department of Canadian Heritage. "Ceremonial and Canadian Symbols Promotion > Victoria Day > Sovereign's Birthday". Queen's Printer for Canada. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  3. Killbourn, William (1984). Toronto Remembered. Toronto: Soddart Publishing. p. 105. ISBN 978-0773720299.
  4. "Ontario Genealogy Historical Newspaper Reading Collection - Omemee > Omemee Victoria Day Celebrations - 1866". Ontario and Upper Canada Genealogy and History. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
  5. The Royal Household. "Her Majesty The Queen > Early life". Queen's Printer. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  6. Bousfield, Arthur (1989). Royal Spring: The Royal Tour of 1939 and the Queen Mother in Canada. Toronto: Dundurn Press. p. 30. ISBN 1-55002-065-X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  7. Department of Canadian Heritage. "Ceremonial and Canadian Symbols Promotion> Victoria Day> Observance in Canada of the Sovereign's Birthday". Queen's Printer for Canada. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  8. "The Victoria Day Disaster". London and Middlesex Historical Society. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
  9. "Arts and Culture > Festivals & Celebrations > Victoria Day". City of Victoria. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  10. "Giant Victoria Day Parade takes over Douglas St". Times Colonist. 21 May 2007. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
  11. Tong, Tracy (19 March 2008). "Victoria Day seen as family time". Metro. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
  12. "The Mountain > The Mountain Overview". Sunshine Village. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  13. Tynan, Jack (14 May 2003). "Step by step work guide for Victoria Day opening of cottage". North Star. Parry Sound: North Star Publishing. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
  14. Canadian Oxford Dictionary (2 ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. 2005. ISBN 978-0195418163.
  15. "CBC News > Indepth > Language > 5,000 new words". CBC. 26 July 2004. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  16. "May Long Weekend 2009 Closures". Access Winnipeg. Retrieved 21 May 2009.
  17. Redmond, John (19 May 2009). "Canadians Invite Community to Victoria Day BBQ". The Korea Times. Seoul: The Korea Times Co. Retrieved 21 May 2009.
  18. "Victoria Day in Canada". Time and Date AS. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  19. Wilcox, Ted (16 May 2008), "Firecracker Day", The Hamilton Spectator, retrieved 20 April 2010

External links

Public holidays in Canada
Nationwide statutory holidays
Statutory holidays for
federal employees
Indigenous holidays
Other common holidays
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