Hard_Rom
Northumbrian Skald
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2014
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Victoria Day is a statutory holiday remembered informally as "the twenty-fourth of May,” or “May Two-Four.” Originally a celebration of Queen Victoria's birthday, the holiday now marks Queen Elizabeth II's birthday as well. Victoria Day was established as a holiday in the Province of Canada in 1845 and as a national holiday in 1901. It is observed on the first Monday before 25 May.
In 1841, the parliaments of Upper and Lower Canada were replaced by a single legislative assembly for the Province of Canada. The new assembly sought opportunities to create common ground between English and French Canadians that would transcend religious and cultural differences. A public holiday honouring the young Queen Victoria’s birthday, 24 May, was an idea that appealed to both English and French Canadians. At the time, loyalty to the Crown was a key cultural trait that distinguished Canadians from Americans and the monarch (the king or queen) was considered a guarantor of minority rights in the united province. In 1845, the legislative assembly of the Province of Canada declared the Queen’s birthday an official public holiday, transforming the monarch’s birthday from an exclusively military occasion to a civilian holiday.
In 1881, on Queen Victoria’s 62nd birthday, the festivities in London, Ontario, ended in tragedy. The riverboat Victoria carrying hundreds of people back to downtown London from celebrations at Springbank Park capsized, drowning at least 182 of its passengers. The steamboat was designed for a maximum capacity of 400, but was carrying 650 people. When passengers sighted a rowing club race near Cove Bridge, they gathered on the right side of the ship to watch. The weight capsized the ship and collapsed the top deck. The passengers who died, mostly women and children, drowned less than 10 m from the shore. The sinking is one of the worst marine disasters in Canadian history.
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/victoria-day/
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, 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. There is also a change in fashion: lighter-coloured summer clothing was traditionally worn from Victoria Day through until Labour Day.
The holiday is colloquially known in parts of Canada as May Two-Four; a double entendre that refers both to the date around which the holiday falls (May 24) and the Canadian slang for a case of twenty-four beers (a "two-four"), a drink popular during the long weekend.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Day#Practice
*funny how Wiki's article says 24 beers is a drink*
In 1841, the parliaments of Upper and Lower Canada were replaced by a single legislative assembly for the Province of Canada. The new assembly sought opportunities to create common ground between English and French Canadians that would transcend religious and cultural differences. A public holiday honouring the young Queen Victoria’s birthday, 24 May, was an idea that appealed to both English and French Canadians. At the time, loyalty to the Crown was a key cultural trait that distinguished Canadians from Americans and the monarch (the king or queen) was considered a guarantor of minority rights in the united province. In 1845, the legislative assembly of the Province of Canada declared the Queen’s birthday an official public holiday, transforming the monarch’s birthday from an exclusively military occasion to a civilian holiday.
In 1881, on Queen Victoria’s 62nd birthday, the festivities in London, Ontario, ended in tragedy. The riverboat Victoria carrying hundreds of people back to downtown London from celebrations at Springbank Park capsized, drowning at least 182 of its passengers. The steamboat was designed for a maximum capacity of 400, but was carrying 650 people. When passengers sighted a rowing club race near Cove Bridge, they gathered on the right side of the ship to watch. The weight capsized the ship and collapsed the top deck. The passengers who died, mostly women and children, drowned less than 10 m from the shore. The sinking is one of the worst marine disasters in Canadian history.
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/victoria-day/
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, 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. There is also a change in fashion: lighter-coloured summer clothing was traditionally worn from Victoria Day through until Labour Day.
The holiday is colloquially known in parts of Canada as May Two-Four; a double entendre that refers both to the date around which the holiday falls (May 24) and the Canadian slang for a case of twenty-four beers (a "two-four"), a drink popular during the long weekend.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Day#Practice
*funny how Wiki's article says 24 beers is a drink*
