Happy birthday Vicky!

Posted on May 16, 2008 by Cath@VWXYNot?
So how bizarre is this?

Monday is Victoria Day, a statutory holiday in Canada. I’d never heard of it before I moved here, and had no clue what it was all about. The capital of the province of British Columbia is called Victoria, so I asked a Canadian friend if each province celebrates its capital city, or something like that? She stared at me in astonishment and informed me that the holiday actually commemorates Queen Victoria’s birthday.

We don’t celebrate it in the UK.

Every Canadian I tell this to is astonished.

Ah well, it’s a good excuse for a long weekend*. There is one stat holiday per month from May through to January, so this is the start of something good! Unfortunately Mr E Man and I have to do some minor renovations to our basement suite this weekend before we can rent it out again.

Monday is looking good for this:

It’s a small price to pay for the first warm sunny weather of the year! Saturday might be a beach day!

Have a great weekend, whether it is a 2 or 3 day break.

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*Victoria Day is often known as May Long, as in May Long Weekend. I heard a great story from a friend’s brother who used to live in the States. He’d mentioned this holiday, and his American friend commented that it was wonderful that Canada was so progressive and celebrated exotic holidays from other cultures. Wondering what was so progressive about a former colony celebrating a British holiday, the Canadian asked his friend to explain. Turns out the American had misheard the holiday as Mae-Lhong or similar and thought it was Chinese…

About Cath@VWXYNot?

"one of the sillier science bloggers [...] I thought I should give a warning to the more staid members of the community." - Bob O'Hara, December 2010
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6 Responses to Happy birthday Vicky!

  1. ScienceGirl says:
    May 17, 2008 at 1:19 am

    It was a 3-day weekend in Ukraine last week, and it will be a 3-day weekend in the U.S. next week. I think people are onto something: May is a great time for 3-day weekends!

  2. stepwise girl says:
    May 17, 2008 at 7:39 am

    We had two in May (no more to come), and both with fantastic weather. Hope you get to enjoy it a bit!

  3. Mad Hatter says:
    May 19, 2008 at 4:48 am

    I’ve never understood why some countries with former ties to the UK keep British holidays or have the queen on their currency, while other countries don’t. Do you know?

  4. CAE says:
    May 20, 2008 at 2:15 pm

    Two days out of three were hot and sunny, and it rained yesterday, meaning we got lots done. A perfect long weekend!Mad Hatter, I have no idea why. It probably has something to do with length of time since independence and the warmth (or otherwise) of relations with the UK! When I first moved here someone asked me if I found it really strange that the Queen was on the currency, to which I replied, of course not, it’s completely normal! 😉

  5. KaEs | КаЭс says:
    May 21, 2008 at 9:40 pm

    It really looks like May is conducive to celebrations of all kinds and long weekends. There are two in Russia – one for the ex-Mayday, and the second for Victory in Europe Day.

  6. CAE says:
    May 21, 2008 at 11:13 pm

    The rites of Spring and all that! Any excuse for some time off when the weather changes!

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