Victoria Day. A day to honour Queen Victoria, who ruled Great Britain and Ireland for most of the 19th century. It was officially declared a Canadian holiday in 1901 — the year of Queen Victoria’s death. But is it time for a change?
Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash
Hear me out!
Most people celebrate the ‘May 2-4’ as a party weekend. It’s the unofficial kick-off to summer! Not exactly what a queen known for ‘purity’ and ‘morality’ would appreciate.
I don’t want to get rid of the long weekend though. I just think it’s time to adjust.
We could go out of our way to create an entirely new day that’s Canada specific but not look at a holiday that’s already in May: Eid al-Fitr.
I am not religious so I am looking at this as a totally secular version for me and those like me, but it also means our Muslim friends don’t have to take the day off work or school to celebrate.
This is not an original idea. In Russia, Eid al-Fitr is often known as Uraza Bayram. There are a bunch of delicious sounding traditional foods like Tatarstan pancakes that we could be chowing down on. Just like non Christians celebrate Christmas, you could skip mosque but still drop by to visit older relatives. (The rule of thumb is that the more senior you are, the less you have to travel.) Great excuse for a cuppa and a catch up.
In Turkey, it’s Şeker Bayramı, or the Feast of Sweets. Kids go door to door collecting chocolate & candy – yes, like Halloween. You know your kids would love it.
Even here in North American, beginning in 2016, New York City public schools are closed on Eid!
This is not a crazy idea.
The big problem with Eid is that it isn’t on a set day. Eid al-Fitr 2021 began in the evening of May 12th and ended in the evening of May 13th but for 2022 it’s Tuesday, May 3. And the two following years, it’s in April! That’s because, while the date of Eid al-Fitr is always the same in the Islamic calendar, the date in the Gregorian calendar means it happens about 11 days earlier each successive year. But, hey, Queen Victoria’s birthday was on May 24th but we seem more than willing to move that date around.
The other slightly more obvious problem is that not everyone wants their holiday appropriated. So, maybe it wouldn’t work for a long weekend. But Eid should still be a stat holiday! And we can just keep the May Long weekend but make it in honour of a Canadian who actually did something great for our country.
Victoria is known as the Mother of Confederation but what did she do really? Victoria gave royal assent to the 1840 Act of Union, uniting Upper Canada and Lower Canada for the first time. She also signed the 1867 British North America Act, now known as the Constitution Act.
She signed the paperwork that made Canada legit and let us grab more independence…from her. And now we rent a cottage in her honour and have given the weekend a booze related nickname.
It’s time for a change! Who’s with me?
