To non-Americans - do you have a national holiday?

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  • lawlorka
    lawlorka Posts: 484 Member
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    Here in Ireland we have St. Patrick's day - but you probably already knew that, lol. We also have Easter Sunday as well to an extent (in commemoration of the rising). Things get SUPER patriotic on both those days. Of course there's the obligatory bountiful amounts of alcohol on St. Patrick's. Easter is a lot more solemn.

    I would say St.Patricks Day, because its a national holiday, and it does celebrate being Irish rather than anything religious.

    I must say I've never noticed any increase in patriotism around Easter. The only time I've ever noticed anything for the Easter Rising is on a big anniversary - probably because we actually lost, so not much to celebrate!
  • JenniferAutumn
    JenniferAutumn Posts: 228 Member
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    @ tristan299


    238 actually :tongue:
  • tristan299
    tristan299 Posts: 2,537 Member
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    Get over it it was over 300 years ago but I suppose it was the only war you have won. lol. Only kidding have a great day and Happy 4th of June, sorry July. :wink:

    238 actually :tongue:

    Not a bad guess from someone who is not bothered
  • mllev87
    mllev87 Posts: 8 Member
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    In Finland, our Independence Day is December 6th. Not a lot of barbequeing going on because it's usually pretty cold, but it is a national holiday and many people eat a nice big dinner with family, I believe.
  • Lalo_Nyc
    Lalo_Nyc Posts: 20 Member
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    There are plenty of national holidays to go around.

    Here is a link:

    http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/

    Happy 4th :drinker:
  • JenniferAutumn
    JenniferAutumn Posts: 228 Member
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    .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_holidays_by_country
  • BernadetteChurch
    BernadetteChurch Posts: 2,210 Member
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    Well we get the last Monday in August off just as a public holiday in the UK, not sure why that is though. It's the last public holiday before Christmas. I'd like one in October to break it up a bit.

    Hello? There's another one coming up at the end of August!
  • killervogel5
    killervogel5 Posts: 24 Member
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    Get over it it was over 300 years ago but I suppose it was the only war you have won. lol. Only kidding have a great day and Happy 4th of June, sorry July. :wink:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States

    Victory. 'Murica.
  • jonnyman41
    jonnyman41 Posts: 1,032 Member
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    England has St Georges day 23rd April as its national day but it is not a public holiday boo Many people do celebrate it though. We do have 8 public holidays a year though when a lot of workers are off work and these include May day (yes I day to celebrate May!) Spring bank hol (no idea why) Last Monday in Aug (again no idea why) Good FRiday and EAster Monday plus boxing day at Christmas as well as Christmas day and new years day so we get plenty
  • Deipneus
    Deipneus Posts: 1,862 Member
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    Republic Day in the Philippines (1946)
  • HeidiGrrrl
    HeidiGrrrl Posts: 81 Member
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    The Norwegians just celebrated Syttende Mai on May 17th. That's their independence day from Sweden, and Sweden celebrated its independence day (flag day) on June 6th. It's called Svenska flaggans dag, or Swedish Flag Day, but is a public holiday, and not celebrated with huge events.
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
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    Does 23rd April, St George's day in England count? Don't think it's a national holiday there, but it is for me, I always buy my single rose on that day.

    Ha ha!

    That Turkish/greek/roman saint who never set foot on English soil...
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    in England there's St George's Day

    that reminds me of a hilarious text message I got from the mobile phone company while living in Saudi on St George's day one year.... "Happy National Day to all our customers from the Republic of the United Kingdom"

    :laugh: well at least they tried...

    still not sure how a country can simultaneously be a republic and a kingdom

    and I bet any Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish people were a tad annoyed at them not knowing the difference between England and UK
  • gadoal
    gadoal Posts: 9 Member
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    I am Swiss and we have August 1st, celebrating August 1st 1291 when first time Swiss citizens kicked in the *kitten* the Emperor and agreed to defend each other from him. We have fireworks and "Hoehenfeuer" (huge wooden pire which is started during night over the Swiss Alps).
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    Does 23rd April, St George's day in England count? Don't think it's a national holiday there, but it is for me, I always buy my single rose on that day.

    Ha ha!

    That Turkish/greek/roman saint who never set foot on English soil...

    I thought he was Palestinian........ and he was famed to have slain a dragon (which is impossible)....

    maybe he killed a big lizard?

    But I'm English and, just like St Judas is the saint of lost causes (that's the other Judas, the one who didn't betray Jesus, who was a good guy but no-one remembers him, only his treacherous namesake), I think a non-English saint who couldn't have done what he was reputed to have done is kind of fitting. Especially in light of out recent world cup performance. I'm sure they could kill big lizards even though they couldn't beat any of the other teams.

    I'm looking forward to the cricket season so I can lounge around on a Sunday afternoon, drinking tea, and watching my national team get trashed by all the former colonies.
  • Hell_Flower
    Hell_Flower Posts: 348 Member
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    Guy Fawkes Day I expect for the Brits, although they are all a bit different.

    It's a day they celebrate an historical event but it's not a public holiday, more like Halloween or Valentine's Day.

    And it's Guy Fawkes Night, not day.

    Good luck trying to see fireworks in the daytime.

    And in terms of national holidays in the UK - not so much. Generally just national, random days off work where we all go to the park (if it's not raining) with a disposable BBQ, bottle of prosecco and burn.

    In Scotland, we get the 2nd January off too. Which means this year that most office workers won't go back until 5th January, due to the weekend in between. I guess the Scottish can claim New Years Eve / Hogmanay as a national holiday, if we are hungover until the 5th! Party on, there aint no hangover like a Scottish hangover. It's the reason why Irn Bru was invented.
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
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    Does 23rd April, St George's day in England count? Don't think it's a national holiday there, but it is for me, I always buy my single rose on that day.

    Ha ha!

    That Turkish/greek/roman saint who never set foot on English soil...

    I thought he was Palestinian........ and he was famed to have slain a dragon (which is impossible)....

    maybe he killed a big lizard?

    But I'm English and, just like St Judas is the saint of lost causes (that's the other Judas, the one who didn't betray Jesus, who was a good guy but no-one remembers him, only his treacherous namesake), I think a non-English saint who couldn't have done what he was reputed to have done is kind of fitting. Especially in light of out recent world cup performance. I'm sure they could kill big lizards even though they couldn't beat any of the other teams.

    I'm looking forward to the cricket season so I can lounge around on a Sunday afternoon, drinking tea, and watching my national team get trashed by all the former colonies.

    Nobody's sure what he was, but he was in Roman controlled territory that is in modern day Turkey.

    He was said to have appeared to some English dudes on a battlefield once and they went on to kick some *kitten*. That made him quite popular, as you can imagine.

    Don't know where the whole dragon thing came from...
  • thesmallestpineapple
    thesmallestpineapple Posts: 21 Member
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    St Andrews day is the National Day in Scotland... it's officially a holiday but employers don't actually have to give their staff the day off in the same way as other bank holidays.

    It's not as big a deal as St Patricks in Ireland, but a pretty significant number do celebrate (including me, but mostly because it's my birthday!).
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    Does 23rd April, St George's day in England count? Don't think it's a national holiday there, but it is for me, I always buy my single rose on that day.

    Ha ha!

    That Turkish/greek/roman saint who never set foot on English soil...

    I thought he was Palestinian........ and he was famed to have slain a dragon (which is impossible)....

    maybe he killed a big lizard?

    But I'm English and, just like St Judas is the saint of lost causes (that's the other Judas, the one who didn't betray Jesus, who was a good guy but no-one remembers him, only his treacherous namesake), I think a non-English saint who couldn't have done what he was reputed to have done is kind of fitting. Especially in light of out recent world cup performance. I'm sure they could kill big lizards even though they couldn't beat any of the other teams.

    I'm looking forward to the cricket season so I can lounge around on a Sunday afternoon, drinking tea, and watching my national team get trashed by all the former colonies.

    Nobody's sure what he was, but he was in Roman controlled territory that is in modern day Turkey.

    He was said to have appeared to some English dudes on a battlefield once and they went on to kick some *kitten*. That made him quite popular, as you can imagine.

    Don't know where the whole dragon thing came from...

    Every school teacher I had in primary school told us that he slayed a dragon. Maybe the dragon myth comes from primary school teachers :laugh:

    probably it's a myth that grew each time it was retold on the way back from the crusades, and throughout mediaeval England. By the time it got into the public imagination, a vision followed by kicking some *kitten* probably had morphed into a heroic battle with a dragon or any number of other fanciful tales.

    ETA: I don't think it's that different to the American Tall Tales, like Paul Bunyan and similar... someone does something heroic and after several generations of retelling, they've morphed into a gigantic god like figure (I think many pagan gods originated in this way too)....... I don't think there's anything wrong with celebrating mythological figures, so long as people are being sensible about it and not taking it too literally.
  • treveneann
    treveneann Posts: 14 Member
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    I live in Trinidad and i do believe we have the most public holidays in the world. Its a beautiful place to live lol

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