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

myfuture_22

we have australia day in australia. also wa day, which is celebrating this specific part of australia. lol.

jimmmer

A bit of a controversial day, as it was the day the English signed a treaty with the indigenous people, only to start breaking it a few decades later.

Those sneaky English *kitten*.

Definately sounds like something they would do...

paulperryman

yeah those nasty English *kitten* invaded Australia 26th Januray, 1788. and the day celebrate it's colonisation ignoring the natives

Anzac Day April 25th (which is the equivalent of memorial day) Celebrating the battle of Gallipoli the first military action by an Australian Army and our New Zealand counterparts

motivatedmartha

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

Spring Bank Holiday replaces Whit Monday which was a 'religious' holiday (Monday after Pentecost Sunday). Hence the school half term around that time was always called 'Whit week'

We don't really have a National Holiday - as someone said - we don't need them - we caused most of them!

BelliDancer

I think the closest one in South Africa would be Heritage Day, September 24. Wiki: "On this day, South Africans across the spectrum are encouraged to celebrate their culture and the diversity of their beliefs and traditions, in the wider context of a nation that belongs to all its people."

EmmaEVille13

As a German - we have something called "Tag der deutschen Einheit" which just means you have the day off from work but no one does anything as fancy as they do in the US for the 4th of July

I now live in the UK and my favourite national holiday is the 5th of November / Bonfire Night - massive bonfires and fireworks while you celebrate Guy Fawks who tried to blow up Parliament. Can't get any better in my opinion

animatorswearbras

We don't have any patriotic holidays here in England (which is fine by me lol) mostly just 8 public holidays, and 4 weeks holiday if you work full time, so 28 days statutory minimum time off.

Actually we have you Americans to thank for Mayday, although the day does have pagan routes we have it as a public holiday because it was fought for as an international workers holiday as part of the 8 hour day and safe working conditions movement. To me it represents a win for class struggle and human rights.

I am gutted that the US who instigated this movement are now being systematically stripped of work and holiday entitlements that your working class fought for in the late 19th century. xx A strategy our elite classes would desperately love to imitate.

socajam

Pretty sure most countries have a day.

A good lesson for your daughter, and you, would be to google and find the names of all the national holidays for all the countries.

Ignorance is bliss and it shows by the question.

I am with you on googling and educating oneself about the rest of the world.

paperalien

In New Zealand its Waitangi Day on the 6th February.

There is a list of them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Day#N

I thought Labour day was our national birthday.
Waitangi Day is the celebration of the cultures "merging" not the nations birthday..

Even Anzac day is more of a national day than Waitangi day.

Waitangi day is far too full of politics and hatred to be called a national holiday......

Personally I classify each cities anniversary as more of a nations holiday than Waitangi day, would be best if they were all the same date though lol

dancing_shoes_

We have Waitangi Day here in New Zealand on the 6th of February which is usually a time for people to take a holiday and relax. We also have fireworks on 5th of November every year to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day

WildBillR

Pretty sure most countries have a day.

A good lesson for your daughter, and you, would be to google and find the names of all the national holidays for all the countries.

Ignorance is bliss and it shows by the question.

I am with you on googling and educating oneself about the rest of the world.

Yes, I could have just googled it. Doing it this way seemed more personal, allowing others to talk about their national holiday(s), getting not only a partial history lesson, but also getting a sense of how normal people celebrate it. Seems to me that is an improvement over a list that google would probably have presented.

paperalien

We have Waitangi Day here in New Zealand on the 6th of February which is usually a time for people to take a holiday and relax. We also have fireworks on 5th of November every year to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day

Waitangi Day is not our national holiday!
It is a celebration of the attempted merger between cultures, the merging is kinda failing in my opinion .
We have so many other public holidays better suited as a national holiday for ALL New Zealanders

p8liwag

Cambodian New Year - starts on April 13 and ends on April 17.. yea we like to party :drinker:

shmerek

Even though I live in New Zealand my national holiday is Canada Day

Keepcalmanddontblink

Pretty sure most countries have a day.

A good lesson for your daughter, and you, would be to google and find the names of all the national holidays for all the countries.

Ignorance is bliss and it shows by the question.

I am with you on googling and educating oneself about the rest of the world.

Yes, I could have just googled it. Doing it this way seemed more personal, allowing others to talk about their national holiday(s), getting not only a partial history lesson, but also getting a sense of how normal people celebrate it. Seems to me that is an improvement over a list that google would probably have presented.

AstroRocket

We have loads of pointless public holidays in the UK ^_^