It occurred to me yesterday just how thick is this void we scream at every day. Where once I had anticipated this endeavour to be a bastion of positivity in an otherwise bleak year, we now find ourselves drowned out by an encroaching bleakness no one had anticipated. Perhaps our indulgent celebrations in this time of dark uncertainty is not the respite of joy for an audience; perhaps there are enough people crafting stay-at-home art and performance that ours has little chance to compare. We simply don’t know.
So today will be different – a bit of a celebration of a break in celebrations. We find ourselves gifted with a dollop of unworkable events: National Visit Your Relatives Day? We can’t, except by phone. No Dirty Dishes Day? We aren’t using disposable dishes, nor are we eating McFood for our meals. National Cheese Souffle Day? Don’t have the dish for it, don’t have the skills for it. Museum Day? Can’t visit one, and I did a tribute to the world’s best online museum experiences just a couple weeks ago.
In short, we are feeling defeated at the moment, and to prevent this time from being our undoing we will instead be turning down the volume on our madness, just a little. Still, a bit of writing won’t hurt.
Victoria Day
We have been celebrating Victoria Day in this country since long before we were a country. In 1845 it was decreed that we would take a day off for the queen’s May 24 birthday. It didn’t become law until 1901, right after Victoria died. It took until 1952 for us to nail down the process: it was to be a day of celebration on the last Monday before May 25, thus giving us a long weekend. It’s a common misconception that the day lands on the third Monday in May – indeed, next year it will be on the fourth Monday of the month, and by happy coincidence, on the queen’s actual birthday.
So what do we do up here for Victoria Day? That depends on where you live. Jodie grew up knowing it as a day for fireworks and partying. Some places hold lavish parades. In Victoria (the city) they do an equivalent to the 21-gun salute, but it involves gunpowder, two anvils, and one of those anvils flying through the air. In Ottawa they hold a big ol’ military ceremony.
Here in Edmonton? I’ve never been to any Victoria Day celebration – this was simply the holiday that gave us a long weekend, usually the first long weekend with sun and warmth outdoors. So yesterday we did what I have always done on this day: we took the day off work and enjoyed some down-time, with a smidge of sun.
Send An Electronic Greeting Card Day
I went to jibjab.com and sent a dog-themed electronic greeting card to Abbey, wishing her all the best on this Send An Electronic Greeting Card Day. It was adequate. And the rest of this day can take off and let us relax.
I Love Reese’s Day
Well, of course we’re going to celebrate this. I mean, it’s just common sense.
Today we almost get another day off, thanks to a light little blip in the calendar:
- National May Ray Day. A day for people named Ray to tell others to call them ‘Ray’. Wait, seriously?
- National Devil’s Food Cake Day. So take a guess which one variety of cake mix was sold out at our grocery store last weekend? I guess the whole world is geared up for this day.
- Celebrate Your Elected Officials Day. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! No, this might be too tricky to pull off without injecting politics into everything.
- Dinosaur Day. Sending some love out to the dinos everywhere.
celebrate366.com 