When is your May long weekend ?

[David Banks]

Sorry, but I've been out here in the colonies for so long that I've forgotten (1) when you have your May long weekend, and (2) what you call it.
Please explain. I will expand on my reason for these questions later - let's just say something kinda weird is happening here in Canada.

[Venture]

The 1st to the 4th of May was a classed as Bank Holiday weekend for most of the country.

[DeHaviLand]

First Monday of May is May Day bank holiday, 4th this year. And the 25th of the month is Spring Bank Holiday.

[Kodiak]

There are two Bank Holidays in May, One on the 4th May and the other on the 25th May.

[golach]

There are two Bank Holidays in May, One on the 4th May and the other on the 25th May.
That depends where you reside Kodiak, Edinburgh is on a Local Holiday on Monday 18th May., but as DeHaviland has rightly pointed out Bank Holidays I.E. the days Banks are closed are not necessarily local holidays.

[Alice in Blunderland]

I will expand on my reason for these questions later - let's just say something kinda weird is happening here in Canada.

Sheesh not this global warmings fault is it. :roll: :lol: :lol:

[DeHaviLand]

That depends where you reside Kodiak, Edinburgh is on a Bank Holiday on Monday 18th May.

Bank holidays are not dependent on what part of the country you live in. The Spring Bank Holiday is 25th May. Edinburgh may well be having a holiday on 18th May, but this is a local holiday, not a bank holiday.

[David Banks]

I can attest that, since 1975, the holliday in Canada has been on the weekend nearest to, or containing May 24th.
We called it the Victoria Day weekend, because of some official birthday or something like that - and has probably been going since 1905 more like it.
The 'cool' amongst us called it May two four.
The weekend was fueled by a 'two four' of beer (cartons of 24 bottles or 24 cans).
The fireworks were always on the 24th, no matter what day of the week it fell on.
There was common folklore that if one planted delicate plants before May two-four, they might fall afoul of frost.

Well, this year, the powers that be have the holiday this weekend, and are still calling it Victoria Day weekend.

Either we should stick with the 2-4 date and its reference to some old British broad-person - they do like to stick their names to hospitals, ships, streets, universities, holidays and all sorts of things, don't they.
Or, we should get a new name for this rescheduled holiday !

I'm just a little discumbobulated.

[Kodiak]

Well, this year, the powers that be have the holiday this weekend, and are still calling it Victoria Day weekend.

Either we should stick with the 2-4 date and its reference to some old British broad-person - they do like to stick their names to hospitals, ships, streets, universities, holidays and all sorts of things, don't they.
Or, we should get a new name for this rescheduled holiday !

I have done some checking and Victoria Day in Canada is the Monday Before the 24th May and not the monday closest to the 24th May. This would make Victoria Day Holiday in Canada on the 18th May. See this Information I have obtained :-

The birthday of the monarch was a day for celebration in Canada long before Confederation, with the first legislation regarding the event being in 1834 passed by the parliament of the Province of Canada to officially recognise 24 May as the Queen's birthday. It was noted that on that date in 1854 – the 35th birthday of Queen Victoria – some 5,000 residents of Canada West gathered in front of Government House (near present day King and Simcoe Streets in Toronto) to "give cheers to their queen," and on Victoria Day 1866, the town of Omemee, also in Canada West, mounted a day-long fête to mark the occasion, including a gun salute at midnight, pre-dawn serenades, picnics, athletic competitions, a display of illuminations, and a torch-light procession.


Following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, 24 May was by imperial decree made Empire Day throughout the British Empire, while, over the ensuing decades, the official date in Canada of the reigning sovereign's birthday changed through various royal proclamations: for Edward VII it continued by yearly proclamation to be observed on 24 May, but was 3 June for George V, 23 June for Edward VIII (their actual birthdays), and various days between 20 May and 14 June through George VI's reign as king of Canada. Elizabeth II's first birthday as sovereign was the last to be celebrated in June; the haphazard format was abandoned in 1952, when the Governor-General-in-Council moved Empire Day to the Monday before 25 May, and Elizabeth's official birthday in Canada was by regular vice-regal proclamations made to fall on this same date every year between 1953 and 1957, when the link was made permanent.

The following year, Empire Day was renamed Commonwealth Day, and in 1977 it was moved to the second Monday in March, leaving the Monday before 24 May solely as Victoria Day.

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

Then click on the link that says Canada.

K.

[golach]

Bank holidays are not dependent on what part of the country you live in. The Spring Bank Holiday is 25th May. Edinburgh may well be having a holiday on 18th May, but this is a local holiday, not a bank holiday.
How very remiss of me, you are correct, Monday 18th May is Victoria Day in Edinburgh, a Public Holiday, but our Spring Public Holiday was 20th April, and we also had a May Day Public Holiday on 4th May, the next Public Holiday in Edinburgh will be the Autumn Public Holiday on the 21st Sept, so I would say that Public/Bank Holidays are dependant of where you reside.

http://www.rampantscotland.com/know/blknow_holidays.htm

[DeHaviLand]

How very remiss of me, you are correct, Monday 18th May is Victoria Day in Edinburgh, a Public Holiday, but our Spring Public Holiday was 20th April, and we also had a May Day Public Holiday on 4th May, the next Public Holiday in Edinburgh will be the Autumn Public Holiday on the 21st Sept, so I would say that Public/Bank Holidays are dependant of where you reside.

http://www.rampantscotland.com/know/blknow_holidays.htm


Then you would be wrong again. Public holidays are not the same as Bank holidays. Please try to keep up :lol:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/01/bankholidays

[Kodiak]

How very remiss of me, you are correct, Monday 18th May is Victoria Day in Edinburgh, a Public Holiday, but our Spring Public Holiday was 20th April, and we also had a May Day Public Holiday on 4th May, the next Public Holiday in Edinburgh will be the Autumn Public Holiday on the 21st Sept, so I would say that Public/Bank Holidays are dependant of where you reside.

http://www.rampantscotland.com/know/blknow_holidays.htm

There is still a Bank Holiday on the 25th May this year in Scotland, including Edinburgh. My Daughter-in-law Lives in Edinburgh and she works for a Major Bank and they are having the Bank Holiday off. It is possible that your information is out of date for I Found this on the Net for the Holidays in Scotland for this year.

http://i40.tinypic.com/x6monp.jpg

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/bankholidays.html

Also this site where it shows the Statutory Bank Holidays for Scotland from 2004 to 2010. It aslo states that there is a Bank Holiday on the 25th May 2009.

http://i40.tinypic.com/2crnhph.jpg

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/01/bankholidays

K.

[golach]

Then you would be wrong again. Public holidays are not the same as Bank holidays. Please try to keep up :lol:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/01/bankholidays

I think we may be splitting hairs here, the weekdays Banks are closed are not necessarily Local Holidays and vica versa[lol]

[susan.leith]

Very clear information from Scottish Government (see link below) as to distinction between BANK holidays and PUBLIC / LOCAL holidays

" It is important to draw a distinction between bank holidays, and public or local holidays in Scotland. As the dates for bank holidays are set out in statute or are the subject of proclamation, it follows that they are the same across the whole of Scotland. On the other hand public or local holidays in Scotland are determined by local authorities, based on local tradition (not statutory authority) and after consultation with local business interests.

There is no legal or statutory definition of public holiday in the United Kingdom and it is questionable whether public holidays exist in Scotland. The term is often confused with bank holidays. In England and Wales a bank holiday tends automatically to be a public holiday, in that the majority of people have the day off and the day is generally observed as a holiday. In Scotland this is not always the case."
Source - http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/01/bankholidays


I can confirm that Golach is absolutely correct; 18th May is an Edinburgh LOCAL holiday (Victoria Day) and 25th May is a Scottish BANK holiday.

Hope this satisfies those of a pedantic nature!

[DeHaviLand]

Lol, Golach is only correct after he amended his post, and amended my post in which I quoted him. So much for pedantry! And the link you posted has already been given, if you had cared to read the thread properly. :roll:

[golach]

There is still a Bank Holiday on the 25th May this year in Scotland, including Edinburgh. My Daughter-in-law Lives in Edinburgh and she works for a Major Bank and they are having the Bank Holiday off. It is possible that your information is out of date for I Found this on the Net for the Holidays in Scotland for this year.


Also this site where it shows the Statutory Bank Holidays for Scotland from 2004 to 2010. It aslo states that there is a Bank Holiday on the 25th May 2009.

K.
Kodiak, what I tried to point out was that Bank Holidays are NOT Public holidays, the general public do not necessarily have a holiday so do not get "Long Weekends" as the original poster was inquiring about.

[David Banks]

This has been most enlightening.

I could have sworn that any long weekend which included May two-four would be Vickie's. I have this vague impression (many moons ago) of looking east from my 18th floor balcony in Brampton towards the airport and Toronto in the background, and associating the fireworks, on the actual 24th. with the long weekend I was enjoying.

My belief has only been bolstered this weekend, with snow and frost still occurring over a goodly portion of Canada -- so it should be next weekend -- no global warming in Southern Canada this year -- and no sunspots either!

Oh well, I won't argue with the facts. Thanks to Kodiak, Golach and Susan.Leith. Lets not talk about how my memories got so confused - too much partying maybe?

Cheers

[canuck]

I have done some checking and Victoria Day in Canada is the Monday Before the 24th May and not the monday closest to the 24th May. This would make Victoria Day Holiday in Canada on the 18th May. See this Information I have obtained :-

K.

Hhhmmm... I did some checking too - first my memory and then my diary. Last year, 2008, the Victoria Day Weekend was the one that ended with Monday, May 26. I know because I was in Canada that weekend attending the wedding of my son. (And yes I did remember to send an Anniversary Card. They have great cards in Scotland. But I digress.) Living in Canada all my life (well, until 2 years ago) Victoria Day was always the Monday closest to May 24.

The most important thing about the weekend is that one did not dare wear white accessories before it started. So, no white shoes or white purses before May 24. I got away with a white hat at the wedding because it was trimmed in navy blue. All this wearing white stuff comes to an end at Labour Day weekend, the first weekend in September. And if you don't believe the seriousness of this, one year when I had small children and a beyond full time job I managed to carry a white hand bag to a function my mother-in-law was hosting in October. For Christmas that year I was ceremoniously presented with a 'black' handbag.

Victoria Day is one of the most important social markers on the Canadian Calendar.

I hope that this helps.

And David, please have one of those two fours for me.

[embow]

The Bank holiday in Scotland on 25th May is the same as Whit or Whitsun Bank Holiday south of the Rio Tweed (last Monday in May). The financial world can't cope with one part of the UK closed while the other stays open - allegedly. It is a bank holiday not a public one unless you are a Dounreay worker when a long weekend is de riguer -- or at least used to be. I don't know what the situation is these days.

[George Brims]

That depends where you reside Kodiak, Edinburgh is on a Local Holiday on Monday 18th May., but as DeHaviland has rightly pointed out Bank Holidays I.E. the days Banks are closed are not necessarily local holidays.
May 18th is Victoria Day, celebrated in Edinburgh, Canada, and for a long time the UK telescopes office in Hawaii (because it was run from Edinburgh).

[David Banks]

the days Banks are closed are not necessarily local holidays.

Eh, if we're closed its not necessarily a local holiday ?
Eh, em, er: I didn't know we had so much power, if that's what it is.
I con I'm thinkfused.

[golach]

Eh, if we're closed its not necessarily a local holiday ?
Eh, em, er: I didn't know we had so much power, if that's what it is.
I con I'm thinkfused.
On Bank Holidays usually only Banks and Government Offices close, not all businesses close.
On Local Holidays many businesses do close, but not Banks.

[David Banks]

I was just having a little fun with my surname.

Do you know where there's a Grumpy Old Men's club I could join ? Some days I'd fit in just fine.

I'm still particularly ticked off that this weekend is gonna be a doozy here in C eh n eh d eh, just lek a real May two four should be.