All week prior to May 20, I kept getting greetings and wishes from people to "have a happy long weekend." Not one person said "Happy Victoria Day." Even online, all I found was references to the long weekend, not to the purpose of the occasion. And come to think of it, the same thing happens in August, when people tell me to have a great long weekend instead of saying "Happy Simcoe Day." Even the printed calendar says "Civic Holiday" instead of "Simcoe Day."
Is this a new trend? Like when my workplace wishes us a "great winter break" instead of acknowledging they are closing for a week for Christmas? I understand that not all staff at work celebrate Christmas, so that makes a bit of sense, trying to be sensitive, but still it can't be denied that the week we're all getting to stay home coincides with Christmas. I'd be equally as happy to get a week off work for Chanukkah. I'd also be happy to get time off work for National Bee Day, National Solitaire Day (there is such a thing. It was yesterday) or the garlic harvest. Just sayin'.
Now in the instance of Simcoe Day or Victoria Day, there could be an argument for not referring to the names because of shades of colonialism, and I get that. But it does seem a bit disingenuous to say we refuse to recognize the occasion but we still want the time off work. Don't talk to us about Queen Victoria, but give us her birthday off. It seems to me either you have to scrap the holiday all together, or you need to acknowledge what it is. Does anyone else have any particularly strong feelings about it?
Incidentally, it is said that one must not plant the garden until Victoria Day, and it's also a rule that one shouldn't plant until the peonies bloom. I am pleased to report that the peonies bloomed exactly on Victoria Day. A happy coinciding of events.
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