Victoria Day long weekend in Canada
Canadians marked Victoria Day this long weekend with greetings, family photos, fireworks and outdoor gatherings to signal the traditional unofficial start of summer. Victoria Day honors Queen Victoria's birthday and traces to the early 1840s, when the united Province of Canada created a unifying holiday for English and French communities. In 1952 lawmakers moved the observance from fixed May 24 to the last Monday before May 25 so Canadians would always get a May long weekend. Quebec observes the same Monday as National Patriots' Day while the rest of the country uses Victoria Day for civic ceremonies, barbecues and fireworks.
Patriots Day (Quebec) May Two-Four (Ontario) May Long (Alberta) Victoria Day (rest of Canada)
Oh The Urbanity!14There’s regional and personal variation. But I grew up in NS and it was always Victoria Day. (Not that we meaningfully associated it with the monarchy, but that’s the origin.) I didn’t learn the other ones until moving away.
Graeme4In Ontario you could pretty much say any of these other than Patriots Day and no one would blink or accuse you of being a westerner.
Matt Thompson2I’ve not heard a single reference to May Two-Four this year.
