Obscure local/regional/national holidays...

[starry_solo]

In CA, we have Cesar Chavez day on March 31st. Only state employees (including courts) are closed. Local government offices are still open.

 

[ramee]

I'll continue with my story from the other thread and shall explain more about Sinterklaas in the Netherlands and indeed putting your boot or shoe out as @bavaria said. It's similar to having your stocking above the fireplace for Christmas.

Sinterklaas arrives the 2nd Saturday of November in the Netherlands from Spain, he arrives by boat, this is aired on national television. From that day you can leave your shoe out and Sinterklaas leaves gifts. Preferably in front of the fireplace, but if you do not have a fireplace (I didn't have a fireplace when I was young), you can also leave your shoe at the front door, or even the central heating (as a kid this made sense). You leave your shoe out, and Sinterklaas will give you some small gifts, something that fits into a shoe. Usually it's chocolate. In return we leave some carrots with the shoe, for Sinterklaas' horse, Amerigo. Similar to leaving cookies & milk out for Santa. And yes, Sinterklaas rides over the rooftops on a white horse. Again, as a kid this made sense.
At my home, we were only allowed to leave our shoe out on the day Sinterklaas arrived, but I know some families do this every night till the 5th of December. My parents weren't made of money, so we only did it once

On the 5th of December, after dinner, your parents have asked a neighbour to knock on the door/window really loud, and then the neighbour goes into a hiding. When the kids go to open the door, there is a bag of presents, left by Sinterklaas., who is nowhere to be seen... really mysterious!

The presents come with a 'surprise' and/or a rhyme. This is serious business ;-) A 'surprise', it's the same word as in English, but pronounced as if it was Dutch, is when you craft a disguise for the present. This has to say something about the receiver or about the present. So let's say the receiver of the present is into soccer. Then with arts & crafts you create a soccer ball and put the present inside.

The rhymes are sort of similar, it's supposed to say something about the person or the gift. But since the internet was invented, we have websites to help you with this. Actually the first websites designed in the Netherlands were websites where you could create generic rhymes for Sinterklaas. The rhymes can put a lot of pressure on you if you have a lot of presents which all need a rhyme. You need your creativity. And then a website can truly help. In my home 'surprises' were optional, but every gift had to be accompanied with rhyme. The rhymes are usually funny, with puns, but you can also go for sincere. When you are an adult, celebrating with just adults, the rhymes usually get dirtier

What else...
The first Sinterklaas candy shows up in supermarket and stores around August, which is very annoying. Almost 4 months before Sinterklaas even arrives in NL!
Also I consider it bad manners to put up your Christmas tree, or sing Christmas songs before Sinterklaas has left the country on the 6th of December. Most stores do this as well. So Christmas decorations usually go up for only 3-4 weeks, and usually by the 1st of January everything is gone.

This year, we will have the arrival of Sinterklaas as usual. But it will be a secret where this is going to happen. Because when he arrives, this attracts huge crowds. Each year, he arrives in a different city, and it's considered an honour to host this party. It's considered good publicity for the city.

I remember my first grade teacher taught us Christmas traditions from around the world and had us set a shoe outside the classroom. (A shoe we were wearing, one from home, one we made?) And when we got back from recess, I was excited to find a treat in my shoe amongst a row of other shoes. I think it was chocolate coins. It seemed so magical. This was almost 30 years ago in Maryland.

 

[3boymthr]

I’m pretty sure Rhode Island still celebrates VJ Day or Victory over Japan Day in the middle of August.

 

[Karin1984]

I remember my first grade teacher taught us Christmas traditions from around the world and had us set a shoe outside the classroom. (A shoe we were wearing, one from home, one we made?) And when we got back from recess, I was excited to find a treat in my shoe amongst a row of other shoes. I think it was chocolate coins. It seemed so magical. This was almost 30 years ago in Maryland.

Very classic. Originally, St. Nicolas gave coins to poor children. That changed later into chocolate coins, and then later into toys (or the other way around). And still chocolate coins are among the sweets you can buy around Sinterklaas time.

Some schools also let their young students leave their shoe out at school, then usually you take an old shoe from home. There will always be the kid that thinks he will get a bigger present if he leaves out a bigger shoe.

 

[Earstou]

Howard's Day in the prisons in Nebraska. No clue if it's celebrated anywhere else.

Wording from the statute: "The second day of September in each year, the birthday of John Howard, the author of prison reform throughout the world, shall be observed as a legal holiday in all the penal and reformatory institutions of this state and shall be known as "Howard's Day".

 

[SirDuff]

Breaking chocolate marmites (soup caldrons) filled with marzipan vegetables every 12-December as part of the Fête de l'Escalade in Geneva, Switzerland.

It celebrates the defeat of Duke of Savoy when his army tried to attack Geneva overnight 11-12 December 1602. There are a few different stories of exactly what happened, but they all include at least one woman (sometimes just "Mère Royaume", sometimes a bunch of women), who dumped a cauldron (marmite) of hot soup over the city wall, killing (in some stories) one or more invaders (either from the boiling soup or being conked on the head with a cauldron.

There is also a running race as part of the festival with people dressed up in fancy costumes.

I just like smashing the chocolate.

 

[RangerPooh]

My DD went to college in California and Cesar Chavez Day March 31 is a holiday there. I know Patriot's Day in April is a holiday in Maine and Massachusetts, and DC emancipation day is April 16.

I was still living in CA and attending college the first year it was observed. The university that I attended canceled observation of Presidents’ Day in favor of observing Cesar Chavez day. It was odd not to get our 3-day weekend in February.

A school district across the stare line from us when we lived in WA took multiple days off for the fair as so many kids participated in showing animals.

 

[BadPinkTink]

In Ireland we have Wren Day, 26 December. Its one of those old folk traditions which is now kept alive in mainly rural areas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wren_Day
People dress up in straw costumes and are called mummers or wrenboys. They hunt for a small bird called a wren. According the traditions, God wished to know who was the king of all birds so he set a challenge. The bird who flew highest and furthest would win. The birds all began together but they dropped out one by one until none were left but the great eagle. The eagle eventually grew tired and began to drop lower in the sky. At this point, the treacherous wren emerged from beneath the eagle's wing to soar higher and further than all the others.

It used to be a real bird but now its usually a fake bird. They parade through a town or village singing "The wren, the wren, the King of All Birds, St. Stephen's Night got caught in the furze" and collecting money which is given to charity.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Thanks! Fun thread I didn't realise this video was on YouTube, but I spotted myself a few times from last year. Sadly most runs have been cancelled this year.

This one was offficially the 'Krampuslauf', which has unfortunately getting smaller each year. But there are a lot of Perchten there, not Krampus'. And sadly this year too many have already been cancelled.

Krampus is not actually native to Munich (and last year I spent the afternoon with a random couple from Garching, just outside the city, and the wife had never heard of it. It's only in a very, very small area of Upper Bavaria, Salzburgerland in Austria, and I think a bit of Czechia.) Until Time magazine did a story in the early 1990's, this was very much a local tradition not known outside what used to be secluded valleys. Every village has it's own style of creature and costume, and my favourites are actually the 'moss people' which look like old people made of moss (I'll post a picture if I can find one online)

https://www.salzburgerland.com/en/krampus-and-perchten/
The tradition has been sanitized in recent years, but when I was younger, like @Karin1984 says about Sinterklaas, we were sent home early on the afternoon of December 5th. But this was not to stuff ourselves with cookies and sweets like our northern neighbours, or to put out a boot or shoe for Nikolaus to leave us treats. This was because the young men would dress up in sheepskin, masks with horns, and cow bells around their waists, and at dusk begin the search for young women. They would then whip them quite forcefully with birch or other wood whips to make them more fertile. This continued until the end of day on the 6th. Because this became sometimes quite violent, and more of a drinking fest for the men, it in recent years has become more of a community thing with villages spending a lot of time during the year planning and getting ready for the 'march'. Many used to travel to Munich for this as well, where it used to be 3 Advent weekends but is now just 1 Advent Sunday.

We've attended the run in Salzburg a several times. MIL had a blast a few years ago. She had DH pushing her in a wheel chair...following the run. We had a special chair with off-road tires but he was still exhausted. Good memories!

Ouch! It has been sanitized. We only saw children with soot being chased . Although I do remember bottle girls moving through the crowd selling liquor (think schnapps) but nobody was intoxicated .

 

[Mysterian]

I'll continue with my story from the other thread and shall explain more about Sinterklaas in the Netherlands and indeed putting your boot or shoe out as @bavaria said. It's similar to having your stocking above the fireplace for Christmas.

Sinterklaas arrives the 2nd Saturday of November in the Netherlands from Spain, he arrives by boat, this is aired on national television. From that day you can leave your shoe out and Sinterklaas leaves gifts. Preferably in front of the fireplace, but if you do not have a fireplace (I didn't have a fireplace when I was young), you can also leave your shoe at the front door, or even the central heating (as a kid this made sense). You leave your shoe out, and Sinterklaas will give you some small gifts, something that fits into a shoe. Usually it's chocolate. In return we leave some carrots with the shoe, for Sinterklaas' horse, Amerigo. Similar to leaving cookies & milk out for Santa. And yes, Sinterklaas rides over the rooftops on a white horse. Again, as a kid this made sense.
At my home, we were only allowed to leave our shoe out on the day Sinterklaas arrived, but I know some families do this every night till the 5th of December. My parents weren't made of money, so we only did it once

On the 5th of December, after dinner, your parents have asked a neighbour to knock on the door/window really loud, and then the neighbour goes into a hiding. When the kids go to open the door, there is a bag of presents, left by Sinterklaas., who is nowhere to be seen... really mysterious!

The presents come with a 'surprise' and/or a rhyme. This is serious business ;-) A 'surprise', it's the same word as in English, but pronounced as if it was Dutch, is when you craft a disguise for the present. This has to say something about the receiver or about the present. So let's say the receiver of the present is into soccer. Then with arts & crafts you create a soccer ball and put the present inside.

The rhymes are sort of similar, it's supposed to say something about the person or the gift. But since the internet was invented, we have websites to help you with this. Actually the first websites designed in the Netherlands were websites where you could create generic rhymes for Sinterklaas. The rhymes can put a lot of pressure on you if you have a lot of presents which all need a rhyme. You need your creativity. And then a website can truly help. In my home 'surprises' were optional, but every gift had to be accompanied with rhyme. The rhymes are usually funny, with puns, but you can also go for sincere. When you are an adult, celebrating with just adults, the rhymes usually get dirtier

What else...
The first Sinterklaas candy shows up in supermarket and stores around August, which is very annoying. Almost 4 months before Sinterklaas even arrives in NL!
Also I consider it bad manners to put up your Christmas tree, or sing Christmas songs before Sinterklaas has left the country on the 6th of December. Most stores do this as well. So Christmas decorations usually go up for only 3-4 weeks, and usually by the 1st of January everything is gone.

This year, we will have the arrival of Sinterklaas as usual. But it will be a secret where this is going to happen. Because when he arrives, this attracts huge crowds. Each year, he arrives in a different city, and it's considered an honour to host this party. It's considered good publicity for the city.

I remember we learned about some of this in grade school. We made shoes (illustrated cardstock that we punched out and folded into shape) and left them outside the classroom door. The teacher would put some candy in them. (One of my favorite classes, we always learned about different world legends, like Sinterklaas, and Anansi the West African spiderman.) Since then, no more visits from Sinterklaas.

 

[Praying Colonel]

When I was stationed in Puerto Rico, DW and I decided to take a day and go to San Juan. Little did we know that the day we picked, July 25, is a holiday (Constitution Day) and everywhere we'd planned to go was packed. Taught me to check the local holidays in addition to the federal holidays whenever we planned an outing.

 

[design_mom]

When I was young, a lot of kids in our rural county participated in 4-H, FFA, etc. There was always a day off school for "fair day" which was the main day of judging for junior fair exhibits at the county fair. My kids still attend the same school district, but it's now a much more suburban area. There are a lot fewer kids in 4-H, FFA. They stopped calling it "fair day" a few years ago, but they still get the day off. It's just called a teacher work day, now.

We grew up celebrating St. Nicholas Day, too with shoes placed by the door at home. When I was in elementary school (Catholic school) we would fold paper shoes to leave on our desks overnight. In the morning, there would be chocolate coins or a candy cane inside.

 

[bavaria]

I just like smashing the chocolate.

Then I think that you need to go to Portugal to get out your aggression. On the São João festival in Porto people walk around hitting random strangers on the head with hammers. Sounds like a good place for you

 

[Moliphino]

When I was stationed in Puerto Rico, DW and I decided to take a day and go to San Juan. Little did we know that the day we picked, July 25, is a holiday (Constitution Day) and everywhere we'd planned to go was packed. Taught me to check the local holidays in addition to the federal holidays whenever we planned an outing.

We had a similar problem in France. We went to DLP for my a few days around my birthday, which just happens to be the day after a holiday (May 1 is their Labor Day). It was probably better to be in DLP that day rather than Paris itself, though, as there were protests and demonstrations in the city, some involving fire, water cannons, and tear gas.

 

[Jrb1979]

One that find really obscure is Dyngus day in Buffalo. I don't think any other part of the country celebrates it outside of there.

 

[kdonnel]

GA has two interesting ones. Confederate Memorial Day and Robert E Lee’s b day. My significant other got both days off when we lived there.

Must be extremely regional. I have lived in Georgia for 45 years. one third in Columbus, one third in Dahlonega, and one third in Metro Atlanta. I have never heard of anyone celebrating those as holidays.

 

[tcufrog]

I am in Baltimore County and we usually get to the Renaissance Festival and Maryland State Fair every year. It felt weird not attending this summer.

We sometimes go to the local Renaissance Festival in Mother's Day. I was bummed that we couldn't do it this year.

tcufrog: interesting spin off thread.

I love to travel and when possible, I try to time trips around special events. For example, when we did a UK road trip we worked our schedule around attending a Highland Games. When we did a mini roadtrip of the Boston area, we made sure to attend Redcoats and Rebels at Old Sturbridge VIllage. It's a huge Revolutionary War reenactment.

 

[RamblingMad]

Must be extremely regional. I have lived in Georgia for 45 years. one third in Columbus, one third in Dahlonega, and one third in Metro Atlanta. I have never heard of anyone celebrating those as holidays.

Nope. My SO worked in metro Atlanta.

 

[kdonnel]

Nope. My SO worked in metro Atlanta.

Like I said in the 45 years I have lived in the state I have never heard of these as holidays or known anyone who got them off. Your post made me curious though and now I know why I have never known anyone who got them off, I have never known a state employee.

It would appear to be something state employees got as holidays and starting in 2016 they are just called state holidays and are not even observed on the previous days.

For example in 2020 the holiday that would have been Robert E Lee's birthday(January 19th) is observed as a day off on Friday November 27th. Similarly Confederate Memorial Day is now observed by moving it each year as the Friday before Easter.

So in reality state employees get the Friday before Easter and the Friday after Thanksgiving off but technically are observing old confederate holidays.

Weird!

 

[tex1989]

So a couple of school districts in my county take what they call Fall Breaks. Like Spring Break but in October. The week off usually lines up with the County Fair where a lot of kids are showing their animals.

When I lived in Calgary they had "Family Day" which I believe was the second Monday of February.

And while it is not now a unknown holiday as it once was Juneteenth has been celebrated here for as long as I can remember. No day off work but big celebrations with cook outs and family gatherings. I live 30 miles from Galveston which is where on June 19th 1865 a Union General read the Emancipation Proclamation from the balcony of the Tremont Hotel which was the first communication of the fact that slaves had been freed by Lincoln two years earlier. Still a big holiday here but certainly growing in popularity lately.