Poll: Do you know why you celebrate your national day?

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Today is my country's (Sweden's) National Day.
Whereupon we proudly celebrate uh..Swedish-ness? Strawberries? Sill & Surströmming?
I really have no idea what we celebrate or even how, except by raising the flag like we do on every red day/holiday.
Granted, I could just google/wiki it and having done so I still don't see any of that being commemorated or emphasized.
The National Day of Sweden replaced Whit Monday as a holiday back in 2005 which caused some grumbling from both the church and the Unions.
Why the church would complain is of course obvious, it being a religious day, but the reason Unions chimed in as well was because it lengthened the work year.

Now then, do you celebrate your country's National Day?
I know that the U.S do so on the Fourth of July and Norway on Syttende Mai. I even know why.
Doing a quick check I noticed that Britain doesn't but that a lot of countries celebrate their independence or separation from Britain (Which I find quite Ironic..My apologies).

If you do, would you care to tell us a bit about it, the why and possibly even how?

 

[Thaluikhain]

Depends which national day.

ANZAC Day used to be about how lots of people dying in badly planned campaign against people we had no quarrel with was, in hindsight, not a good idea. It's gotten more pro-war nowdays, as history has become legend, and minor details like who was fighting and why and who actually won have been forgotten.

Australia Day (or 'Straya Day as it's more popularly known) is about getting together as a nation and celebrating unity and mateship and things. Unfortunately, the day used is remembered as Invasion Day by many Aboriginal people, and every year this is pointed out and ignored.

Oh, there's also sorta decimal currency day, in that Valentine's day is the same day.

 

[StatusNil]

To celebrate our independence from imperial overlords, primarily.

But also not having to eat surströmming.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

On July 4th, fifty-six Americans signed a piece of paper that told all countries in the world, both current and future:

 

[Queen Michael]

This is the day when Gustaf Vasa was crowned King of Sweden, if I recall correctly.

 

[Rabbitboy]

We have Koningsdag (Kings day) on April the 27th (previously on the 30th as Queens day) were we oficially celebrate our kings birthday. But it's a really just a good excuse to drink and party. There are also flee markets on the street. Making it a good day to go out there and see if you can score some old games for a cheap price.

On the 5th of May we celebrate Liberation Day where we celebrate the liberation from the Germans.

 

[JoJo]

Yes, it's funny that Britain doesn't have it's own national day, I suppose it's just something that we never got around to inventing, partly because we haven't had an independence date in recent history to celebrate. There are days for each of the home nations however celebrating their patron saints (St George, David, Andrew, and Patrick) which are celebrated to an extent, St Georges day you mainly just see a lot of English flags being hung around the place and a few parades on the nearest weekend. No days off, at-least here in England.

 

[mad825]

St Georges day you mainly just see a lot of English flags being hung around the place and a few parades on the nearest weekend. No days off, at-least here in England.

Eh, some shops close early, some don't open at all.

I'll say this, all English holidays are our "national day" yet none of them is the national day. We don't need patriotic bravado as we have history to define us.

 

[Mikeybb]

Closest I think we come is the 'bank holiday', where public parks, beaches and roads become abnormally busy, along with DIY stores, supermarkets and other places people bring their children as some form of public punishment.

We have quite a few of them, though I'd be hard pressed to tell you the impending dates of any or how many we have a year.

We don't need patriotic bravado as we have history to define us.

In all fairness, a lot of that defining history is also made up of patriotic bravado.
Just mention 'Churchill' in any pub for a brief example.
Yeah, you'll get a few people who just nod "ooooh yes" in response, but there'll be a number who may be drunk enough to start with the "we'll fight them on the beaches" talk and so on.

 

[Zontar]

On July 4th, fifty-six Americans signed a piece of paper that told all countries in the world, both current and future:

Wrong, it was signed on July the 1st, but ratified on the 4th.

>That feel when Canadian and knows more about America then Americans.

OT: My country's national day is based on the date it was formed, with 4 colonies (2 of which where already in union) where made a dominion of the Empire to allow us to better defend ourselves against the Yankee menace.

 

[Dornedas]

Well in Germany it is the 3. of October and it's the Day of German Unity.
The title is pretty self explanatory if you ask me but just to be sure I'll explain to you what happened.

Time for a history lesson:
Quite a few years ago Germany was split into its good and its evil part.
Then some people decided to build a big wall because the chinese one is pretty cool and a few tourists never hurt.
That eventually led to David Hasselhoff singing.
This was such a horrifying act that Germany decided to tear the wall down and reunite just to stop The Hoff from singing ever again.
At least that is how I remember it from school. It makes sense.

 

[Albino Boo]

As someone living in the UK we don't have a national day. I propose that we do celebrate a national day on the 4th of July as we got rid of those awful people day.

 

[DementedSheep]

I guess Waitangi Day (NZ) is our national day. It's to celebrate the signing of the half-assedy done treaty (it was done so poorly we have two conflicting versions of it) that is our founding document. I don't do anything to celebrate it, most people don't. It's just a public holiday.

 

[RedDeadFred]

July 1st (Canada Day) celebrates the day our country came to be back in 1867.

Pretty easy.

 

[Poetic Nova]

I honestly have no clue about the dutchies. Then again, only thing I celebrate are Halloween and Christmas.

 

[freaper]

July 21st (didn't remember the date by heart) is our Belgian independence day, or the day we have an excuse to down more beer than usual.

 

[Eddie the head]

>That feel when Canadian and knows more about America then Americans.

Well if I lived in a place as boring as Canada I'd be looking south too. =)

Anyway more on topic. I'd be hard pressed not to. It's inescapable, and has been mentioned.

 

[ecoho]

On July 4th, fifty-six Americans signed a piece of paper that told all countries in the world, both current and future:

Wrong, it was signed on July the 1st, but ratified on the 4th.

>That feel when Canadian and knows more about America then Americans.

OT: My country's national day is based on the date it was formed, with 4 colonies (2 of which where already in union) where made a dominion of the Empire to allow us to better defend ourselves against the Yankee menace.

to have a Canadian beat me to this is sad...... but yeah they finally agreed on it and signed(according to some of its signers) it on july 4th. Its also the time to break out copious amounts of gun powder and put on one hell of a show for the rest of the world.

 

[Muspelheim]

Fly the flag, drink some booze and be very merry indeed.

Although I forgot to buy one last week, and the shop was all out today. D'oh, well, next year.

This is the day when Gustaf Vasa was crowned King of Sweden, if I recall correctly.

That, and the constitution of 1809, which was basically an attempt to keep the kings from losing any more provinces. Even ol' Gustav Vasa would've probably have been in favour at that point.