People not from the US, how do you celebrate your country?

calico2222

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This is the 4th of July for the USA, but I am assuming most countries have some day they celebrate their country. I know there is a Canada day, but I have no idea about the story behind it or why that date was chosen. There are people here from all over the world, so I'm curious to see what day they celebrate and why. Anyone want to share?
 

sarahp

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We celebrate Australia Day on January 26. It commemorates the establishment of the first British settlement in Australia in 1788. It's a really good day - friends get together and BBQ, drink beer, and generally just relax and have fun.
 

lauracatlover

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For us there is St.George's Day, but it's pretty naff because nobody actually celebrates it and we don't get the day off!
Just shows how 'wonderful' the UK is!
 

swooshfinn

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Finland - December 6

Finnish Independence Day is a solemn day, more of a vigil in respect to the fallen of the many wars that have been fought there. The flag is flown and candles are lit in cemeteries. Very low key and somber. A day of rememberance and respect.
 

siggav

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In Iceland it's the 17th of June, there are usually parades and lots of music acts etc. performing downtown.

It celebrates the day the 'Republic of Iceland' was formed. I.e when we got away from the Danes completely back in 1944
 

urbantigers

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Originally Posted by calico2222

This is the 4th of July for the USA, but I am assuming most countries have some day they celebrate their country.
Not really. St George's day is officially the national day in England, but it's not celebrated much.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_George's_Day

The nearest we get to national pride over here is supporting England in the footie
 

urbantigers

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The only reason people over here are in favour of more public holidays is because for most people it means more days off work


ETA - I mean that when England compete in international football (soccer) competitions, it brings out a sense of national pride (if pride is the right word for some of the behaviour). Otherwise, there's not really much sense of pride in our country over here. Most people I know would be more than happy to emigrate and never live in England again. Maybe we just always look at the downside, but sometimes it's hard to see much to be proud of here. There's never really been much sense of identity in England anyway. Scottish, welsh and Irish people tend to have a strong sense of national pride, but being English doesn't really mean much to most of us who live here. We're just the ones in the UK who aren't Scottish, Welsh or Irish!
 

rosiemac

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Originally Posted by urbantigers

There's never really been much sense of identity in England anyway.
I think there is. I'm proud of the fact that we have a fabulous countryside, beaches, and not forgetting the history and the castles that go hand in hand


I'll never leave this country, and for those that do "They can take a man/woman out of England, but they can't take England out of the man/woman!" as the saying goes
 

MoochNNoodles

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This is a good thread! I like hearing about holidays similar to ours in America throughout the world. And of course different ones too!

Originally Posted by pipersjo

This might be a silly question but what does this mean?
I wondered what that meant too.
 

zissou'smom

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Are they usually in the summer?

I saw a cartoon today of a kid pointing out that hot dogs are German and fireworks were invented in China. He was arrested for treason (jokingly).
 

marie-p

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I live in Quebec, Canada... and we are one of those rare places where there are two national holidays.

On June 24, we celebrate St-Jean-Baptiste, the National holiday of Quebec. In order to celebrate our beautiful French culture, we drink lots of beer and set giant piles of wood on fire.

On July 1, we have Canada Day, which is usually a smaller party... some beer drinking, fireworks, etc.

Few people celebrate both. People who are separatists will care only about St-Jean-Baptiste and those who want Quebec to remain part of Canada will celebrate Canada Day. As for me, I don't care either way and I rarely celebrate either.
Growing up, I was in a town that was almost entirely French so we always had big St-Jean-Baptiste celebrations, and nothing for Canada Day.

Funny thing is, July 1st is also known as moving day because most leases expire on that day... so a lot of people are too busy moving to celebrate Canada Day. Some say it's a separatist conspiracy
 

jennyr

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In France we celebrate on July 14th, which was the date of the fall of the Bastille (the National political prison) during the French Revolution in 1789. Now many villages have ceremonies at the war memorials or town squares, where everyone sings the national anthem and the Mayor makes a speech in honour of fallen heroes, and there are often fireworks and dancing in the evening.
 
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