During my university days, a beer company launched an advertising campaign that included a petition calling for a public holiday in June. Their reasoning was if May, July, August, and September had public holidays, June should too.
The petition collected thousands of signatures, but hit a snag when no one figured out what occasion the public holiday should celebrate – other than a brewery's desire to sell more beer.
They could have called it June Day and no one would've minded.
May's holiday is Queen Victoria' birthday, although it's not celebrated on her birthday (May 24). Instead it move arounds to fall on the last Monday of May, so people have a long weekend in the spring to open the cottage, drink beer by the case – or two-four, as they're called in Canada – play with fireworks, and visit hospitals to reattach blown-off fingers
July 1 is Canada Day, and is always on July 1. It's the only summer holiday they don't shift around to make a long weekend. People get grumpy about that.
The first Monday of August is a public holiday because it's Civic Day, which I'm not even going to pretend means anything.
The first Monday of September is for Labour Day. On paper it has something to do with organized labour and celebrating the 8-hour work day. In practice, it marks the end of the summer, when people close the cottage, quit drinking beer by the two-four, put away the fireworks, and make up a less embarrassing story to tell people about their new prosthetic fingers.
When you start moving public holidays to create long weekends, people tend to forget what the holiday is about. Labour Day is a great example.
Canada once celebrated Labour Day on May 1st, along with the rest of the world. This day honoured the gains of the organized labour movement, especially the 8-hour work day. The unions would march in the streets, call for better working conditions, and then spend the day with their families.
Of course, workers in the streets attract considerable police attention, and nothing calms large crowds quite like a massive police presence. Riots were common. In 1886, someone threw a bomb at police during a Labour Day march in Chicago. Police responded by firing indiscriminately into the crowd.
Labour Day became a day of remembrance for that massacre, which invited larger rallies and more clashes with the police. The Canadian government switched its Labour Day to the first Monday of September, hoping to avoid working class commotion on May 1st. It worked.
Today, the first of May is just another work day in Canada, while September's Labour Day is another day to sell barbeque accessories and beer.
In Germany and Hungary, there are still marches on May 1st. The anarchists also join the fun, so there is occasional rioting. The far right groups organize demonstrations on the same day against immigration and, so brawls tend to erupt between the two extremes.
I've never seen a march in Canada on Labour Day. And many people I know work more than 8 hours a day. Some often work weekends. Most struggle balancing work with life.
Beer companies can ask for all the public holidays they want in June, February, or whenever, but it doesn't make a difference if we’ve forgotten how hard it was to get the time off we deserve.
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