Holidays

-of the United States of America

Name Date Notes
New Years' Day January 1
Washington's Birthday February 22
Martyrs' Day March 5 Commemorates the Boston Massacre (1770) and in particular the martyrdom of Crispus Attucks, today a Colored-American icon
Mechanics' Day April 14 Commemorates the Pittsburgh Mechanics' Uprising (1841) by the city's Mechanics' Association against Southern forces
Tammany Day May 12 Commemorates Tammany, a Lenape chieftain who signed several peace treaties with the Pennsylvania Colony
Decoration Day May 30 Commemorates Armed Forces soldiers, sailors, and aeronauts who died in service
Peace Day June 2 Commemorates the ideal of peace.
Independence Day July 4 Commemorates the Declaration of Independence.
Illumination Day August 14 Commemorates the end of the Liberty and Union War (1868-76) with the Fall of Appalachicola
Humboldt Day September 14 Commemorates the birth (1769) of Prussian explorer Alexander von Humboldt and generally German-American heritage
Evacuation Day November 25 Commemorates the British departure from New York (1783) & the victory against the Spanish at the Battle of Sandy Hook (1827)
Christmas Day December 25

Independence Day

-day of general feasting and firework displays

-most famously fireworks display in New York

Illumination Day

-was formerly only called "Illumination Day" unofficially

-with its official name being "National Thanksgiving Day"

-changed to avoid association with northern state-level Thanksgivings

-celebrated by illuminating everything with lights akin to Christmas lights
-but most famously with giant parade down State of Anacostia > National Mall
-and each state section of the National Volunteers has its own floats

Evacuation Day

-originally a New York-specific holiday but expands to something more national with US's Wars > Luisiana War (1825-8)

-with Battle of Sandy Hook and martyrdom of Stephen Decatur saving New York from Spanish occupation

-celebrated by burning effigies of George III and George W. Woodward
-in a ritual descended from British immigrants in no small part

-and some people burn effigies of Ernest in particularly British-descended regions

Tammany Day

-celebrates the purported "patron saint" of the United States

-a Lenape chief who maintained peaceful relations with the colony of Pennsylvania

-celebrated by wearing Indigenous headdresses and parading and dancing around liberty poles

Decoration Day

-celebrates war veterans

-enacted for this purpose following the Liberty and Union War (1868-76)

-commemorated by the wearing of a violet

Ethnic festivals

Martyrs' Day

-March 5
-also known as Crispus Attucks Day

-and at the state level known as that in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Maine

-starts in New England among Colored abolitionists in honor of a Colored man who died for the cause of American independence
-spreads after emancipation as New England Coloreds move south to educate their racial kin
-becomes most dominant and national Colored-American festival

Emancipation Day

-various states have them on different days
-most influential are

-Missouri Abolition Day, celebrated widely among Illinoians, Kancians, and Ontonagonians

-and Virginia Abolition Day, celebrated widely among Eastern Seaboard people north of that and eastern parts of Middle West

Humboldt Day

-September 14
-celebrated nationally due to his fame
-as a German ethnic festival and in honor of Alexander von Humboldt
-despite him having technically Prussian this began before unification of Germany

-and even afterwards he is not associated anywhere near same degree with the Prussian state as say Von Steuben, and anyways it's noted he spent more time in Italy

Garibaldi Day

-April 2

-in honor of his entry into Memphis after his victory in Shiloh

-celebrated thanks to Giuseppe Garibaldi intervening in the Liberty and Union War (1868-76), and thus becomes Italian ethnic festival
-associated often with Independent Catholic Church but not exclusively, and is more generally an Italian ethnic festival
-and also associated with Garibaldi's legendary campaign in Tennessee and conquest of Memphis
-official in
-New Jersey

-New York

-Rhode Island

-Connecticut

-Ohio

-Tennessee

Columbus Day

-originally Italian festival as a Roman Catholic alternative to Garibaldi Day
-eventually becomes general Roman Catholic festival

-strongly associated with Knights of Columbus and other Catholic establishment forces

-and surprisingly, many Spanish and Portuguese people in the US

-but not anywhere near as popular as Garibaldi Day

St. Patrick's Day

-Irish festival
-first brought over as a big thing by United Irishmen exiles

Charter Day

-British festival
-celebrated immediately after British Wars > Popular Revolution (1827-9) in the US as fulfilment of American Revolution
-with British abolition of slavery it quickly becomes celebrated among abolitionists
-but also becomes festival of British ethnic pride

-especially at end of Liberty and Union War (1868-76) now that US has separate festivals celebrating abolition

-official in
-Michigan

-Ohio

-Wisconsan

-Tahosa

Haishenwei Day

-Chinese festival on October 19
-celebrates the capture of Vladivostok, renamed Haishenwei, by Marshal Lee during Russo-Chinese War (1893-9)

-big moment, oppressed people striking back against colonizers

-and celebrated by Chinese-Americans almost immediately afterwards

-however distinctly not celebrated by Demography > Tungcheng who fled the Chinese advance
-official in Olympia

Cherry Blossom Day

-Japanese festival on March 27
-celebrates bloom of cherry blossom trees

-which became highly popular and spread from Japan

Zanzibar Day

-celebrates the Second International Intervention (1927) in Republic of Zanzibar

-which saw a solid attempt to abolish Zanzibari slavery