Victoria Day

Victoria Day is a statutory Canadian Holiday (known in French as "Fête de la Reine") celebrated on 24th May or the Monday preceding that date. It honours Queen Victoria's birthday, and the birthday of the current ruling Monarch.

Although primarily a Canadian holiday, Victoria Day is also celebrated in parts of Scotland, in particular Dundee and Edinburgh, where it is a local public holiday.

Celebrating the ruling Sovereign's birthday has changed over the years in Canada, as Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI and now Queen Elizabeth II have all used differing days for this event, often linked to Empire Day (now Commonwealth Day), which was traditionally 24th May.

Victoria Day is seen by many as the start of the summer, and Canadians across the country celebrate in various ways depending upon their local circumstances, and especially the prevailing weather.

Fireworks are commonplace, but it is also a time for summer theme parks and attractions to open, for gardeners to start serious work, for people to open their summerhouses or cabins and for general partying - the 24th being colloquially known as two-four, which is Canadian slang for a 24-pack of beer bottles.

As the day is now fixed as a Monday, it is known in places as the May Long Weekend, simply the May Long or even the May Run.

Although a national statutory holiday, the provincial government in Quebec have dedicated it as National Patriotes Day, which celebrates the English-Canadian and French-Canadian patriots of the Lower Canada Rebellion in 1837. Prior to 2002, in Quebec, the day was known as Dollard Day (Fête de Dollard) after Adam Dollard des Ormeaux.