Happy August Day

Tomorrow (Monday) is a holiday in Canada. It’s a weird sort of holiday, as most people aren’t even sure what it is called or what it is for. All people know is that the first Monday in August is a holiday and they get a long weekend, and no one is going to argue or question that.

The name for the day seems to vary depending on which province you’re in. In British Columbia, it might be called BC Day, or maybe it’s called Civic Holiday. In Ontario it’s called Simcoe Day, for reasons that I’m not fully certain of anymore as I haven’t lived there for a while. I’m sure it has some sort of name in the rest of the country (after all, ‘BC Day’ wouldn’t be the most popular of names in other provinces), but I don’t know what.

I just call it August Day. It may not be the most exciting name, but it’s as good a name as anything else. More importantly, so few people know for sure what the day is called that you can bluff and convince them that August Day is indeed the real name for the day.

So why do we have a statutory holiday celebrating nothing in particular? Because we can, that’s why. Who wouldn’t want a long weekend in August? Happy August Day everyone.