Mother’s Day and Father’s Day

Second Sunday in May, third Sunday in June

The two “parent’s day” holidays are low key celebrations introduced to Canada in the early 20th century. Children of all ages are expected to show their parent some love with a small gift or card, and a day full of caring, attentive behaviour. The mother/father’s day phone call has become a particularly common custom among adult children, given many Canadians do not live in the same cities as their parents.

Canada Day

July 1

July 1, 1867 was the date the Canadian Constitution was adopted and ever since, July 1 has been celebrated as the birthday of the Canadian nation, and the day “Canada became a country.” Held in early summer, Canada Day (known as “Dominion Day” until 1983) offers an opportunity for Canadians to have large parties outdoors, and is usually celebrated with neighbourhood or family barbecues, picnics, and fireworks. Many big Canadian cities will organize a whole host of official Canada Day festivities for their community, including parades, live music, and outdoor festivals, ensuring the streets are packed with patriotic revelers from sunup to sundown.

Long Weekends

A public holiday isn't worth much if it falls on the weekend — when no one was going to be working anyway. In recognition of this fact, Canadian holiday laws state that if a date-specific holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, workers can take off the closest Monday instead.

The “Civic Holiday”

August 7

The seventh day in August is recognized as a holiday in most provinces and territories, though it goes by a wide variety of different names depending on where you are. It also tends to vary in legal status; in some provinces it’s a well-established day off for everyone, in other places it’s just a holiday for government workers.

In British Columbia, New Brunswick, and Saskatchewan August 7 is called British Columbia Day,New Brunswick Day,andSaskatchewan Day, respectively. In Manitoba it’s called Terry Fox Day, after Terry Fox (1958-1981), a noted great Canadian. In Nova Scotia it’s called Natal Dayandin Alberta it’s called Heritage Day, both of which are meant to evoke ideas of celebrating provincial history. In Ontario, the name of the day actually varies by city, with Toronto calling it Simcoe Day and Ottawa calling it Colonel By Day, after John Graves Simcoe (1752-1806) and John By (1779-1836), two important historical figures from early Ontario. The remaining six provinces and territories don’t officially recognize it as anything in particular; whether workers get the day off depends entirely on their employment contracts.

Australian holidays

Australia Day

Australia Day is a public holiday on 26 January and is Australia's national day. It marks the arrival of the First Fleet of British Ships at Port Jackson, New South Wales on that date in 1788, and the raising of the Flag of Great Britain by Captain Arthur Phillip.

If 26 January falls on a weekend, then a public holiday will be observed on the following Monday.

History of Australia Day

Captain Arthur Phillip became the first Governor of the colony of New South Wales and the fledgling colony soon began to celebrate the anniversary of this date.

During the early nineteenth century the anniversary was called 'Foundation Day' and was marked by sporting events. In the 1820s, Horseracing was popular but by the 1830s regattas had became popular.

Fifty years after Phillip landed, Australia's first public holiday was announced to celebrate Foundation Day 1838. The inaugural holiday became an annual event and has continued to be held on or around January 26.

By 1888, all the colonial capitals, except Adelaide, proclaimed 'Anniversary Day' a public holiday and celebrations took place throughout the individual colonies.

The 150th anniversary of white settlement in 1938 was marked with official ceremonies around the nation celebrating the arrival of Captain Phillip.

In 1946, the Commonwealth Government, States and Territories agreed that there should be one national day 'Australia Day' under one banner and on the same day.

However, the Australia Day public holiday was still held on the Monday closest to January 26th.

In the bi-centenary year, 1988, Australia Day was held around the nation on January 26th. The highlight of the many celebrations was a re-enactment of the First Fleet's trip which departed from Portsmouth on May 13, 1987 and arrived in Australia in early January.

It was not until 1994 that all the states and territories endorsed the celebration of Australia Day on the actual day, instead of the nearest Monday. United Australia Day celebrations have been held on 26 January ever since.

The Australia Day celebrations have continued to grow in number and stature since with the celebrations involving an ever increasing audience. Australia Day today consists of formal ceremonies around the nation along with local fun events.

Adelaide Cup

Adelaide Cup is a public holiday celebrated in the South Australia state of Australia. The holiday is celebrated on the second Monday of March.

The Adelaide Cup horse race is a major sporting and social event in South Australia, and race day has been a public holiday since 1973.

Before 2006, the race was held in May. In a bid to boost the popularity of the race it was moved in 2006 to March to warmer and less rainy month in South Australia.

Conducted by the South Australian Jockey Club, the Adelaide Cup is one of Australia’s oldest races, first won by Falcon in 1864, making it only three years younger than the other great Australian horse race, Melbourne Cup.