It is the traditional weekend during which one opens 'the camp' (cottage), and signifies the start of summer (and Blackfly season) in Canada. The reference to 'two-four' rather than 'twenty-fourth' is a Canadian inside joke refering to the obligatory case(s) of 24 bottles of beer, or 'two-fours' required to celebrate the opening of the camp and to steel one's courage against the blackflies and the mice that will have settled into the camp since it was closed in the fall.
Except for those of us who don't have a camp or cottage. Surely you know someone who does. Maybe you can wangle an invite by offering to help put in the dock. It would be cheaper to stay at a hotel than replace the hiking boot that became irretrievably stuck in the muck at the bottom of the lake. Nice artifact.
Why do Canadians buy beer by the 24? Are we used to storing stuff up for the winter? Liquor laws make us generally less able to buy at beer at will, although there are some places where relief is as close as the local dépanneur or the corner store. Incidentally, I love that we, oui, use dépanneur, a name derived from the French verb "to help out of difficulty". Other places it might make sense to buy beer in smaller quantities, say, a six-pack. But here? Some of us are into caching valuables. If you need to go by boat, or the closest store is 20 miles, er kilometers, or more, then you need quantity. It reminds me of the Jeff Foxworthy delivery "...if the directions to your house include "turn left at the beer store"... you just might be a Canadian". (Google gives 1,100,000 results for a search on Canadian comedian. That's funny. Make that 1,100,001.) For some (somewhat dated) observations on being too Canadian see Canadian World Domination
Some samples:
- Your graduation formal dress was made of flannel.
- Your backpack has more than one Canadian flag iron-on.
- You know the names of all the guys in Sloan.
- You have been on Speaker's Corner. Bonus points if they edited out your carefully prepared rant against the Harris government.
- You use a red pen on your non-Canadian textbooks and fill in the missing 'u's from labor, honor, and color.
- You know the French equivalents of "free", "prize" and "no sugar added", thanks to your extensive education in bilingual cereal packaging.
- You still haven't taken down your "NON" posters from the 95 Referendum.
- You know more than 3 guys named Gordon.
The Wiki entry for Victoria Day must have been written by a Canadian. The holiday has been celebrated since 1845. British Monarchs have been in Canada for the party only twice. Victoria Day
The second time was when Queen Elizabeth II was in Canada from 17 May to 25 May 2005, to mark the centennials of the entries of Saskatchewan and Alberta into Confederation, when the fact that it was her official birthday in Canada was completely ignored.*Emphasis added
The entry reveals us at our most venal in a dispute over an outdated largely irrelevant, yet somehow classic Canadian issue. In Quebec they celebrate this holiday as does the Queen, ignoring the day as a celebration of HRH's official birthday. The official holiday is called the Fete de la Reine by the feds. Quebec legislation has changed the name and meaning totally. It is Journée nationale des patriots and celebrates the 1837 rebellion in Lower Canada.
Geddy Lee and the boys ignore the controversy but mention the party in their song:
Rush:
Lakeside Park
... Everyone would gather
On the twenty-fourth of May
Sitting in the sand
To watch the fireworks display.
Dancing fires on the beach,
Singing songs together...
Though it's just a memory,
Some memories last forever.
Take the Rush quiz to see if you have any expertise regarding "unlistenably pretentious heavy metal for semi-literate hosers." CBC Hoser Quiz
In the early eighties Bob and Doug Mackenzie teamed up with Geddy to release a Billboard top 10 number, Take off. No you take off, eh.
Mrs. p2p and I went on a date to see Rush early in the romance. Mrs. p2p was attracted to the promise of percussion cannons that would be used to blast the patrons out of Maple Leaf Gardens onto Carelton St. I was attracted to Mrs. p2p in a pre-engagement sort of way. The date didn't go very well but the romance is still game-on. The guys behind us were smoking something and dropped it on my head, burning my hair and scalp. OUCH! The crowd was starting to get a little wild, throwing firecrackers etc. so I insisted we leave. I yelled at the so-called security people, who, honest to God, stepped over a comatose drunk to grab me and threaten to throw me out for complaining. The guy who passed out was, apparently, considered to be an appreciative fan. Not me. Thanks, I was leaving anyway, boys. But I digress. Where was I? Oh yeah, fireworks.
Fireworks are usually part of the celebration and we'll be joining our friends in their backyard. They're artists. I sometimes like to think of them as circus people, but they're not. They certainly make life more interesting. In the last 10 years or so I find I have more friends who are artists, musicians, visual artists, artisans. (Including my artisan baker)And I appreciate them all the more for their interesting, sometimes eccentric lives. But the reason I think of them as gypsies is in their garden. A backdrop to the celebration will be their gypsy caravan made by another local artisan, Daphne. Daphne's Caravans
No matter how you celebrate this weekend, make it a beauty, eh.
Cheers.
