Some signals of Halloween are: Jack o Latin Pumpkin Skull Vampire Witches
Christmas: On Dec25. It's the New Years Day of Candian people, workers have a day off on this day and students would have a winter holiday during this time. People would gather and held a huge party on this day just like Chinese people do when they celebrite Chinese New Year. The day after Christams is boxing day, it's the lowest price of the year and people would line up in front of the stroes during the night just to get goods.
Boxing day:The day after Christmas, the Feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, is better known as Boxing Day. The term may come from the opening of church poor boxes that day; maybe from the earthenware boxes with which boy apprentices collected money at the doors of their masters' clients.
Nowadays, we often see, in certain families, gifts (boxes) given to those who provide services throughout the year.
"Boxing Day" is listed in the Canada Labour Code as a holiday.
Canada Day:On June 20, 1868, a proclamation signed by the Governor General, Lord Monck, called upon all Her Majesty's loving subjects throughout Canada to join in the celebration of the anniversary of the formation of the union of the British North America provinces in a federation under the name of Canada on July 1st.
The July 1 holiday was established by statute in 1879, under the name Dominion Day.
There is no record of organized ceremonies after this first anniversary, except for the 50th anniversary of Confederation in 1917, at which time the new Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings, under construction, was dedicated as a memorial to the Fathers of Confederation and to the valour of Canadians fighting in the First World War in Europe.
The next celebration was held in 1927 to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation. It was highlighted by the laying of the cornerstone by the Governor General of the Confederation Building on Wellington Street and the inauguration of the Carillon in the Peace Tower.
Since 1958, the government has arranged for an annual observance of Canada's national day with the Secretary of State of Canada in charge of the coordination. The format provided for a Trooping the Colours ceremony on the lawn of Parliament Hill in the afternoon, a sunset ceremony in the evening followed by a mass band concert and fireworks display.
Another highlight was Canada's Centennial in 1967 when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II attended the celebrations with Parliament Hill again being the backdrop for a large scale official ceremony.
The format changed in 1968 with the addition of multicultural and professional concerts held on Parliament Hill including a nationally televised show. Up until 1975, the focus of the celebrations, under the name "Festival Canada", was held in the National Capital Region during the whole month of July and involved numerous cultural, artistic and sport activities, as well as municipalities and voluntary organizations. The celebration was cancelled in 1976 but was reactivated in 1977.
A new formula was developed in 1980 whereby the National Committee (the federal government organization charged with planning Canada's Birthday celebrations) stressed and sponsored the development of local celebrations all across Canada. "Seed money" was distributed to promote popular and amateur activities organized by volunteer groups in hundreds of local communities. The same approach was also followed for the 1981 celebrations with the addition of fireworks displays in 15 major cities across the nation.
On October 27, 1982, July 1st which was known as "Dominion Day" became "Canada Day".
Since 1985, Canada Day Committees are established in each province and territory to plan, organize and coordinate the Canada Day celebrations locally. Grants are provided by the Department to those committees.
Victoria Day:
The Sovereign's birthday has been celebrated in Canada since the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901).
May 24, Queen Victoria's birthday, was declared a holiday by the Legislature of the Province of Canada in 1845.
After Confederation, the Queen's birthday was celebrated every year on May 24 unless that date was a Sunday, in which case a proclamation was issued providing for the celebration on May 25.
After the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, an Act was passed by the Parliament of Canada establishing a legal holiday on May 24 in each year (or May 25 if May 24 fell on a Sunday) under the name Victoria Day.
The birthday of King Edward VII, who was born on November 9, was by yearly proclamation during his reign (1901-1910) celebrated on Victoria Day.
Quebec Day:"Quebec Day" is officially called "Fete nationale du Quebec" and is celebrated on June 24th, the Saint-John-the-Baptist day, the saint patron of Quebecers and most French-Canadians (except Acadians who have as saint patron Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption (Assumption in English?), but they still celebrate Saint-John's, it's just not as big a holiday for them. Acadians were never historically called French-Canadians, even though they are French and "Canadians" but in another sense... ***
In Ontario, the Franco-Ontarians still call it the "Saint-Jean-Baptiste" and they have a festival in Ottawa during that week called the "Festival Franco-Ontarien".
Even if the government of Quebec gave the day a more laic name, the day is still referred to as "Saint-Jean-Baptiste" by most people I know.
There is a Quebec Flag Day sometime in March or April... But it's no big deal here, they just show on TV a huge flag suspended somewhere.
***Here is the story : In the 1600', there were 2 French people in North America : Canadiens and Acadiens.
Canada and Acadie, Louisiana and some other territories like Detroit were referred to as New-France.
The British first conquered Acadie and deported its population to Louisiana, France and England (1755).
Then Canada (Quebec and Ontario) was conquered (1759-1760). The British were still called British and the French born in Canada were the Canadiens.
Around the time of the actual federation (1867), the British started referring to themselves as Canadians, and the "Canadiens" to differentiate from them called themselves French-Canadians (Canadiens-Francais).
In the 1960s, French-Canadians of Quebec felt humiliated to have a name that gave the impression that they were a minority in their own country (province). So the name Quebecois became more and more popular...
To this day, Acadians are rarely referred to as French-Canadians. The official federation of francophone minorities in Canada is called : Federations des communautes francophones et acadiennes du Canada. So they're not even referred to as francophones!
"Acadie Day", is of course "Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption Day", August 15th, and it is the day their flag was adopted in 1884. I don't think it is referred to as Flag Day, though.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 27 February 1997
I wrote the first two and got the rest on line.The things I wrote may have some grammer and spelling mistakes in them. You'd beter check them before you use them. Good luck with them. You can ask more if you need them.