Talk:Commonwealth Day

Commonwealth Day in the Northern Marianas Islands

Although the Northern Marianas Islands does have a holiday called "Commonwealth Day", it is nothing to do with the holiday observed in the Commonwealth of Nations. Rather, it marks the day - January 8, 1978 - when the the first government of the USA-associated Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands took office. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.210.168.158 (talk) 01:15, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

Date

If "the second Monday in March was adopted", why does the infobox say 24 May? Fredsie (talk) 10:48, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Why was the date changed? Flosssock1 (talk) 16:11, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Relevancy of quoted page

The quoted page

http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/jfa-ha/commonwealth_e.cfm

is not particularly relevant. Yep i totally agree. Not only is Commonwealth Day not a holiday in Canada, I don't believe you can pick up a newspaper or turn on the radio or TV on the second Monday in March and have anyone tell you, hey, today is Commonwealth Day. It's entirely unobserved and unknown. I personally never heard of it until I followed a "What links here" to this page.

Having an official government proclamation that the second Monday in March is "Commonwealth Day" is roughly on par with the government officially proclaiming the first Thursday in December as "National Breakfast Cereal Awareness Day" or some such silliness that governments are wont to do.

Presumably in some other countries the day is better known and is actually observed. I thought the statement that it's not observed in Canada was just a non-controversial statement of fact, due to the fact that we decided to stick with Victoria Day instead of moving to a new holiday in March.

P.T. Aufrette 05:14, 1 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Perhaps you're expecting it to be celebrated in some countries like Victoria Day is celebrated in Canada. It's not. It's not a holiday in most other Commonwealth countries either: in the UK it's simply a Flag Day, just like the anniversary of the Queen's wedding or the birthday of Prince Edward. The point in choosing the second Monday in March was (it appears) that it was a date on which children would be at school and could be taught about the Commonwealth. Personally, I think this is rather stupid, since anyone can tell you that what children notice most are holidays, but then I don't get a vote in CHOGM.

Chances are if you ask anyone in the UK, Australia or NZ, 99% of them wouldn't know what Commonwealth Day is or when it falls. Empire Day, when it fell on 24 May, was observed in many parts of the Empire, but it seems now only to be observed (at least on a nearby day) in Canada. Andrew Yong 20:45, 1 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Yes, I got the impression from the article that Commonwealth Day was celebrated as a public holiday in other countries, and wanted to clarify that Canada does not do so. If the situation is the same everywhere, then there's no need to make such a distinction. P.T. Aufrette 01:00, 2 Jun 2004 (UTC)

The quoted page is relevant. It shows that Canada does observe Commonwealth day (though it is not a statutory holiday). The fact that you have never heard of it is not relevant. This is an encyclopedia, not a compendium of common knowledge. HistoryBA 23:33, 1 Jun 2004 (UTC)

You're being a touch pedantic. The reality is, although Halloween or Valentine's Day are probably not officially proclaimed in any way, they are widely known and "observed". Whereas Commonwealth Day is not, in actual practice, known or observed.

Put it this way: an American might read the article and decide to send an e-mail to an Australian or Canadian acquaintance wishing them a happy Commonwealth Day, only to draw a blank. Anyways, it's no big deal. P.T. Aufrette 01:00, 2 Jun 2004 (UTC)

You shouldn't be troubled by a "touch" of pendantry. This is an encyclopedia, after all, and most of us are here because we are pedants. Why not add a sentence to the article making the points you raised above: that it is official recognized in Canada, though it is not a statutory holiday and few Canadians know about it? HistoryBA 01:19, 2 Jun 2004 (UTC)

• I would hope an American would send a Canadian friend an e-mail Empire Day is one of the most important days of the year after all. Jamhaw 18:55, 7 November 2007 (UTC)jamhaw

The first time that I heard of Victoria Day was while living in Dundee. For some reason it is still celebrated as a holiday there (although nowhere else in the UK that I am aware of). -- Derek Ross | Talk 15:50, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

---

Sugar pictures

"In England making pictures out of sugar is a well known way of celebrating Commonwealth Day." - is it? Admittedly, I live in Scotland, but I'm sure I would have heard about it by now. --Taras 17:53, 17 May 2005 (UTC)

Of course it isn't. Someone is playing silly buggers.

The commonwealth day stamps 1983 from maldives and pakistan do not exist

I have checked many wedsites looking for those two and found nothing.If you find anything that sells those two stamps,give me the websites

the commonwealth day stamps 1983 from maldives and pakistan do not exist

I have checked many wedsites looking for those two and found nothing.If you find anything that sells those two,give me the websites — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.50.126.107 (talk) 02:17, 9 November 2012 (UTC)

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The date?

I am sure, in around 1953, in England, I had to tell the school that today was Commonwealth Day, October 26 I thought. I was only about six, but I was chosen because I could read long words.

49.145.141.69 (talk) 04:08, 17 November 2018 (UTC)

It was still known as "Empire Day" and was still on 24 May in NSW (Australia) when I was in early primary school. I'm talking about early 1960s. I'm not sure when this changed but it must have been after 1958. Actually, I have an idea that it might have been officially "Empire and Commonwealth Day" or even "British Empire and Commonwealth Day" for a time. That was also when we'd hold "Cracker Night" back then, before privately lit fireworks and associated bonfires were banned at some point. Metamagician3000 (talk) 08:34, 18 May 2022 (UTC)

May to March, and 1902/1904/1916

As some of the above discussion illustrates, there is confusion about the March date of Commonwealth Day versus the former May date of Empire Day. I have reworded 'formerly Empire Day' to 'replacing the former Empire Day', and also mentioned in the Canada section that the original date is still celebrated as Victoria Day. According to the Victoria Day article, it was renamed in 1958 (corresponding to the Macmillan reference here) and moved to March in 1977, but no reference is given there for either change.

That article also strongly indicates, although it does not quite explicitly state, that Victoria Day is older and is what became Empire Day from 1904. But that conflicts with the 1902 and 1916 dates given here.

Empire Day

I would have thought that Empire Day, having been a far more important event on the calendar than Commonwealth Day, would have its own article, and not be merely redirected to this one, where it’s given a derisory 2 or 3 paragraphs. The British Empire was of immense importance, and Empire Day celebrated as such for several decades. In comparison, Commonwealth Day is a non-event. Boscaswell talk 10:13, 3 November 2022 (UTC)

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