coöpted culture holidays

[rone]

So St. Patrick's Day is when we pretend we care about Ireland by eating something nobody in Ireland eats, Cinco de Mayo is when we pretend we care about Mexico by drinking something nobody in Mexico drinks... what else is out there (not counting all the Pagan holidays the Christians swiped)?

Comments

[deirdremoon.livejournal.com]

Umm... Groundhog Day is notoriously spent without inviting any local groundhogs to the festivities. Racist, really, although they're so segregated at this point that I'd be hard-pressed to even say where they hang out locally.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I'd say more "speciesist" than "racist" but that's just a semantic quibble.

[erikred.livejournal.com]

There's all of the revelers at Mardi Gras who mysteriously fail to show up for Ash Wednesday Mass.

Btw, your lj icon is so very appropriate today.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I've been fairly surly (HOW CAN U TELL LOL shaddap) for the last couple of weeks.

[erikred.livejournal.com]

See what happens when you miss you brother's birthday party? Not only do you miss a chance to get in on the Pope Pool, you end up surly as hell.

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of that one, too.

I'd say something about getting plowed on the 4th of July, but Americans DO drink beer (or something claiming to be beer, anyway), so that's no go.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but that's our own culture. Now, if Canadians started drinking on the 4th of July and acting like overweight assholes...

[ptomblin-lj.livejournal.com]

Canadians drinking heavily on July 4th and acting like assholes generally started on July 1st and haven't stopped yet 3 days later. You can see them on any cottage infested lake in Ontario.

There's all of the revelers at Mardi Gras who mysteriously fail to show up for Ash Wednesday Mass.

[infrogmation.livejournal.com]

Not to mention all the people who get get ashes or marked Lent &/or Easter, but who failed to celebrate Mardi Gras.

FOR SHAME!!!

[matrushkaka.livejournal.com]

And green rivers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Chicago_River_dyed_green%2C_focus_on_river.jpg). What the FUCK.

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

The bakery where I worked in high school dyed the BREAD green.

And people got upset when we ran out, and had to sell undyed bread instead.

What. The. Fuck.

[matrushkaka.livejournal.com]

Ye gads, that is horrifying.

[frosch.livejournal.com]

I have mercifully forgotten which Disney movie Hershey promoted by selling green chocolate syrup.

if youre in chicago:

[lara7.livejournal.com]

there's kasimir pulaski day, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_Pulaski_Day
(which often falls on my birthday) in which you can pretend to care about Polish people.

Re: if youre in chicago:

[erikred.livejournal.com]

I'm a quarter Polish, which means I'm entitled to all the kielbasa I can eat yet still only suffer a quarter the cholesterol.

I guess this makes me a one-and-a-quarter-foot pole.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Every time you go out for Chinese.

[erikred.livejournal.com]

Fair enough, in broad terms, but not a holiday per se. Now, in the Bay Area, Chinese New Year sort of qualifies, in much the same way that St. Patrick's Day in Boston does.

Gun hay fat choy!

[glitter-ninja.livejournal.com]

I thought it was gung hay fat choy. Crap. What have I been saying? "Your mother is a turnip"?

Was St Patrick's Day ever a real holiday, or was it originally one of those saint's days the wacky Catholics are all so crazy about? I ask this of everyone, not just Erik, even though he's the lucky recipient of this followup.

[sanspoof.livejournal.com]

...Wait, what does one eat on St. Patrick's day? I thought it was an all-beverage holiday.

[(Anonymous)]

Corned beef & cabbage, colcannon, grass, and Irish Spring.
--surferelf

Bastille Day

[(Anonymous)]

Bastille Day doesn't qualify with Cinco de Mayo and St PAtrick's Day in the sense that nobody actually does or eats anything unusual, but still: everywhere in the entire world it's called Bastille Day, and nobody in France calls it Bastille Day. It's just The Fourteenth of July.

Thib ;-)

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Ha! Good one.

Re: Bastille Day

[infrogmation.livejournal.com]

Bastille Day and Cinco de Mayo are the pro and anti French holidays. The Queen's birthday and the 4th of July are, I guess, the pro and anti English holidays. Here in New Orleans they are excuses to drink, as is any other event.

Re: Bastille Day

[lusercop.livejournal.com]

Here in England - I'd have trouble telling you when the Queen's birthday (official or real) was. I think this thread has summarised all the important ones, though. One thing that I've noted about all this fake irish crud from last night, is that I'm only aware of it having really happened in the last 2 or 3 years, and mainly as some kind of Guinness marketing campaign. I suppose the other one that gets celebrated in England is Burns Night (with Haggis and Whisky - not that I really need an excuse to drink a decent scotch!), but I don't think that's particularly widespread, and it may well be that all the people I know have a scottish connection.

(at this point I'm thinking of Bill Bailey when talking about the terrorism threat, and somehow he'd ended up imagining a world without cheese: "the Welsh national dish would be toast!")

Re: Bastille Day

[ptomblin-lj.livejournal.com]

In Canada one of the biggest drinking holidays of the year is Victoria Day. The birthday of a monarch who never visited Canada, and who is long dead. But it's a good convenient time to open up the cottage or go camping.

Re: Bastille Day

[(Anonymous)]

One of the two -- official or actual -- is April 21st. I know because that's my birthday too. I was in England at that time of year at least three times and so I'd wake up to a parading fanfare of guards in front of Buckingham Palace on television. I always thought it was quite cool even though it wasn't for me :-)

Thib ;-)

Re: Bastille Day

[richtermom.livejournal.com]

Actually, in Milwaukee, the City of Coopted Festivals, we do celebrate Bastille Days. It's a long weekend holiday where we block off some downtown streets and have a great big block party. Three music stages, a bunch of food vendors, lots of other booths, and it's all kicked off by a "Run for the Bastille" at night on the 14th.

We were established by guys named Vieau and Juneau and Marquette.

Re: Bastille Day

[(Anonymous)]

Holy cow.

Thib ;-)

[littleamerica.livejournal.com]

Oktoberfest?
The Ides of March?

The former is when we celebrate a harvest we're no longer participating in by drinking American beer. I think the latter is just a drinking holiday for Classics nerds, where they celebrate the liberation of Rome from the man who liberated it from democracy. Or is that republicanism? Plutocracy? Whatever.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Definitely Oktoberfest. I don't know anyone who celebrates the Ides of March other than with light paranoia and dread, and, really, that happens every day these days.

[kerri9494.livejournal.com]

Wow, I can't believe I'm the first to mention St. Joseph's Day, which is TODAY!

http://www.bulin.com/stjoe/sjfeast.html

It's an Italian/Christian holiday. The way one celebrates is to eat zeppoles (http://www.getdoms.com/scans/Zeppole%202.jpg). MMMmmmmmm. Zeppoles.

The City of CoOpted Cultural Festivals

[richtermom.livejournal.com]

We've got this huge festival park right down on our lakefront where every weekend seems to bring a huge bunch of people ready to celebrate the differences that would usually provoke marches and court fights. Here's the 2004 schedule.



Asian Moon Festival
June 11-14, 2004 at the Henry Marier Festival Park. The first ethnic festival of the season features asian foods, music, drumming, dancing, and over 1500 entertainers and martial artists.

Polish Fest
June 18-20, 2004 at Henry Maier Festival Park. Holy Peirogi! If you missed your paczki on Fat Tuesday, head down to Maier Festival Park for Polish food, culture, and entertainment.

Summerfest
June 24-July 4, 2004. The Big Gig. Each year, more than one million attendees drink beer, eat fried egg plant, and generally whoop it up at this 11-day event. Featuring both top name entertainers and unknowns on 13 stages, Summerfest also offers children's activities, amusement park rides, water shows, and shopping.

Bastille Days
July 8-11, 2004. Storm the Bastille, enjoy une crepe, visit a replica of the Eiffle Tower, or harass a mime. Just watch out for the enourmous puppets. Held in the streets near Cathedral Square; absolutely free.

The Great Circus Parade
July 3, 2004. From 1963 to 2003, this parade of 75 historic circus wagons made its way once a year from the Circus World Museum in Baraboo to Milwaukee, passing through downtown on its way to the lakefront. Not so anymore. You'll have to go to Baraboo.

Festa Italiana
July 15-18, 2004. A festival you can't refuse.


German Fest
July 23-25, 2004. Schnitzel, lederhosen, sheepshead, beer. What more do you need?

African World Festival
July 30-August 1, 2004. Celebrates African and African-American culture with a weekend of food, dancing, entertainment, and more.

Wisconsin State Fair
August 5-15, 2004. More barnyard animals than you can shake a stick at. Watch sheep get sheared, check out the cows, catch some music. Just don't forget to get your creampuff!

Arab World Fest
August 6-8, 2004. Grab some falafel and practice your belly dancing! The Arab World Fest celebrates Middle Eastern culture with food, entertainment, dancing, and more.

Irish Fest
August 19-22, 2004. The world's largest Irish cultural festival. Learn to play the tin whistle, eat hearty stew, watch the Trinity Dancers, and drink lots of Guiness. You can enter your child in the red hair contest, but look out - my niece is going to win next year. Held at Maier Park.

Freeway Flyer Service

Mexican Fiesta
August 27-29, 2004. Plenty of food, mariachi, and fiesta for all. What began as a small celebration in the Walker's Point neighborhood has grown to the midwest's largest Mexican festival. Held at Henry Maier Festival Park.

Indian Summer
September 10-12, 2004. Indian Summer comes a little early in Milwaukee. Celebrating both contemporary and traditional Native American culture, this festival showcases Native American artists and entertainers. Don't miss the competition Pow-Wow.

Re: The City of CoOpted Cultural Festivals

[lusercop.livejournal.com]

Bastille Days
July 8-11, 2004. Storm the Bastille, enjoy une crepe, visit a replica of the Eiffle Tower, or harass a mime. Just watch out for the enourmous puppets. Held in the streets near Cathedral Square; absolutely free.


I'm starting to think of sick juggling as something very french. There's a guy called Julien, who does some wonderful stuff with 1 or 2 diabolos. He also juggles in a particularly sick way. He's not the only French person to juggle in a sick way...