From Newsgroup: sci.lang

Well, there was
Buddha's Birthday (5 May) in Hong Kong. and then
Visakha Bucha (11 May + "VB Holiday" on the 12th) in Thailand
and Vesak (12 May) in Singapore. Both given as (Buddha Day).

"The name Vesak is derived from the Pali term ves-Ukha or Sanskrit
vai+c-Ukha for the lunar month of Vaisakha, which is considered the month
of Buddha's birth."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesak

Bucha may be what little Thai dictionary has as buu-chaa 'worship
(sacred objects)'.

But the 11th was also Mothers' Day! (There's a question about the
apostrophe already.) I had a nice lunch at Japanese restaurant called
Sora ('sky'), with two mothers and four of their children.

In my original list, Mothers' Day (11 May) is listed only for Puerto
Rico! That's probably because it's not a public holiday in most places.
And maybe also because it's got different dates. There's a handy table
here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother%27s_Day
(note %27 apostrophe)

"In 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrase "Second Sunday in May,
Mother's Day, Anna Jarvis, Founder", and created the Mother's Day International Association. She specifically noted that "Mother's" should
"be a singular possessive, for each family to honor its own mother, not
a plural possessive commemorating all mothers in the world." This is
also the spelling used by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in his 1914 presidential proclamation, by the U.S. Congress in relevant bills, and
by various U.S. presidents in their proclamations concerning Mother's Day."

Nah. Don't like that attitude. I prefer apostrophe last, or none.

The 5th (of May) was actually quite a busy day, with 8 different
countries celebrating this and that. I'll mention only:

Day of the Restoration of Latvian Independence
(that's the post-Soviet one, 1990, if you're keeping track of these
Baltic countries)

Bank Holiday (Ireland)
Early May Bank Holiday (UK)
I've always wondered about these generic-sounding "bank holidays".
What are they celebrating? Banks being closed?
Are there any distinctive customs or traditions?

And finally, in Canada, 19 May was Victoria Day.
Yes, it's about the Queen of that name. (In French it's called F|-te de
la Reine.) Used to be 24 May (QV's actual birthday); now Mondayized, and serves as official birthday of whoever's on the throne. Victoria was on
it at the time of Confederation (1867), which is Canada's origin story.
Hence, says Wiki, she is known as the "Mother of Confederation", though
I can't remember ever hearing that expression.

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