From Newsgroup: sci.lang
1 August was Swiss National Day.
As always: why this day?
As usually, Wiki has an answer.
As often, it is not a simple matter.
Federal Charter of 1291 (Pacte du Gr|+tli), when three Alpine cantons
(Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden) swore the oath of confederation, "said to
have taken place in early August".
Its anniversary was not celebrated until somebody had the idea of "a celebration in Bern in 1891 that would combine the city's 700th
anniversary with the Confederacy's 600th anniversary."
At this period, the Swiss were more likely to think of the anniversary
of their nationhood as 8 November, the date of the R|+tlischwur (1307).
(That one's actually in _Wilhem Tell_.)
Only in the 20th century did the August date become more prominent, and
it's only been an official holiday from 1994.
ObLang: Schwur 'oath' -- a new German word for me. But they also have
Eid, which is cognate with the English. Is there a difference?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_National_Day
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4 August, things get busy:
In Iceland: Fr|!dagur verslunarmanna or Verslunarmannahelgi (translated
as "Merchants Day" or "Commerce Day") (first Monday in August).
I can't find out anything about what inspired this holiday, except that
it's said to date from 1894. Just to show the world that Iceland's "business-friendly"?
ObLang: My information on Icelandic is so poor that I can't even guess
at an etymology for "verslunarmanna".
Could "Commerce Day" be related to "bank holiday"? I used to hear/read
this expression from British sources and didn't understand it. A day off
for the poor hard-working banks, so they can take the kids to the beach?
In fact it seems to be just a generic.
Wiki:
A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom and
the Crown Dependencies, and a colloquial term for a public holiday in
Ireland. In the United Kingdom, the term refers to all public holidays,
be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation, or held by convention under common law. In Ireland, there are some bank holidays
which are not public holidays.
The term "bank holiday" refers to the fact that banking institutions
typically close for business on such holidays, as they once did on
certain saint's days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_holiday
The whole thing dates to the "Bank Holidays Act 1871", which, along with Easter Monday, Whit Monday, and Boxing Day, proclaimed the first Monday
in August "August Bank Holiday", just because it would be nice to have a holiday about that time. (Changed to last Monday in August, 1960s, for England, Wales and NIreland, but still first Monday in Scotland.)
Anyhow, my master list has "Bank Holiday" on 4 August in Ireland, which
would appear to have a similar origin.
But what's this? Another generic? "Civic Holiday" in Canada (except
Quebec)?!
Never heard of it, me (born and raised in Canada).
Turns out it's not really nationally mandated, but an amalgamation of a
lot of local and provincial holidays, which still go by many local
names, mostly not dating earlier than the 1970s. After my time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civic_Holiday
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