This weekend is a public holiday in Canada - Victoria Day, which is the equivalent of the Australian Queen's Birthday weekend. Local parlance calls it the "May 2-4 weekend", and there are a few traditions around this time of year that I've been told about.
The name "May 2-4" weekend is given partially because it falls on the 3rd Monday of May, which is usually on or close to May 24th. The other part is because a "2-4" is Ontario slang for a slab/carton/24-pack of beer, and apparently that's what one should traditionally spend this weekend doing. It's also the unofficial start of summer, and following on from that, the unofficial start of BBQing season, so it's time to turn on the BBQ and cook up some... I don't know what yet. I'll let you know when we go to a Canadian BBQ.
Apparently this weekend is also the traditional weekend on which Canadians open their cottages. From what I've been told, many people own cottages around the nearby lakes, a couple of hours drive away. These are usually shut up in winter while it's snowing, but in summer, people like to go to their cottages for the weekend and drink beer and BBQ things. I swear, Canadians are Australians' snowbound cousins - all of these holidays could directly transpose to Australia and no one would blink an eye.
In other news, the tulips are out in High Park:
There are a huge number of tulips around in Toronto and apparently there are even more up in Ottawa. I had no idea, but apparently there is a significance to this: during World War II, when the Germans invaded Holland, the Dutch Crown Princess Juliana and her two daughters (one of whom is the current queen) fled to Canada for safety from the Nazis, and lived in Ottawa for the duration of the war. The Princess became pregnant while in Canada, and they had to declare some rooms in the hospital as belonging to the Netherlands so that the new princess could be born with solely Dutch citizenship. Finally, at the end of the war, it was Canadian troops that liberated the Netherlands. For all of these reasons, Holland apparently gifted a huge number of tulips to Canada, and continues to do so every year.
We've been spending our long weekend relaxing, walking in the park, studying and play board games with our Canadian friends. There has been a distinct lack of 2-4s, but still, it's nice to have a break :)
The name "May 2-4" weekend is given partially because it falls on the 3rd Monday of May, which is usually on or close to May 24th. The other part is because a "2-4" is Ontario slang for a slab/carton/24-pack of beer, and apparently that's what one should traditionally spend this weekend doing. It's also the unofficial start of summer, and following on from that, the unofficial start of BBQing season, so it's time to turn on the BBQ and cook up some... I don't know what yet. I'll let you know when we go to a Canadian BBQ.
Apparently this weekend is also the traditional weekend on which Canadians open their cottages. From what I've been told, many people own cottages around the nearby lakes, a couple of hours drive away. These are usually shut up in winter while it's snowing, but in summer, people like to go to their cottages for the weekend and drink beer and BBQ things. I swear, Canadians are Australians' snowbound cousins - all of these holidays could directly transpose to Australia and no one would blink an eye.
In other news, the tulips are out in High Park:
Def get up to a cottage at the Muskoka's if you can, its stunning. I'd move to TO just to have that on my doorstep!
ReplyDeletebec
what lovely photos and what a lot of good memories you will have. You are learning every day and so am I from the information in your blog.
ReplyDeletelove gran x