Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada The Great Canadian Long Weekend! What is Victoria Day exactly?

Which we refer to as Victoria Day Weekend, May 2-4 weekend and by some, dead queen day. Here's the old girl now!


Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria was, shall we say, not particularly attractive, and I've often wondered why she wore this tiny crown on her head. Compare that to Camilla. who, by all appearances, wore a big crown on her head. It has been said that neither Victoria nor Camilla is particularly attractive. You'll get no argument from me on that!


Queen Camilla

Canada celebrates Victoria Day, but what is it actually? I'm glad you asked.

Briefly, Queen Victoria was born on May 24, 1819 and died on January 22, 1901. She ruled for 63 years and 216 days which makes her second to Queen Elizabeth II in time on the throne. (Just imagine the line up waiting for her to finish!)

QEII ruled for 72 years and 110 days - about nine years longer.

What we now know as Victoria Day came about courtesy of Sir Wilfred Laurier's Liberal government in 1901. Queen Victoria died and Ottawa made Victoria's birthday an official Canadian holiday later that same year.

Okay, it was already a "sort of" holiday, but here’s the deal…

Victoria Day actually started in 1845, when the Province of Canada (We weren't a country yet) declared the 24th of May a holiday. But let's be clear - it was just a single day with no long weekend. And it was only "celebrated" on the 24th, no matter on which day it landed.

It wasn’t really much of a holiday. Like most things British, it was a formal affair. All the army guys marched around (probably) cursing the old girl because her birthday was a parade day. Lucky them! They had to work!

As well, because Canada didn't actually become Canada until 1867, Victoria Day was technically a British holiday. Confused yet?

In other places of the world, what Canadians call "Victoria day" was marked as "Empire Day".

Anyway, Queen Victoria rules for 64 years, but dies in January of 1901. The Canadian government may have attempted to suck up to the British by officially naming Victoria Day a national holiday here. We'll never know, but what we do know is that the prime minister at the time, Sir Wilfred Laurier, was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1897. There might have been some payback going on. And he was a Liberal. I'm just speculating, of course.

That's how we ended up with the Victoria Day holiday. Over the years, it has expanded from a single day into a long weekend. And for anyone who isn't Canadian, May 2-4 weekend is considered to be the kickoff for the summer and the good weather.

Hé! Je vous en prie! But you don't have to thank me...

All the kids in Ontario used to blast off firecrackers on that day. It was a hoot.

Charlie has zero taste in women. Stiff Upper lip Old Chap lol

Someone told Camillla that the little crown made her azz look fat, which is why she opted to the big crown.

We would hoard our allowances and buy as much as we could. And there was no minimum age to possess them.

Time to go fishing !

It is indeed.