Happy Commonwealth Day to all members!

norvic · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2012 23:11:04 pm

And hands up all those who thought Commonwealth Day (previously Empire Day) was still 24th May :lol:

aethelwulf · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2012 23:16:34 pm

Canada has the 24th of May as a public holiday--'we' call it Victoria Day. Its not necessarily celebrated precisely on the 24th though, we always take the Monday before closest to the 24th, so that everyone has a 'long' (3-day) weekend.

Commonwealth Day...never heard of it. :oops:

There was a stamp issued in ca. 1982 that I think celebrated that...or was it just Canada's hosting of the Commonwealth Summit or somesuch?

Jack · **Posted:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 02:33:01 am

Sorry Norvic, but does anyone really care about this? Or know about it?

HalfpennyYellow · **Posted:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 02:36:18 am

On Wikipedia there is:

Quote:

Commonwealth Day is the annual celebration of the Commonwealth of Nations held on the second Monday in March, and marked by a multi-faith service in Westminster Abbey, normally attended by HM Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth, with the Commonwealth Secretary-General and Commonwealth High Commissioners in London. The Queen delivers an address to the Commonwealth, broadcast throughout the world. Also, in the year before the quadrennial Commonwealth Games, the Queen starts the Queen's Baton Relay on Commonwealth Day at Buckingham Palace, handing the baton to the first relay runner to start a journey that will end at the Opening Ceremony of the upcoming Games.

While it has a certain official status, Commonwealth Day is not a public holiday in most Commonwealth countries and there is little public awareness of it.

Jack · **Posted:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 02:52:04 am

And more Wiki

'United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, the Union Flag is flown from public buildings on the second Monday in March to mark Commonwealth Day.'

Gosh, no wonder we love it so much...

norvic · **Posted:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 03:08:37 am

Jack wrote:

Sorry Norvic, but does anyone really care about this? Or know about it?

Now you asked the question that I didn't, and somebody else posted the answer that I was going to

The main point of starting this off was to see how many people were aware, and how many were surprised, like I was, that it wasn't May 24th.

Empire Day was May 24th still celebrated, as our member above reported, in Canada as Victoria Day - it was Queen Victoria's birthday. When I was at school we knew about it, and new that it had changed to Commonwealth Day. What I didn't know was that the C'wealth Heads of Government conference voted to change the date to something with no previous history, hence the 2nd Monday in March.

Does it matter?, only to those who want it to. Should we worry or knock it?, no - the continuance of the commonwealth of nations is no harm as a body of parliamentarians in discussion and promoting mutual trade. The fact that it now includes countries* with no ties to Britain is testament to its usefulness to some.

* which are.... ?

ivqii · **Posted:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 03:36:50 am

Mocambique for one -I could never understand this - well maybe via Chinde as the most tenuous of connections ( bit like Luke McClean playing for Italy )

drh · **Posted:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 15:23:35 pm

Or Manny Tualago for England!

aethelwulf · **Posted:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 16:52:02 pm

A non-Commonwealth country joining up could be a strategic political move for economic reasons -- they might hope there will be special trade treaties that being a member will make them privy to. The customs duty on bananas comes to mind, and the stink that Costa Rica IIRC made about that--bananas into the UK from Commonwealth countries were given preference over non-Commonwealth bananas.

The world is awash in regional organisations--everyone knows the EU obviously, but what about CARICOM, ECOWAS, ASEAN, APEC; the French and Portuguese former-colony equivalents to Commonwealth; and the list goes on. Doesn't hurt to build ties with 'friends', no matter how tenuous. But if you start letting in places like Mocambique to the British Commonwealth, then the whole rationale behind the grouping starts to fall apart.

HalfpennyYellow · **Posted:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 20:25:33 pm

aethelwulf wrote:

But if you start letting in places like Mocambique to the British Commonwealth, then the whole rationale behind the grouping starts to fall apart.

Rwanda is also a member of the Commonwealth.

From Wiki:

Quote:

The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states. All but two of these countries (Mozambique and Rwanda) were formerly part of the British Empire, out of which it developed.

Allanswood · **Posted:** Wed Mar 14, 2012 00:05:50 am

I can honestly say that I have never heard of "Commonwealth Day". Growing up in NSW, there are/were no Public holidays around March (apart from Easter) or May.

By sheer (don't know?) coincidence, Canberra (the nation's capital), celebrates it's birthday on the same day.

AMark · **Posted:** Wed Mar 14, 2012 07:07:50 am

aethelwulf wrote:

Commonwealth Day...never heard of it. :oops:

There was a stamp issued in ca. 1982 that I think celebrated that...or was it just Canada's hosting of the Commonwealth Summit or somesuch?

aethelwulf,

I think you are referring to the Constitution stamp, which celebrated the passage of the Canada Act.

Canada Act was passed by the British Parliament which allowed Canada to amend its own Constitution.

PeterS · **Posted:** Wed Mar 14, 2012 08:03:02 am

We haven't celebrated Commonwealth (previously Empire) Day in Australia in my memory. Last Monday was a public holiday here (2nd Monday in March) for the 8 hour day (well, only in some States of the Commonwealth, others celebrate it on different dates).

We celebrate the Queen's Birthday (with the traditional long weekend) on the second Monday in June (even though HM Queen Elizabeth II was born on 21st April).


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Happy Commonwealth Day to all members!

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