Category Archives: Holidays

Holidays

What’s open, what’s closed

What’s open, what’s closed in N.B. for Thanksgiving

Schools, universities will be closed

CBC News ·
Drugstores will have reduced service but most other retailers will be closed on Thanksgiving Monday.

Most municipal services and retailers around the province will be closed on Monday for the Thanksgiving holiday. Schools, universities and colleges will also be closed. Some services or retailers will be operating with modified holiday hours.

Here’s a snapshot of what’s open and what’s closed on Thanksgiving Monday.

Retail and grocery:

  • Most Shoppers Drug Mart locations will be open with reduced hours depending on location.

  • Sobeys, Atlantic Superstore and Walmart stores will be closed.

  • N.B. Liquor locations will be closed.

  • Regent Mall, McAllister Place and Champlain Place will be closed.

  • The Saint John City Market will be closed.

Tourist attractions:

  • The Hopewell Rocks will be open from 9 a.m to 5 p.m.

  • The Magnetic Hill Zoo will be open.

  • The Fredericton Region Museum will be closed.

Government offices, public services:

  • Service Canada will be closed.

  • Saint John city hall, Fredericton city Hall, Moncton city hall and civic administrative offices will be closed.

  • Saint John Transit and Fredericton Transit will not be running.

  • Codiac Transpo in Moncton will operate on a modified schedule.

  • Service New Brunswick will be closed.

  • Regular garbage collection will occur across the province.

  • Fredericton arenas, sports fields and the indoor pool will remain open.

  • Public libraries across New Brunswick will be closed.

Universities and schools:

  • Schools will be closed.

  • New Brunswick Community College will have no classes.

  • New Brunswick College of Craft and Design will have no classes.

  • Mount Allison, St. Thomas universities and UNB in Saint John and Fredericton will have no classes.

Fun Holidays

International Coffee Day

October 1 is annually celebrated as International Coffee Day. The unofficial holiday celebrates one of the most popular beverages in the world – coffee.

30,000+ Best Coffee Photos · 100% Free Download · Pexels Stock Photos

The holiday also helps raise awareness about sustainable coffee cultivation and fair trade practices within the coffee industry. Before 2015 the day used to be celebrated on different dates in different countries.

Coffee is a drink made from the seeds or berries of the coffee plant. As a beverage, it has been enjoyed by people around the world for many centuries. Historians believe that coffee was first discovered in Ethiopia but was cultivated on a large scale and traded for the first time by the Arabs.

Religious Ceremonies

Initially used for religious ceremonies and rituals, it became the beverage of choice in most households in the Middle East, Persia and Africa by the 16th century and in Europe and the Americas by the 17th century.

A Crime

Despite its popularity today, coffee had its share of critics in history. Sultan Murad IV of the Ottoman Empire hated coffee so much that he made coffee drinking an offense punishable by death. In England, King Charles II fearing plots hatched over cups of coffee ordered all coffee houses shut.

Many countries celebrate their own version of a Coffee Day on different dates during the year. For example, Germany started Tag Des Kaffees in 2006 and celebrates it every year on the first Saturday of September.

In the United States, National Coffee Day is celebrated on September 29.

The holiday has unknown origins and is also sometimes known as Coffee Day.

What to do

Whether your “cup of coffee” is a refreshing iced coffee or a piping hot Americano, Espresso, Café au Lait (coffee with milk), or plain black with no sugar, International Coffee Day is a day to take some time off from your busy day to enjoy your favorite version of the beverage. Here are some ways to celebrate this day:

  • Many coffee shops around the world offer a free cup of coffee on International Coffee Day, so get in line and grab yourself a cup of free coffee.
  • Have coffee or coffee flavored food and beverages the whole day long. What about starting your day with coffee, have a coffee flavored yogurt for lunch and end the day with coffee crusted steak and a coffee flavored cake for dessert?
  • Coffee bring friends together. Set up coffee dates with your friends and spend quality time with them over a cup of coffee.
  • Join a coffee tasting event and learn about the art and science of growing and brewing coffee.
  • Try new flavors and types of coffee.

 

Holidays

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation a national holiday in Canada?

The statutory holiday applies to all federal employees and workers in federally regulated workplaces. All federally regulated industries and workplaces will be closed, including banks, post offices and public services.

However, the majority of provinces and territories – with the exception of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut – have not followed the federal government’s move to make the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation a statutory holiday for its workers. British Columbia has also introduced legislation in February to make Sept. 30 a statutory holiday.

Some schools across Canada will also be closed on either the Friday before or the Monday after National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Schools will be closed this year in British Columbia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Yukon, Nunavut, and select school districts in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

What is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation?

The day is a direct response to The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 80, which called for a federal statutory day of commemoration to acknowledge those affected by residential schools and to educate Canadians.

The House of Commons unanimously supported legislation in June 2021 to make Sept. 30 a federally recognized holiday to mark the history of and intergenerational trauma caused by the residential school system.

The day comes at a critical juncture in history after the findings of unmarked burial sites of former residential-school students across the country touched off an outpouring of support from Canadians. The discovery of the burial sites was deemed by many politicians to be a moment of reckoning for the country and its need to come to terms with what happened in residential schools and the cascading effects the system has on the lives of Indigenous people today.

Fun Holidays

Miniature Golf Day

Miniature Golf Day

On September 21 head on over to your local miniature golf course with your family and friends for a day of fun and adventure, because it is Miniature Golf Day!

Miniature golf, red shoes and ball near a putting hole.

An offshoot of golf, miniature golf is a leisure sport that focuses on putting and includes artificial turf and obstacles.

It is believed that miniature golf was first invented, sans their characteristic obstacles and windmills, in Scotland in the late 19th century as a way to allow women to golf. Because it was unseemly for women to use a full sized golf club, the Ladies’ Putting Club of St. Andrews decided to miniaturize the sport.

“This’ll Do”

Miniature golf or put put as it is also sometimes called made its commercial debut in the early 20th century in North Carolina under the name of Thistle Dhu. The name was derived from the Scottish pronunciation of the words “this’ll do”.

The holiday is also sometimes celebrated on the second Saturday of May.

 

 

Fun Holidays

Pirate Day

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

International Talk Like A Pirate Day is a parody holiday annually held on September 19. Celebrated for the first time in 1995, the fun holiday encourages people to talk and dress like the sea plunderers of yesteryears.

John Baur (“Ol’ Chumbucket”) and Mark Summers (“Cap’n Slappy”) created this holiday on June 6, 1995. Out of respect for World War II’s D-Day, Baur and Summers chose to move the date of the holiday to September 19.

International Talk Like A Pirate Day was a low-key event until 2002 when it received media attention via syndicated humor columnist Dave Barry. Today, it is celebrated around the world as a way to raise funds for charity organizations, such as Childhood Cancer Support and Marie Curie Cancer Care.

 

What to do

  • Dress up like a swashbuckling pirate. Bonus points if you are able to carry a parrot or a monkey on your shoulder.
  • Talk like a pirate the whole day long. Intersperse your speech with grunts and growls and slur your words. Call your friends “matey” and intentionally use bad grammar.
  • Host a pirate themed party and ask your guests to come dressed as pirates.
  • Watch movies and read books that feature pirates as central characters. Some examples include the Pirates of the Caribbean film series and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
  • Read more about the history of piracy and famous pirates.