What is this National Tartan Day?

[macwilkin]

Many states ave their own tartan day. Ours in Colorado is Saturday.

But did the Colorado legislature create its own specific holiday, or this simply a Tartan Day event held on the weekend to allow more people to attend? Missouri recognises April 6th as the holiday, but St. Charles holds the annual MO Tartan Day festival on the weekend closest to the 6th.

Todd: I was not saying you were cynical, it was an interogative. What I was suggesting is that one could be excused for being a little cynical by questioning how they picked the date, despite the endorsements of legislatures and government bodies.

I was pleased to see you picked my favorite 3 day pet peave holiday.

Take Care

OK...now I get where you're coming from. Sorry; I was in a bit of a mood yesterday as a result of a municipal election on Tuesday.

Sorry if you thought I was having a shot at the US in my post. I was responding to PEEDYC's post, which to me, read that Tartan day was celebrated wordwide on April 6. I was just advising that we have a different day and tried to do it in a nice manner, hence the smiley at the end I was fully aware that North America celebrated the day on April 6 and don't have a problem with it or any other day that a country selects.

See my comments above; I didn't mean to come off so snarky. For the record, I like the idea of celebrating twice myself.

T.

[pastorsteve]

[QUOTE=cajunscot;969970]But did the Colorado legislature create its own specific holiday, or this simply a Tartan Day event held on the weekend to allow more people to attend? Missouri recognises April 6th as the holiday, but St. Charles holds the annual MO Tartan Day festival on the weekend closest to the 6th.

It, of course, is not a holiday. A holiday is either a holy-day of observation or a special day where all are exempt from work. It is neither. A day designated as one to recognize or observe (in this case tartans or Scottish heritage) something is not a holiday unless banks, work and other non-essential operations are ceased. It is a day, like teacher's day, halloween or similar, that has obtained recognition status for a special interest or group. I haven't seen it as a "holiday" in the U.S. anywhere, nor do I expect to.

[macwilkin]

[QUOTE=pastorsteve;970017]

But did the Colorado legislature create its own specific holiday, or this simply a Tartan Day event held on the weekend to allow more people to attend? Missouri recognises April 6th as the holiday, but St. Charles holds the annual MO Tartan Day festival on the weekend closest to the 6th.

It, of course, is not a holiday. A holiday is either a holy-day of observation or a special day where all are exempt from work. It is neither. A day designated as one to recognize or observe (in this case tartans or Scottish heritage) something is not a holiday unless banks, work and other non-essential operations are ceased. It is a day, like teacher's day, halloween or similar, that has obtained recognition status for a special interest or group. I haven't seen it as a "holiday" in the U.S. anywhere, nor do I expect to.

Mea culpa. I stand corrected, Reverend. As I mentioned, Tartan Day is officially recognized by the United States Congress:

http://www.tartanday.org/history.htm

You can read the text of Senate Resolution 155 and HR 41 here. In addition, many state legislatures have also officially recognized it.

Holiday or not (and in the Anglican and Roman traditions, we have Holy Days of Obligation, not Observation), it is still a good reason to recognize the contributions of the Scottish diaspora to our country.

But you still didn't answer my question: Did Colorado create/invent its own version of Tartan Day, or does it simply recognize April 6th and celebrate it at another time? I'm not trying to be pedantic; I am simply curious.

T.

[pastorsteve]

Yes (both). The legislature wore (those who participated) their tartans yesterday and Saturday was designated as tartan day. I don't know of any special declaration or setting aside of Saturday for any particular event or events but someone somewhere has Saturday as the day. For me, tartan day is whatever day I wake up and feel the need for a kilt. I think maybe..... tomorrow. My last post sounded short - but was not intended to. Sometimes a sentence just seems snarky or short when the underlying intent was to convey a concise sentence. Have a great day. ith: