This weekend is the September Long Weekend!
Monday is Labour Day, which is a national holiday. You may be wondering, what even is Labour Day?
Office Holidays writes, "the origins of Labour Day in Canada can be traced back to a printer's revolt in 1872 in Toronto when labourers tried to establish a maximum 54-hour workweek. At that time, any union activity was considered illegal and the organizers were jailed. Protest marches of over 10,000 formed in response. This eventually led to the Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald repealing the anti-union laws and arranging the release of the organizers as well. The parades held in support of the Nine-Hour Movement and the printers' strike led to an annual celebration. The date was officially declared as a national holiday in Canada on July 23rd 1894 by the government of Prime Minister John Thompson."
You may have also heard of the common phrase, "never wear white after labour day." This tradition comes from our neighbours down south in the states!
Mental Floss writes, "the wives of the super-rich ruled high society with an iron fist after the Civil War. As more and more people became millionaires, though, it was difficult to tell the difference between respectable old money families and those who only had vulgar new money. By the 1880s, in order to tell who was acceptable and who wasn’t, the women who were already “in” felt it necessary to create dozens of fashion rules that everyone in the know had to follow. Not wearing white outside the summer months was another one of these silly rules. White was for weddings and resort wear, not dinner parties in the fall. Of course, it could get extremely hot in September, and wearing white might make the most sense, but if you wanted to be appropriately attired you just did not do it."
We hope you have a fantastic labour day long weekend, Calgary! And don't worry, we won't tell on you if you decide to wear white.
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Posted by Ken Richter on
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