From Wikipedia: An unusual start to a holiday that now, more than anything, in the U.S. is thought of as the last summer hurrah before the kids go back to school. What strange or difficult to explain/understand holiday do you have in your own country? Let us share and thus be enriched!
Here in Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state of Brazil, we have a holiday called "Revolução Farroupilha". The day is celebrated because of a revolution that took place a long time ago when gauchos (natives from Rio Grande do Sul) fought to separate the state from the rest of Brazil. They lost, in the end, but we celebrate the day the revolution started (20th September) untill now
Do really kids not go back to school before Labor Day in PR? When I was in grades K-12 we went back to school during the first or second week in August. Neighboring school systems usually started a week after that, but I know one high school started as early as August 1st this year. My first year of college, classes started on August 30th. (So consequently, since Labor Day is just the following Monday, I do have classes, even though it's state-funded, public school. Our rival school, which started two weeks before we did, is also state-funded and public and has Labor Day off. I dont get it. But one of my professors cancelled class anyway, so I only have to attend one class. I think another strange US holiday is President's Day. It's pretty easy to understand --it's the day when people are supposed to observe presidents' birthdays, but the date confuses me (yes, I know it's Washington's birthday, but why did we choose his and not Lincoln's or Jefferson's if it's supposed to be for all the presidents?), and why kids get school off on President's Day, yet no one has school or work off on Election Day, is also mystifying.
It depends on the school. The county I grew up in started school the Tuesday after Labor Day, but I also know that many other school districts start earlier. So before college, I wouldn't be in school until after Labor Day. Though I've never heard of any starting later than the day after Labor Day.
Mercurial, I'm right there with you. I teach at a public, state-funded university, and we had classes today. It's utterly mystifying, particularly since the staff has off (operating with a skeleton crew), and the faculty (yours truly) does not. The students were less than enthusiastic today, needless to say, and I can't really say that I blame them!
I think this holiday is so pointless. People get this and Memorial Day mixed up all the time. I say, get outta here! Half the country is unemployed anyway. Pfft...
to me [and, i suspect to most/all moms], 'labor day' means only the day [or more] we spent birthing each child and then every day thereafter that it took for us to get that child reared and out on its own... 'labor day'?... try 'labor life'!
I'm intrigued. Do you hold an International Worker's Day on May the 1st as well, or is this your equivalent?
I worked all day too. Though, I don't know if you'd call it real labor since I played guitar for half the day. Does dealing with idiots all day count as labor?
