If nothing else if gives me something to ask my Hungarian friend about.
I'll add to you statement that everyone should write about their national holidays in the spirit of cultural exchange.
Funny, that. guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper
I know the German, French and in part Slovakian holidays (and US ones), but not much else - I am really totally clueless. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
There used to be something called Empire Day (then Commonwealth Day) on 10th March, which was a big deal in the first half of the twentieth century. It has now faded into obscurity and is not a public holiday.
Each of the four parts of the United Kingdom has a national day. Northern Ireland gets a local public holiday for St Patrick's Day, but the rest of us do not have anything similar. The Scots and the Welsh do however make a noticeable effort to commemorate their national days.
The English national day (St George's Day on 23rd April) is largely ignored. We may be the only nation on Earth which so treats its national day. It is only in the last few years that some unofficial organised attempts at celebration have begun to take place, but they are pretty half-hearted compared to what everyone else does.
The Blair government has been making some attempts to build up a more demonstrative British national identity. This is mostly so immigrants can have an American style citizenship ceremony. However Gordon Brown seems keen to extend this approach to the indigenous population. However it all seems a most un-English and un-British policy.
