My question for today: is a Juneteenth national holiday serving its purpose? That’s actually a two-part question. You’ve got to decide what you think its purpose is and then decide whether it’s serving that purpose.
IMO you’ve got to be pretty cynical or pretty hopeful to think it’s serving its purpose.
What holiday actually serves its purpose? They are all highly commercialized and most people who get them off like them because it’s a day off.
I don’t think that’s enough of an answer.
Today I’ve seen editorial after editorial declaiming how important it was. And Congress voted almost unanimously (the House vote was all but 14 Republicans voting “Aye”) to make it a federal holiday.
What’s the purpose of New Years day as a holiday? It’s another day off. Some people reminisce about the prior year. How many people really think about being thankful on Thanksgiving and how many really think about Christ being born on Christmas. I drink we are talking tiny percentages, low double digits at best. I would guess we get a tiny percentage who will know or care that the holiday sort of celebrates slavery being eliminated. Mostly an excuse to eat barbecue, like Thanksgiving is an excuse to eat turkey with gravy and have 3 or 4 kinds of desserts.
Steve
Dave, I think it’s because it’s a new holiday. Soon enough it will be like Veterans or Memorial day.
I think it’s uncovering our history, which is very important. Too many want to bury our national history and create a false one.
Ok I’ll take the cynic role.
It’s purpose is to balance the political pandering between the recently ascendant LGBT+ political activists who are celebrating Pride month and the long-time Democrat voting black activists.
Is it going to work? Unlikely.
A bit off topic. A ranking of the importance / relevance of Federal Holidays (excluding Juneteeth since its too new)
1. Thanksgiving. Pretty universally observed for home gatherings. Traditional kick off for year-end holidays.
2. Christmas. Although largely separated from its religious import, many of its themes are widely celebrated.
3. Fourth of July. The day to unabashedly celebrate American identity.
4. New Years Day. It has little moral significance, but marks the end of the year-end holidays and significant to many annual processes.
5. Memorial day (tied). Significant to military families; beginning of summer.
5. MLK day (tied). Increasing importance to celebrate progress in racial equality, remember the history of slavery / segregation
7. Labor day. Import has declined with declining reach of labor unions
8. Veterans day. Eclipsed by memorial day and relevance declines since its original meaning as armistice day for WW1 has passed into history.
9. Presidents day – As reverence of the Presidency declines, this holiday is also declining in importance
10. Columbus day. Declining as Italian-Americans identity is assimilated and Columbus himself falls into cultural disfavor.
A set of holidays that aren’t official holidays but very relevant
1. Halloween. A holiday for partying; widely celebrated by families and single
2. Mothers day and Fathers day.
3. Easter: Important for observant Christians
IIRC Thanksgiving was the first federal holiday, being declared by Lincoln back in 1860. July 4, Christmas, and News Years all followed in 1870. Then Washington’s Birthday (which morphed into Presidents Day) in 1878. Some of those may be wrong. I’m doing this from memory.
The first Monday holiday was Labor Day. It has always been a Monday holiday. The plague of Monday holidays really took hold in 1968.
Curious,
You forgot St Patrick’s Day which is a party holiday where everyone can culturally appropriate the stereotypical drunken Irishman. 😀