Commonwealth Day
Flags of the Commonwealth flying in Horse Guards, London; Monday, 10 March 2014
Observed byCommonwealth of Nations
CelebrationsService in Westminster Abbey
DateSecond Monday in March
2022 dateMarch 14  (2022-03-14)
2023 dateMarch 13  (2023-03-13)
2024 dateMarch 11  (2024-03-11)
2025 dateMarch 10  (2025-03-10)
FrequencyAnnual
Related toCommonwealth Games (every four years)

Commonwealth Day (formerly Empire Day) is the annual celebration of the Commonwealth of Nations, since 1977 often held on the second Monday in March.[1] It is marked by an Anglican service in Westminster Abbey, normally attended by the monarch as Head of the Commonwealth along with the Commonwealth Secretary-General and Commonwealth High Commissioners in London.[2] The monarch delivers a broadcast address to the Commonwealth.[3]

While it has a certain official status, Commonwealth Day is not a public holiday in most Commonwealth countries,[1] and there is little public awareness of it.[4] It is marked as a holiday in Gibraltar,[5][4] but not in March.[6] In Canada "Victoria Day" is celebrated on the Monday closest to 24 May (Queen Victoria's birthday).

History

King George VI delivering a radio broadcast to the British Empire on Empire Day 1939, from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

The idea of observing one day in each year as a public holiday throughout the empire was first suggested to the council in 1894 and 1895 by Thomas Robinson, the Royal Colonial Institute's honorary secretary at Winnipeg in Canada. Taking up Robinson's suggestion, the Royal Colonial institute's London council addressed a petition to the Queen in July 1894 declaring that, whereas other nations had annual days for national celebration, the British empire had no such day, and proposing that the Queen's birthday should be set aside for the purpose. In a reply the prime minister, Lord Rosebery, stated that it was a matter not for the government but for the community and pointed out that government departments already kept the Queen's birthday as a holiday. The idea was gaining support in Canada, however, and on the initiative of Clementina Trenholme in 1898, who introduced an Empire Day to Ontario schools, on the last school day before 24 May, Queen Victoria's birthday.[7][8] The idea of a day that would "remind children that they formed part of the British Empire" was conceived in 1897.[9] Empire Day or Victoria Day was celebrated in the Cape Colony before the Second Boer War and thereafter throughout the Union of South Africa.[10]

Empire Day was introduced in the UK in 1904 by Reginald Brabazon, 12th Earl of Meath, 'to nurture a sense of collective identity and imperial responsibility among young empire citizens'.[11] In schools, morning lessons were devoted to "exercises calculated to remind (the children) of their mighty heritage".[12] The centrepiece of the day was an organised and ritualistic veneration of the Union flag. Then, schoolchildren were given the afternoon off, and further events were usually held in their local community. Empire Day became more of a sombre commemoration in the aftermath of World War I, and politically partisan as the Labour Party passed a resolution in 1926 to prevent the further celebration of Empire Day.[13]

A British Empire flag containing the symbols of its constituent dominions and India. Many were distributed at the British Empire Exhibition to promote imperial unity.

After the death of Queen Victoria on 22 January 1901, her birthday, 24 May, was celebrated from 1902 as Empire Day, though not officially recognised as an annual event until 1916.[9][14] In 1925, 90,000 people attended an Empire Day thanksgiving service held at Wembley Stadium as part of the British Empire Exhibition.[15] The British Empire League promoted Empire Day as a patriotic holiday.[16] Empire Day traversed class boundaries, and after the First World War, the jingoism was toned down in favour of sombre commemoration in the festival.[13]

"The Conservative party and other groups adopted Empire Day as a vehicle for anti-socialist propaganda, whilst the communist party exploited it as an opportunity to attack British imperialism. Other protests came from local Labour groups and pacifist dissenters. The overt politicization of Empire Day severely disrupted its hegemonic function and the political battles fought over the form and purpose of the celebrations made it difficult to uphold the notion that the festival was merely a benign tribute to a legitimate and natural state of affairs."[13]

After World War II, the event fell into rapid decline, and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan bowed to the inevitable on 18 December 1958, when he announced in Parliament that the name of Empire Day would be changed forthwith to Commonwealth Day.[13][17]

In 1973, the National Council in Canada of the Royal Commonwealth Society submitted a proposal to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau that Commonwealth Day should be observed simultaneously throughout the Commonwealth of Nations. The proposal was included in the Canadian items for inclusion in the agenda for the 1975 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. After the meeting, it was agreed that the Commonwealth Secretariat would select a date with no historical connotations so that the entire Commonwealth could use it as a date to celebrate Commonwealth Day. At a meeting in Canberra in May 1976, senior Commonwealth officials agreed on a new fixed date for Commonwealth Day, the second Monday in March.[18]

Observance

There is not a uniform observance of the day worldwide.[18]

United Kingdom

Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, speaking at Westminster Abbey on Commonwealth Day 2020

The Union Flag is flown from UK public buildings on the second Monday in March to mark Commonwealth Day.[19] In addition, the Scottish Parliament Building flies the Commonwealth flag.[20] The King and other members of the Royal family attend a special inter-denominational service at Westminster Abbey, followed by a reception hosted by the Commonwealth Secretary-General.[21] A wreath is laid at the Commonwealth Memorial Gates in London to remember the sacrifices of Commonwealth soldiers by the Commonwealth Secretary General.[22] A number of other events, such as the Commonwealth Africa Summit, also take place around the United Kingdom.[23]

British Overseas Territories

Commonwealth Day is a public holiday in Gibraltar, previously held in March.[5] As of 2022, it is celebrated in February instead of March.[6][24]

The day was also a school holiday in British Hong Kong, prior to the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the UK to China in 1997.[4]

Australia

Commonwealth Day is not observed as a public holiday in Australia, although several regional public holidays coincide with this day. This includes Canberra Day in the Australian Capital Territory, Labour Day in Victoria, Adelaide Cup Day in South Australia, and Eight-hour Day in Tasmania.[25]

In 2006, Queen Elizabeth II delivered her Commonwealth Day address from St. Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; this formed part of the lead-up to the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.[26]

Canada

Royal Union Flags flown alongside the flag of Canada in Ottawa on Commonwealth Day 2022

In Canada, the only official recognition of Commonwealth Day is a federal government stipulation that the Royal Union Flag be flown alongside Canada's flag at government installations nationwide, "where physical arrangements allow... Physical arrangements means the existence of at least two flag poles".[27] The 1964 parliamentary resolutions creating the Maple Leaf flag also retained the Union Flag as an official symbol of Canada's membership in the Commonwealth, and allegiance to the Crown.[27][28]

From 1898 to 1976, Empire Day/Commonwealth Day was observed on an ad hoc basis in conjunction with Victoria Day, a federal statutory holiday in May that also serves as the sovereign's official birthday in Canada.[18][29] Empire Day/Commonwealth Day was held on the weekday before Victoria Day and was not intended to be a general holiday in itself, but a day to provide schools and civic institutions the opportunity to implement activities and lessons on Canada and the British Empire.[29] In 1977, Commonwealth Day was moved to the second Monday in March, in line with the rest of the Commonwealth of Nations.[18]

Other Commonwealth countries

Commonwealth Day parade in Belize, 2019

In Tuvalu it is an annual public holiday. In The Bahamas, Commonwealth Day is marked in schools with special programmes and assemblies involving flag-raising ceremonies; the King's Commonwealth Day message is often read at such events.[30]

Special programmes were also held in Belize,[30] where Commonwealth Day is also known as Sovereign's Day, and as a date to commemorate the Commonwealth organisation of "sovereign states". Sovereign's Day was celebrated as a public holiday on 24 May in Belize until 2021, when it was removed from the government's official list of public and bank holidays.[31]

Commonwealth Day themes

Year Theme[32]
1995Our Commonwealth Neighbourhood – Working Together for Tolerance and Understanding
1996Our Working Partnership
1997Talking to One Another
1998Sport Brings Us Together
1999Music
2000Sharing Knowledge – The Communications Challenge
2001A New Generation
2002Diversity
2003Partners in Development
2004Building a Commonwealth of Freedom
2005Education – Creating Opportunity, Realising Potential
2006Health & Vitality
2007Respecting Difference, Promoting Understanding
2008The Environment, Our Future
2009Commonwealth@60 – Serving a New Generation
2010Science, Technology and Society
2011Women as Agents of Change
2012Connecting Cultures
2013Opportunity through Enterprise
2014Team Commonwealth
2015A Young Commonwealth
2016An Inclusive Commonwealth
2017A Peace-building Commonwealth
2018Towards A Common Future
2019A Connected Commonwealth
2020Delivering a Common Future
2021Delivering a Common Future
2022Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming
2023Forging a sustainable and peaceful common future

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2017. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  2. ↑ "Commonwealth National Days". Westminster Abbey. 2017. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  3. ↑ "Commonwealth Day". The Commonwealth of Nations. 2017. Archived from the original on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 Fraser McAlpine (2015). "5 Things That Happened Because it is Commonwealth Day". BBC America. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  5. 1 2 Catherine Miller (13 March 2002). "The rocky road to Spain". BBC News. Archived from the original on 18 February 2006. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Bank And Public Holidays Order 2021 (Holidays for 2022)". Gibraltar Laws. 21 October 2021.
  7. ↑ Reese, Trevor Richard (1968). The History of the Royal Commonwealth Society 1868-1968. London: Oxford University Press. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-19-212942-0.
  8. ↑ Wendy Halliday (7 March 2015). "Commonwealth Day unites people around the world". Times Colonist. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  9. 1 2 "Empire Day". Historic UK. 2006. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  10. ↑ Bickford-Smith, Vivian (2016). The Emergence of the South African Metropolis: Cities and Identities in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-1107002937.
  11. ↑ Jim English. Empire Day in Britain, 1904–58. p. 248.
  12. ↑ Earl of Meath, ‘British youth and the empire’,n earl of Meath, Brabazon potpourri (London, 1928), p. 95
  13. 1 2 3 4 Jim English (24 February 2006). "EMPIRE DAY IN BRITAIN, 1904–1958". The Historical Journal. Cambridge University Press. 49 (1). Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  14. ↑ "Empire Day". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 5 April 1916. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  15. ↑ Pitchford, Mark (2011). The Conservative Party and the Extreme Right 1945–1975. Vancouver: Manchester University Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-0719083631.
  16. ↑ Noel Malcolm (12 December 2004). "Empire? What empire?". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 4 October 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  17. ↑ Blair, Alasdair (2014). Britain and the World since 1945. London: Routledge. p. 11. ISBN 978-1408248294.
    - The Earl of Home, Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations (18 December 1958). "Commonwealth Day". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 467.
  18. 1 2 3 4 "Commonwealth Day". www.canada.ca. Government of Canada. 24 October 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  19. ↑ "Commonwealth:Written question – 224329". UK Parliament. 2015. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  20. ↑ "Flag flying policy". Scottish parliament. n.d. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  21. ↑ Commonwealth Day Archived 11 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine
    - Harry Mount (13 March 2013). "Queen Elizabeth II: the most present monarch in a thousand years". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  22. ↑ "Memorial Gates falls silent to remember Commonwealth soldiers". The Commonwealth. 11 March 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
    - "The valiant troops of the world wars celebrated this Commonwealth Day". Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, UK. 9 March 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  23. ↑ Henry Ridgwell (14 March 2018). "Commonwealth Africa Summit Focuses on Youth, Gender Equality". Voice of America. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
    - "Flag raised in Grantham to celebrate Commonwealth Day". Grantham Journal. 11 March 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  24. ↑ "Public Holidays 2022". Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  25. ↑ Tony Brennan (20 March 2015). "The Commonwealth: Shared past, bright future". Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  26. ↑ "Queen cheered at Australia celebration". The Yorkshire Post. 13 March 2006. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  27. 1 2 "Canadian Heritage – National Flag Day – Giving Canada Its Own Voice". Pch.gc.ca. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  28. ↑ Igartua, José E. (2007). The Other Quiet Revolution: National Identities in English Canada, 1945–71. Vancouver: UBC Press. p. 181. ISBN 978-0774810913.
  29. 1 2 Hayday, Matthew; Blake, Raymond B. (2017). Celebrating Canada: Holidays, National Days, and the Crafting of Identities. University of Toronto Press. p. 89. ISBN 978-1442621541.
  30. 1 2 Imogen Groome (13 March 2017). "It's Commonwealth Day: which countries are in the Commonwealth and what is the flag?". Metro. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  31. ↑ O'Brien, Hugh (20 May 2022). "Monday nor Tuesday is a holiday – Commonwealth or Sovereign's day is history". www.breakingbelizenews.com. Breaking Belize News. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  32. ↑ "Commonwealth theme for the year". The Commonwealth. 2021. Archived from the original on 26 January 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
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