Holiday Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===National days=== {{See also|National day}} National days are days of significance to a nation or nation state. National days are typically celebratory of a state's independence (e.g. [[Independence Day (United States)|4 July in the US]]), founding or unification (e.g. [[German Unity Day]]), the commemoration of a revolution (e.g. [[Bastille Day]] in France) or liberation (e.g. [[Liberation Day (Channel Islands)|9 May in the Channel Islands]]), or the feast day for a [[patron saint]] (e.g. [[Saint Patrick's Day|St Patrick's Day]] in Ireland) or ruler (e.g. 5 December in Thailand). Belgium's national day, on the 21st of July, commemorates the [[oath of office]] of [[Leopold I of Belgium|the first King of the Belgians]] (an uncle of the then-future [[Queen Victoria]]), i.e., so to say, the day Belgium became a kingdom by ending the initial [[interregnum]]. Every country other than Denmark and the United Kingdom observes a national day.<ref>{{cite news |last=Fisher |first=Max |date=26 February 2013 |title=A surprising map of the world's national holidays (only two countries have no national day) |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/02/26/a-surprising-map-of-the-worlds-national-holidays-only-two-countries-have-no-national-day/}}</ref> In the UK, constituent countries have official or unofficial national days associated with their patron saint. A [[British National Day|British national day]] has often been proposed, such as the date of the [[Acts of Union 1707]] (1 May) or the [[King's Official Birthday]], but never adopted.<ref name="BBCBD">{{cite news |date=2007-06-05 |title=Ministers proposing 'Britain Day' |publisher=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6721239.stm |accessdate=2009-07-08}}</ref> Other days of national importance exist, such as one to celebrate the country's military or [[veteran]]s. For example, Armistice Day (11 November) is recognised in World War I Allied nations (and across [[Commonwealth of Nations|the Commonwealth]]) to memoralise those lost in the World Wars. National leaders will typically attend remembrance ceremonies at national memorial sites. Maybe surprisingly, World War II Armistice Day (and victory against [[Nazism]]) day, on 8 May, is much less celebrated. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page