Holiday train back in town
The CP Holiday Train is in town Sunday night, making stops in Montreal West and Beaconsfield.
Why do we do this? Jews have Hanukah, they celebrate it on Hanukah. Muslims have Eid, they celebrate it on Eid. Hindus have Diwali… well, you get what I’m saying. But we have “Holiday” which gets smeared through the calendar starting right after Halloween (if we’re lucky) and dragging on for two months. How is the “Holiday” supposed to mean anything, if it drags on for so long?
Why “raise holiday spirits” as mentioned in the article – a full month ahead of the actual holiday?
I bet people are starting to have Christmas parties already, right?
I may have ranted about this before. I don’t hate Christmas and I like the lights, but why can’t we contain the damn thing?
Tee Owe 16:47 on 2022-11-27 Permalink
Christmas in July?
Daniel D 17:12 on 2022-11-27 Permalink
I’m sure it’s been discussed on this blog before, but what gets me is the black hole from January through to April without any holidays.
Kate 18:08 on 2022-11-27 Permalink
We totally need a long weekend in February, but François Legault has been determined not to give out more statutory holidays because it’s bad for productivity. I don’t remember discussing it here but it wouldn’t surprise me.
DeWolf 19:05 on 2022-11-27 Permalink
It’s a festive season partly because it’s the darkest season. You need a month or two of partying and indulgence to get you through it.
Kate 20:42 on 2022-11-27 Permalink
Admittedly, it feels very dark these days.
MarcG 21:59 on 2022-11-27 Permalink
Don’t forget that even though winter is just starting, the shortest day of the year is less than a month away. Temperature != Light. Like June 21 is the longest day of the year but just signals the beginning of the warm season.
thomas 23:50 on 2022-11-27 Permalink
The holiday season idea perhaps originates with Advent — the 4 weeks before Christmas. Also note, that celebrations in Europe have started in preparation for Saint Nicholas Day on December 6. Personally, I would wish that Montreal would have a Krampus parade.
JP 01:51 on 2022-11-28 Permalink
I think celebrations around this time of year actually predate Christmas. I’ve heard Christmas was moved to December when they were trying to convert the pagans who celebrated a festival around the solstice.
https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-rome/saturnalia
Ephraim 10:48 on 2022-11-28 Permalink
@JP – He was more likely born around Passover, Feast of Weeks or the Festival of Tabernacles, since it was most likely related to the three pilgrimages… which would explain why there was no room for them to stay. Of course, there is also the question of if it would have been even recorded as December as that wasn’t a month in the Hebrew calendar, never mind the fact that there was the Roman calendar and then the Julian calendar reform to deal with. And of course the 10 months to a year with December being the last and tenth month, hence the dec
CE 18:31 on 2022-11-28 Permalink
I would have liked to have seen the holiday train and I have guests in town, one is a little girl from a country that doesn’t have trains and gets excited every time she sees one. It would have been nice had the media reported on it coming rather than telling us that it happened. Also, an filing an article on Sunday saying “coming this Sunday” and not saying that it was that night or the next week is very sloppy.
Kate 19:03 on 2022-11-28 Permalink
CE, I posted about it as soon as I saw the news, but they did leave it awfully late.
dwgs 07:54 on 2022-11-29 Permalink
CE, here’s an idea to entertain your young guest, https://exporail.org/en/home/