I'm writing this at 9am, which is far earlier than I have any right to be awake, especially given that today is a public holiday. Except that the public holiday is the reason that I was up so early, because today is ANZAC day.
ANZAC stands for Australia & New Zealand Army Corps, and ANZAC day is a day off we have every year on April 25th to commemorate the landing of soldiers at Gallipoli in Turkey in 1915. Over the course of the campaign, thousands of Australians and New Zealanders were killed (along with many more British, and opposing Turkish soldiers). Tactically it was... let's say 'limited in success'. It did end with one of the best-executed retreats in military history, though. I guess there's that. The day has sort of expanded to be a bit like remembrance day,
Despite not being our official national holiday (that'd be Australia Day, January 26th), ANZAC day is really important. Almost to the point of being sacred. Australia day has fireworks and parties, but only ANZAC day can drag thousands of people out into the cold for a dawn memorial service. I find it really fascinating, and I'm not sure why. I think part of it is the solemnity, that you can get so many people to be serious about something at once. Part of it is how big it is - like, everyone has some idea of what it's about, and it's treated with absolute respect. Part of it is the fact that we remember a very specific military failure instead of a great victory, which is significant in ways that I can't begin to express in this sleep deprived state. Part of it is that it's still so close in the past - only just passing out of living memory.
And part of it - which is why I'm posting this here - is how insular it is. I'd wager you probably haven't heard of ANZAC day. It wouldn't even rate a mention on any kind of international news. But here, it makes the front page, and closes down cities, and is one of the few public holidays for which my uni will actually cancel classes (Easter? Nope. Labour day? Nope. Foundation day? Nope. Queen's Birthday? Nope.). Which is a really interesting example of how, despite how much people like to rant about 'global villages' and 'monocultures', something like today manages to still have significance for one group of people and not others.
So I'm going to go ahead and drop some questions for you guys to answer in the comments. Have you ever heard of ANZAC day before this, even vaguely? And do you have any significant days where you come from, which you think I might not have heard of, and which have a particular 'feel' to them?
Thanks for reading.
