Yukon Heritage Day is a holiday in the province of Yukon in Canada. It is celebrated on the Friday preceding the last Sunday of February every year. It is one of the lesser known holidays, perhaps the only holiday that is celebrated on a Friday, when compared to other provincial holidays in Canada. Also, the choice of the Friday just before the last Sunday of the month of February is also a unique choice, given the fact that most holidays are either on first, second or third Mondays of a given month. That is the practice in Canada and also south of the Great Lakes.
Yukon Heritage Day is not a holiday in any part of Canada but the province itself. It is also not a statutory holiday. Businesses and government offices are closed but it is not imperative. People may be asked to go, businesses may remain open and government officers may have to report to duty. In 2015, Yukon Heritage Day was observed on February 20. It is 26 February in 2016, 24 February in 2017 and 23 February in 2018.
As the name suggests, Yukon Heritage Day celebrates the province and its people, the history, culture and the progress. However, there is no historic relevance of the dates that are picked as Yukon Heritage Day. The holiday is pretty much in line with the other provincial holidays like Nova Scotia Heritage Day that followed demands of a long weekend sometime in February. There are no major holidays after Christmas and New Year until Easter. The United States has Presidents’ Day which is a federal holiday and other state holidays. Canadians wanted a break before spring and that is precisely what various provincial governments have done. The third Monday of February is marked as Family Day in many provinces across the country. British Columbia celebrates Family Day on the second Monday of February every year.
Photo by Keith Williams