July 13, 2000

10:28 PM

Vive Le Google!...or maybe "Viva La Google" or something...
I don't think I've seen Google use their logo to celebrate a non-American holiday before. Will we get holidays from around the world now? Can we expect a glorious logo for St. Swithin's Day? Where will it end????
posted by dogwelder (6 comments total)

It'll keep the graphic artists busy, for sure. One thing, I can't seem to remember, did they have one for Canada Day?
posted by mkn at 10:47 PM on July 13, 2000

Why do the French celebrate Bastille Day? Of all the events in the Revolution, you could argue that it’s in the bottom-half of the top ten Anti-Bourbon Events. The crowd was drunk, the prison was empty. Hacking the head off bossman Louis was what really made the Revolution’s bones - but for some reason they don’t celebrate that day.
posted by lileks at 10:48 PM on July 13, 2000

History works strangely. Remeber John Adams' words? "The second day of July 1776 will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival."

Actually, the declaration of the First Republic in September 1792 was probably more significant at the time than either the storming of the Bastille or the execution of Louis XVI. (By that time, things had got well out of hand.) After all, that's what brought in "An I" of the funky calendar.
posted by holgate at 10:33 AM on July 14, 2000

A funky calendar it was, but I wish our calendar had a month like "Thermador." It sounds like the hottest possible name for a month. Well, maybe second hottest possible, after Incindierie.
posted by lileks at 11:36 AM on July 14, 2000

It's a little region-specific, though: in Britain, every month would be named "Changeable with Drizzle".

(My suspicion is that, like the USA, the French just want to celebrate their nationhood at the height of summer: Louis got the chop in January. Of course, we Brits get our fireworks in November, when it's... changeable, with drizzle.)
posted by holgate at 1:30 PM on July 14, 2000

I've always been rather amused that while France, the US, and other countries generally celebrate a revolution, England celebrates The Day There Was No Revolution.

Long live the status quo!
posted by dhartung at 8:52 PM on July 15, 2000