Victoria Day Parade

Not surprisingly, Queen Victoria's birthday has a special significance here in her namesake city. Consequently I have been a bit disappointed in the last few years' parades. It seemed to me that participation was down and the enthusiasm was lacking. This year, however, I thought the parade was much improved, a little more of everything. Victoria Day is the kick-off day for the summer season and from now until October nearly every weekend will see some special event or festival taking place. Next weekend is the Swiftsure Yacht Race. Above is one of the many marching bands that participated in the parade, as they marched past Victoria's City Hall. This is the Klamath Union High School band from Klamath Falls, Oregon, USA.

Victoria Day

Here's a bunch of Victorians perched along Douglas Street on Monday. What are they doing?

At the Legislature....

Above, adherents of Falun Gong meditate in the sunshine while the Sultan High School Marching Band entertains listeners from the steps of the BC Legislative Assembly Building. This took place on Friday but there was more of the same on Saturday.

The Big Weekend

Victoria Day, the first long weekend of the summer season, is celebrated all over Canada but with special vigor here in Queen Victoria's namesake city. It started on Friday, when I took this iconic photo of Victoria's Inner Harbour and Causeway with the Fairmont Empress Hotel on the left and the Legislative Assembly Buildings on the right. Monday's Victoria Day Parade (See Fern's photos below) had lots of marching bands but many of them arrive on Friday and take turns giving concerts from the steps of the legislature. We'll have a look at them tomorrow.

Victoria Day Parade

The Victoria Day Parade took place on Monday the 20th of May although Queen Victoria's actual birthdate is today, May 24th. Her birthday and that of the current monarch, Queen Elizabeth, are now celebrated annually on the last Monday before May 25th. Queen Elizabeth's actual birthday is April 21. She was born in 1926 and so celebrated her 87th birthday this year. She has been on the throne for 61 years, a reign for a British monarch only exceeded in duration by Queen Victoria, who ruled for 63 years.

As usual there was a large variety of parade participants - community groups, floats and local and visiting marching bands and many of the pipe bands who came for the Highland Games also marched in the parade. The red building in the background for most of these photos is Victoria's City Hall, a Canadian National Historic Site, built in 1890.

Victoria Highland Games & Celtic Festival

In Victoria the beginning of summer is marked by the Victoria Day long weekend, a public holiday marking the birthday of Queen Victoria. While it's a public holiday throughout Canada, here in her namesake city it is perhaps more fervently celebrated than elsewhere. Traditionally here the long weekend is opened with the Victoria Highland Games & Celtic Festival on Saturday and Sunday. Many (if not most) of the city's founders were Scotsmen who came out to settle here and build fortunes and families so our Scottish roots run deep and many thousands of people turn out for this annual festival of all things Scottish. Queen Victoria herself had a long and intimate association with Scotland. The skirl of bagpipes is constantly heard from the many pipe bands that attend. There is a never ending parade of tartan-kilted lads and lassies leaping. And those that have gotten too heavy for leaping can join in the Highland sports, most of which consist of throwing heavy objects, including "Tossing the Caber", as can be seen in the video below. A caber is typically 19 feet 6 inches (5.94 m) tall and weighs 175 pounds (79 kg). Some of the gentlemen partipating in the video below are world champions at various Highland sports, including tossing the caber. These are big men - most tipping the scale at around 300 pounds and averaging over 6 feet in height.

Victoria Day Parade

Victoria Day is a national holiday in Canada but is an especially big holiday here in the city named for the English queen whose birthday is being celebrated on that day. The parade is a long tradition and it never fails to delight. As usual, there were lots of marching bands but I thought the tyranosaurus (left) was a nice feature. As for the 12 year old on the right, getting to ride a growling dirt bike in an outfit like that is pretty awesome, but doing wheelies down Douglas Street in front of an admiring crowd - well, I hope he went home happy - it's not gonna get much better than this.

Victoria Day Parade 6 - Ethnic Communities

I have to confess that the Victoria Day Parade is getting a lot of coverage here this year partially because the weather lately has been dreadful - cold and dark and rainy - so I have not been out and about much despite two very inviting outdoor events - the Highland Games and the Swiftsure Yacht Race. However, the parade really deserves more exposure than I usually give it so here are a few more photos representing some of the displays put on by Victoria's ethnic communities. The girls above were in one of several displays representing our vibrant Chinese-Canadian community and the young woman below was playing on a float celebrating the Polish ethnic community.

Majorettes and Beauty Queens - Victoria Day Parade 5

Here's two more traditional parts of every parade - the majorettes that often accompany marching bands (above) and the beauty queens representing various organizations. Those below represent Job's Daughters. There weren't very many beauty queens in this year's parade. I suspect the era of beauty queens is passing.

Victoria Day Parade 4

With any parade the bystanders on the sidelines are often as interesting as the participants marching past. This trio was having so much fun I don't think anyone nearby was watching the parade. It's been a long time since I played Ring Around the Rosie. If I fell down now I'd probably break my hip. This is one of those games that only works when you're still fairly close to the ground.

Marching Bands - Victoria Day Parade 3

Despite all the social changes in the last century here is something that seems to maintain its popularity - elaborately costumed kids' marching bands. When I was a boy I played trumpet in one that toured the USA and Canada one summer (1956), traveling from city to city and marching in their parades. Consequently these marching bands bring back plenty of memories. We wore dark blue capes lined with bright red satin that I thought were just about the sharpest thing possible. I'm sure the kids in these pictures are much more blasé about their outfits.

Trumpeters in berets	Flautists in buttons
Saxaphonists in kilts	Clarinetists in plaid

Parades would be pretty dead and dull without the show these kids provide. Many thanks to the American and Canadian kids who marched and played.

Horses - Victoria Day Parade 2

These splendid horses belong to the Victoria Fire Department and were pulling an antique fire engine in the parade. I think they are a kind of horse known as a Percheron.

Clowns - Victoria Day Parade 1

Victoria always celebrates Victoria Day with a parade and over the next few days I will share some of the photographs I took of this year's. To set the mood here's a couple of photos of clowns. They are always always fascinating subjects since there is a double layer to their features - the makeup and the expression underneath it, each giving added depth to the other.

Victoria Day Parade

(Text is from "Tao Te Ching" by Lao Tzu, in a new translation by Sam Hamill, Shambhala 2007. The boy in the photo was on a float representing the Chinese community in the Victoria Day Parade, the main event of this long weekend.)

Majorette

I'm not too sure what a majorette is. They seem to be a completely North American development. I suspect that originally they were modeled after the drum majors who led pipe bands and used their batons to signal group movements. Majorettes on the other hand appear to be entirely decorative, sort of martial cheer leaders. The young lady above graced last year's Victoria Day Parade - usually held on the May 24th weekend in celebration of Queen Victoria's birthday. I'll be dipping into the archives a little for the next ten days or so since I am traveling out of town for a brief vacation. I've lined up a number of current photos mixed with others that I like that got skipped over during the last year. I hope you enjoy them too.

Parade

One of the features of the Victoria Day Weekend is high school marching bands - about 40 of them perform and march in the Victoria Day parade. This year almost all of the bands were from the states of Washington, Oregon and California. These kids put on a terrific show and helped to make this weekend a success. I'll probably be posting pictures of some individual bands and performers over the next week or so but for now, above is a sousaphone's view of the parade.

Victoria Day Weekend 1

Victoria Day is a nation-wide holiday in Canada, now celebrated on the last Monday before May 24th, which was Queen Victoria's birthday. Probably nowhere in Canada is it celebrated with such fervor, however, as here in the city that bears her name. There are so many events that it is difficult to know where to go or what to look at and photo opportunities are everywhere. Today we have the Highland Games and to celebrate that as well as to doff my hat in memory of Queen Victoria's long time Scottish companion, John Brown, I offer a photo of a bagpiper playing above the Inner Harbour Causeway. Click the video below to hear a sample of his music.