Monday, October 21, 2013

It's Trafalgar Day (Kiss me, Harper?)


CFB Halifax's Trafalgar by Wm. Wyllie, via Wikipedia
Wikipedia informs us that today is the 208th anniversary of the naval battle of Trafalgar, off the coast of Spain, and that Trafalgar Day is an event widely celebrated in the British Commonwealth.

It is? You would think that if Trafalgar Day had ever been much of a thing, some Canadians would have jumped on it. Google has a lot more links to Canada Day in Trafalgar Square than to Trafalgar Day in square Canada.

But fear not, military history traditionalists.  HMCS Queen, the Naval Reserve station in Regina, Saskatchewan, has commemorated Trafalgar Day since 1923, and will hold a Trafalgar Ball next weekend.(Indeed Wikipedia does acknowledge the day is a naval thing mostly.)

Update, October 22:  While I was being snarky, Keith Mercer was doing some serious blogging on Trafalgar's Canadian connections.


 
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