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Patriots' Day

 
American Heritage Dictionary:

Pa·tri·ots' Day

('trē-əts, -ŏts')
n.
The third Monday in April, a holiday in Maine and Massachusetts commemorating the battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775, which began the American Revolution.


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Third Monday in April

The battles of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, marked the beginning of the American Revolution on April 19, 1775. This is a legal holiday in Massachusetts and Maine. Although no one really knows who fired the first shot on the Lexington green—"the shot heard 'round the world," in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson—the British proceeded from Lexington to Concord, where there was a second bloody confrontation at North Bridge.

Residents of Maine and Massachusetts have observed Patriots' Day since the 18th century with costume parades, flag-raising ceremonies, and reenactments of the battles and the famous rides of Paul Revere and William Dawes, who were sent to warn their comrades in Concord of the British troops' approach. The Boston Marathon, one of the most famous of the world's marathon races, is run each year on Patriots' Day. Sometimes this day is referred to as Lexington Day or Battles of Lexington and Concord Day .



CONTACTS
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20540
202-707-5510; fax: 202-707-2076
www.loc.gov

Lexington Chamber of Commerce
1875 Massachusetts Ave.
Lexington, MA 02420
781-862-2480; fax: 781-862-5995
www.lexingtonchamber.org

Concord Chamber of Commerce
15 Walden St., Ste. 7
Concord, MA 01742
978-369-3120; fax: 978-369-1515
www.concordchamberofcommerce.org

Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Patriots' Day

Top
Patriots' Day
Patriots' Day
Statue of the Lexington Minuteman on the Lexington Green in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Observed by Massachusetts, Maine, Wisconsin
Type Historical
Date Third Monday in April
2010 date April 19
2011 date April 18
2012 date April 16
Celebrations Boston Marathon
Observances Battles of Lexington and Concord
Patriots' Grave in the Old Burying Ground, Arlington, Massachusetts.
Acton Monument, gravesite of Abner Hosmer and Isaac Davis, who fell at Old North Bridge on April 19, 1775.

Patriots' Day (officially Patriots' Day in Massachusetts[1] and Patriot's Day in Maine[2]) is a civic holiday commemorating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. It is observed on the third Monday in April in Massachusetts[3] and Maine[4] (once part of Massachusetts), and is a public school observance day in Wisconsin.[5] Observances and re-enactments of these first battles of the American Revolution occur annually at Lexington Green in Lexington, Massachusetts, (around 6:00 am) and The Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts, (around 9:00 am). In the morning, mounted re-enactors with state police escorts retrace the rides of Paul Revere and William Dawes, calling out warnings the whole way.

Contents

Public holiday

Since 1969, the holiday has been observed on the third Monday in April, providing a three-day long weekend. Previously, it had been designated as April 19 in observance of the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. It is also a school holiday for many local colleges and universities, both public and private.

Sporting events

The Boston Marathon is run on Patriots' Day every year so many Bostonians know the holiday as "Marathon Monday".

The Boston Red Sox have traditionally been scheduled to play at home in Fenway Park on Patriots' Day every year since 1959. The games were postponed due to bad weather in 1959, 1961, 1965, 1967, and 1984, and canceled in 1995 during the players' strike. Since 1968 the games have started early, in the morning, around 11:00 am. The early start to these games usually resulted in the game ending just as the marathon is heading through Kenmore Square. However, since 2007 the marathon has started between 9:30 am and 10:00 am, resulting in the racers going through Kenmore towards the middle of the Red Sox game.[6]

Recent and future dates

  • 2010: Monday, April 19
  • 2011: Monday, April 18
  • 2012: Monday, April 16
  • 2013: Monday, April 15
  • 2014: Monday, April 21
  • 2015: Monday, April 20
  • 2016: Monday, April 18

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 6, § 12J.". Massachusetts General Laws. The General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleII/Chapter6/Section12J. Retrieved 2011-03-27. 
  2. ^ "Maine Stat. Rev. 9-B, § 145.". Maine Revised Statutes. Maine State Legislature. http://www.legislature.maine.gov/legis/statutes/9-B/title9-Bch14-A.pdf. Retrieved 2011-03-27. 
  3. ^ "Massachusetts Legal Holidays". Citizen Information Service. Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. http://www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/cishol/holidx.htm. Retrieved 2007-04-11. 
  4. ^ "Holidays". Human Resources Policy and Practices Manual. Maine Bureau of Human Resources. http://www.maine.gov/bhr/rules_policies/policy_manual/12_5.htm. Retrieved 2007-04-11. 
  5. ^ "Wisconsin Public School Observance Days". Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. http://dpi.wi.gov/eis/observe.html. Retrieved 2007-04-10. 
  6. ^ http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061222&content_id=1766797&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos

External links



 
 
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Copyrights:

American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Holidays, Festivals & Celebrations of the World. Holidays, Festivals, and Celebration of the World Dictionary. Copyright © 2010 by Omnigraphics, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Patriots' Day Read more

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