Patriot's Day

Kenta got an unexpected bonus when reviewing his holiday schedule at work when we first moved out to New England. All the usual national holidays were there, but we were elated to discover a BONUS state holiday in April - Patriot's Day! It's the same day as the Boston Marathon, so it only makes sense to make the day a holiday since there is a major influx of thousands of people coming into town to run all over the streets that commuters need to drive on. And it happens to also be the anniversary of the "shot heard 'round the world" (the first shot of the Revolutionary War). So it's a pretty unique holiday.

So how exactly do you celebrate Patriot's Day? Apparently reenactments are HUGE around here. When I heard that my first thought was "NERDS!!!!" and I envisioned in my mind that it was something akin to a Trekkie convention with people decked out in full Spock regalia. My curiosity was definitely piqued. I was dying to see 21st century men wearing three-cornered hats and powdered wigs.

The "official" reenactment of the Battle of Lexington and Concord takes place on Patriot's Day at like 5:30 am. We decided it would be a bad idea to try and go see that (even though Thomas is usually waking up around then). As luck would have it, there was a dress rehearsal the week before. We made it to the battle green just in time for the festivities.

Thomas had a quick snack before things got underway:


This colonist appears to be playing "duck, duck, goose", but he was actually in charge of crowd control:

Sportin' all his nerd gear - minus the powdered wig (and pointy Spock ears)

Two minutemen discuss battle strategy while the angry mob crowd looks on.

THE BRITISH ARE COMING!!!!

Kenta was brave enough to catch some footage of the battle:



I'm still not sure why so many colonist fell down. I only heard one gunshot. Maybe they were playing dead?

So that, in a nutshell, is Patriot's Day. Perhaps your state has a special holiday of its own as well: 89er Day (Oklahoma), Pioneer Day (Utah), Secession Day (South Carolina), Texas Independence Day (Texas) 4/20 Day (Boulder, CO). There are probably others, but I don't know what they are, so sorry if I left you out.

Anyway. Happy belated Patriot's Day from us to you!