Cesar Chavez Day

Today was a holiday, Cesar Chavez Day. I do not wish to delve into the political nuances of the holiday; I want to investigate our uses of the holiday.

        Personally, I went to lunch and saw a movie. (Batman vs Superman, not worth evening prices, maybe not even matinee, but a free showing is OK, i.e. you can wait.) My mother has recollections of her and my dad doing some sort of organizing with Chavez. Both being liberals in the valley, I certainly grew up with positive views of Chavez, so my lack of honor/celebrating him on the recognized day to do so is not from political standpoint. I just used it as a goof-off day.

       

I think that is true for all of our holidays, even the most religious. We just celebrated Easter and even the fervent observant do not attend religious services all day (well, of course, there are some who do, but aren’t we on the edge of cult then?) They attend their service and then take time to break bread with one another and they do relax.

Christmas, well, reams have been written about the commercialization of the holiday and how it has drifted from its religious roots. In addition to the pagan elements of a Santa Claus and snowman, skiing and shopping are part of the Pantheon of the holiday’s meaning. All these ordinary activities could, and do, take place at any other time. A special holiday is not required to do the activities, we just choose to use the free time that way.

Should we have more time off? Would that motivate us to celebrate whatever we are supposed to be honoring, be it Christ or Chavez? If the three day weekend was a regular occurrence would the Fourth of July recover some of its civic importance for the hot dog gorging fest it currently is? I don’t know. But it might have allowed me to see a second movie today.