Socializing: CANADA Day 2025 – Morning Coffee Talks

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July 1, 2025: CANADA Day

On Canada Day (each year on July 1^st), we pause to reflect not only on our history, but on the values that continue to shape our collective identity: inclusion, resilience and a commitment to progress.

From the ancestral knowledge of the Indigenous peoples who have stewarded these lands for millennia, to the aspirations of newcomers building futures in cities and communities across the country, Canada's strength lies in its diversity. It is in the tireless work of educators, healthcare workers, scientists, artists and everyday citizens who strive to build a more just, sustainable and united society.

Today is not only a celebration of past achievements, but also a call to action – a friendly reminder that citizenship demands courage, empathy and engagement. 
We are stewards of a nation still growing into its full promise and the choices we make together will shape the next chapter.

May this Canada Day renew our shared purpose and inspire us to build a future worthy of our highest ideals!

● National Anthem: “O Canada” – audio  

● Historic background info:

On July 1, 1867, the nation was officially born when the “Constitution Act” joined three provinces into one country: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Canada province, which then split into Ontario and Quebec. However, Canada was not completely independent of England until 1982. The holiday called “Dominion Day” was officially established in 1879, but it wasn't observed by many Canadians, who considered themselves to be British citizens.

“Dominion Day” started to catch on when the 50^th anniversary of the confederation rolled around, in 1917. In 1946, a bill was put forth to rename “Dominion Day”, but arguments in the House of Commons over what to call the holiday stalled the bill.

The 100^th anniversary of the nation's official creation in 1967 saw the growth of the spirit of Canadian patriotism, and “Dominion Day” celebrations really began to take off. Although quite a few Canadians already called the holiday “Canada Day” (“Fête du Canada”), the new name wasn't formally adopted until October of 1982.

● My previous greetings on the same theme:
CANADA Day – 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019

NOTE: Dear readers, please be advised that on this website each of the previous postings, pertaining to the recurrent annual themes, portray a different perspective of the subject/s presented (same theme/s, but a different outlook without duplication due to the cultural richness of the specific topic/s discussed). 

JULY – the sun's deep breath

JULY (the 7^th month of the year in the Gregorian calendar) is the crown jewel of summer in the Northern Hemisphere…a season unapologetically alive, unfolding in sun-drunk hours and breeze-heavy nights. All sorts of flowers continue to blossom in such a wild manner…nothing asks for permission…everything simply blooms!

Metaphorically speaking, this month doesn’t arrive with the shy promise of spring or the brilliance of autumn’s pageant, but with a confidence that is warm, steady, and unrelenting. There’s a kind of stillness that only July understands.

"July walks in barefoot, humming something wild /
with sun-dappled shoulders and pockets full of time."

Where June teeters at the edge of summer’s threshold, July dives in fully. It begins already mid-celebration, with lots of outdoors festivals, with fireworks that split the sky and laughter that spills onto porches and piers. It is a month that invites us to slow down and stretch out, to savor more and strive less. July is a pause with a pulse.

"July is a blaze / in the middle of the year, / an exhale of light."

In July there is a rhythm of radiance; days are long…dazzlingly…defiantly…long. Evenings linger like reluctant guests at a golden-hour banquet, while the sun becomes less of an object in the sky and more of a presence, like a daily ceremony of light and heat.

Children dart through sprinklers, chasing invisible prizes, while gardeners bend low under the weight of tomato vines...melons swell in the soil, the air smells of basil and barbeque…without any doubt, there's something cute in the sweat that beads on a sunburnt shoulder.

"Sunlight pools in the hollows of trees / and every shadow speaks of warmth."

On the other hand, we could measure July in ice cream drips and pages turned poolside, in the hush of a fan through an open window, in the fireworks that echo long after they fade…there’s a generosity to it and we can easily see how July gives without holding (it holds nothing in reserve).

Some say July is a dream, but dreams fade, while July lingers its etched into memory with crystalline clarity. Maybe it's the heat that brands it there, maybe the summer typical “rituals”, such as camping trips, weddings, reunions, festivals, or even the quiet days, when nothing “big” happens, could become a milestone.

July is that perfection made tactile, the perfect blend of memory and midsummer….and yes, it is the midsummer’s peak, and we’re invited to live like poets…even if just for a season….to notice more, to feel deeper, to chase what matters and let go of what doesn’t.

In a world addicted to the urgent, July whispers: rest. This is the best time to take the long way home, to sit longer at the dinner table, to look up, to let time ripple outward like the lake after you dive in.

There is a humility in July’s heat, which somehow it reminds us that we are small but alive, tied though to something bigger…the sky, the sea, the sun, and….time.  In the heart of summer, even silence is golden...you, a hammock, a book, or perhaps nothing at all…just you and the great golden hush.

"Even solitude feels lighter / when the sky is this wide."

In the end, July teaches us to live without flinching; to love the heat, the haze, the honesty; to stretch toward the joy as the sunflower stretches toward the sky…deliberately, unapologetically and in full bloom.

July is also a reminder that nothing, not even summer, lasts forever and that is exactly why it matters.

A big salute to the warmth, to the wonder and to the amazing “generosity” of July!

June 24, 2025 – Universal Day of the ROMANIAN BLOUSE

Each year, on June 24^th Romanians around the world observe The Universal Day of the Romanian Blouse – occasion which allows them to honor more than a piece of traditional clothing…they celebrate a legacy woven into the very fabric of identity, memory and cultural resilience.

This day (June 24) is also known as “Midsummer Day”, or “Sânzienele” (in the Romanian folk beliefs).

The Romanian traditional blouse (Ro: “ie”), with its delicate embroidery and ancient motifs, is not merely an attire; it is a chronicle of history passed from mother to daughter, from village to village, from century to century, and every stitch reflects both aesthetic mastery and profound symbolism of protection, fertility, faith, and belonging. To wear the “ie” it is to wear the voice of generations. In a globalized world, where cultural distinctiveness is too often diluted, the Romanian blouse stands as a quiet act of lasting identity and national pride; it reminds us that heritage is valuable, relevant and worthy of reverence.

Let this day be a moment to reflect on the strength of tradition and the beauty of preservation.

Honoring the “ie”, we reaffirm that identity matters and that the stories we carry are as vital as the ones we choose to tell.

Astăzi, 24 iunie 2025, celebrăm Ziua Universală a Iei...un simbol al patrimoniului imaterial românesc și emblema unei identități care transcende granițele geografice. Ia nu este doar o piesă vestimentară. Este o formă de memorie colectivă, un manuscris textil în care s-au scris cu ac și ață poveștile femeilor din sate, valorile unei comunități și viziunea estetică transmisă din generație în generație. Într-o eră a uniformizării globale, asumarea portului tradițional devine un act de importanță culturală.

Alegând să purtăm ia în 2025 (fie că suntem la Vancovuer, în București, Montreal, Londra sau în satul bunicilor)

reafirmăm apartenența la o cultură care încă respiră prin simboluri cusute cu grijă și sens.

 Această zi nu aparține trecutului, ci ne invită să regândim viitorul prin prisma identității: cum păstrăm valorile autentice într-o lume conectată digital, cum recontextualizăm tradiția fără a o simplifica sau comercializa excesiv?

Ia este vie. Astăzi, o purtăm cu recunoștință.
 Mâine, avem datoria să o înțelegem, să o transmitem, să o îmbrăcăm în semnificație.

● My previous greetings on the same theme:
The Universal Day of the ROMANIAN BLOUSE – 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020

NOTE: Dear readers, please be advised that on this website each of the previous postings, pertaining to the recurrent annual themes, portray a different perspective of the subject/s presented (same theme/s, but a different outlook without duplication due to the cultural richness of the specific topic/s discussed).