For expats a country’s national holidays — and how people mark them — can be a huge insight into your new home’s culture and way of life. Understanding the background to the public holidays celebrated your new country, and how you can mark them, can be an important part of your integration.
With that in mind, it is currently “Memorial Day Weekend” here in the United States – a holiday unique to the USA, and therefore an opportunity for me to try to better understand my new home. If the reaction of people on Twitter is anything to go by the holiday is predominantly about barbecues and parties:
Have a happy #MemorialDayWeekend! Make sure you add all of the brand new Fall shows to your Watchlist! – http://t.co/TQ1oqwmXXB
— TV Guide (@TVGuide) May 22, 2015
Happy Friday! Let's kick off this #MemorialDayWeekend! @KUTVHolly @KUTVJill #2NEWSAM
— Ron Bird (@KUTVRon) May 22, 2015
I haven't been this excited about a Friday since last Friday! Happy #MemorialDayWeekend
— Bert Weiss (@BertShowBert) May 22, 2015
Clearly there is much more to Memorial Day than this. So what is it all about?
