When we think of a weekend, we think of getting up late in the morning, having a relaxing day, finishing up chores, enjoying an elaborate meal with family, or watching a movie in the afternoon or maybe taking a nap. A few things may change here and there, but more or less, we all have the same idea of a weekend- relaxing. I am writing the W: Weekend post on the weekend. Getting up a little late in the morning, having a different breakfast other than oats or cereal, cooking something special, not working in the afternoon (this excludes A2Z days), and going out in the evening. That’s my way of defining a weekend. Well, the last part applies on regular days.

 

 

In the USA weekend starts on Friday evening. Since here, it’s five working days week, so we get Saturday and Sunday as the weekend. But usually, here, people consider Friday evening and Saturday evening as weekend and Sunday is for getting back into the week mode. Sometimes barbequing with friends is very common to do over the weekend. Well, this was about regular weekends. Now let’s talk about the long weekend. You must have heard your friends posting pics of their long weekend parties or road trips on Instagram. So, what’s this deal with long weekends?

 

These long weekends are the times when summer arrives in North America. Sometimes, in some parts of America, winter stays quite well through early or mid-June. Start of July, days starts to get warm. Sunsets happen around 8:00 pm or sometimes 9:00 pm. July is the time when the sun is shining at its brightest. Everyone is outdoors. Some summer traditions are a part of American culture. When I am in India during summer, I cannot miss having bhutta with namak- laal mirchi, nimbu mixture. The same thing is with rain, first that comes to my or every Indian is pakodas, samosa with masala chai aur.. (oppsss..see I told you thinking about all this I forgot that I am writing in English), pani puri. The long weekends of that fall in summer, calls for the tradition of barbeque. Patio parties, to open grills that are available in public parks, people don’t miss any chance to get together with their friends and host large BBQ parties. You will find stores selling big coal bags, corn on sale, BBQ meat, and other supplies. It’s like the start of a new season.

 

This was one association with the long weekend. Another is shopping. Ohh..yes. With the long weekend approaching, you will start seeing ads on TV showing the sales, deals, and discounts. It is a consumer’s market. And long weekends are the perfect time for the retailers to sell certain items and people end up buying many such things thinking that they are on sale so let buy it.

 

It is also a great time to take road trips to nearby spots. America is full of natural beauty. This is the perfect time to take a break from the daily routine. It’s a good change for everyone to spend some time in nature.

 

When do these long weekends fall:

 

Here, we don’t get many casual holidays. It’s is either during any festival like Thanksgiving and Christmas or national holidays like Independence Day. Even if Independence Day is observed as a national holiday, but what exactly is the essence behind it? There is no flag hosting ceremony here at schools or remember those parades that we used to watch on TV? No, not that either. But you will see people wearing Blue and Red. Even in grocery stores, you will find the flower bouquets colored in Blue and Red or in the bakery section, cupcakes having Blue and Red icing. That doesn’t mean they have forgotten the history of American Independence, or they lack patriotism. These people take Independence Day more for the values of unity, the value of togetherness, the good times the county has given you, and the importance of Independence. Somewhere I do appreciate it.

 

Yesterday, I read a poem Virangana-Valiant Woman written by a co-blogger Sonia. She wrote – Today women are not considered fit for combat roles in India.  And it made me feel that will we be able to celebrate the true meaning of Independence? Will we be able to reach a point where we would be able to honor and respect the values and culture our nation stands for? We are an independent country now, and we are way older culture than just a country ruled by Britishers or horror stories of partition.

 

With every passing year, I started to understand that these weekends are more of the present day. I started understanding the real spirits with which these weekends are being celebrated.

 

This post is part of #BlogchatterA2Z. My theme is “Dollar Nation – Are You Ready to Experience the West Through My Eyes?”

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