Minor Holidays and Chamar Medina

Like happened earlier this year, there are a bunch of minor holidays which just happen to fall all in a row about now. Today (and tomorrow) is/are Pesach Sheni, celebrated basically by skipping tachanun and eating a bit of matzah. I’ll observe both.

As is well known, this Saturday night/ Sunday is Lag B’Omer. Bonfires, archery, whatever. If you’re a detached piece of wood somewhere in Israel, you will be found and incinerated by a budding pyromaniac. For the more tame, you can read my series on R’ Shimon bar Yochai (and then vote for it), whose yahrzeit is traditionally observed then.

Moving to the Gregorian calendar, there are two other holidays that are observed these days (probably more, but these two were observed to at least a degree where I’ve been, so I’m generally conscious of them). The first is May Day, largely observed as a socialist/communist holiday.

The second is Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican-American holiday celebrated, as its name indicates, on May 5. In honor of this holiday, I will be making Kiddush this Shabbat day on Corona. Since I also made Kiddush on Guiness on St. Patrick’s Day, it looks like this is turning into a bit of a thing for me. I kind of like it. I like recognizing the chamar medina of different medinot in times that are special for that culture. I’m sure I can think of more, though I don’t want to go overboard with this, and I want to stick with drinks I enjoy, like beer.