Texas Holidays

Real Texas Holidays

This is part 7 in the series ….How To Be Texan, Wherever You Are.

You can certainly be Texan, Wherever You Are by observing some unique Texas Holidays.

Texas Holiday celebrations are not always officially recognized holidays by the rest of the world.  However, there are some dates that are extra special to us Real Texans, Wherever We Are:

• Texas Independence Day on March 2.  It is also known as Sam Houston Day and Texas Flag Day.

The fall of the Alamo March 6.  It was on this day in 1836 that the greatly outnumbered Texian Army fought to the last man at the Battle of the Alamo in San Antonio.  Commander William Barret Travis had vowed to never surrender and he answered the demand with a canon shot.  San Jacinto Day on April 21.  Sam Houston and the Texas Army defeated Santa Anna at San Jacinto.  Houston was badly injured in the battle with a gunshot that shattered his ankle.  He had two horses shot out from under him in the battle which was a decisive victory for Texas.

Juneteenth.  Juneteenth is June 19, the day word of the Emancipation Proclamation got to Texas. President Lincoln issued the executive order on January 1, 1863, but word did not get to Texas until June 19, 1865.   The Emancipation Proclamation was criticized at the time for freeing only the slaves over which the Union had no power. Although most slaves were not freed immediately, the Proclamation brought freedom to thousands of slaves the day it went into effect in parts of nine of the ten states to which it applied (Texas being the exception). Juneteenth on the other hand commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in the U.S. and the State of Texas in 1865.  Juneteenth is celebrated in at least 32 other states.  The Juneteenth holiday originated in Galveston, Texas; for more than a century, the state of Texas was the primary home of Juneteenth celebrations. Since 1980, Juneteenth has been an official state holiday in Texas. It is considered a “partial staffing holiday” meaning that state offices do not close but some employees will be using a floating holiday to take the day off.   Twelve other states list it as an official holiday, including Arkansas, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Alaska and California, where Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed the day “Juneteenth” on June 19, 2005.  Connecticut, however, does not consider it a legal holiday or close government offices in observance of the occasion.  Its informal observance has spread to some other states, with a few celebrations even taking place in other countries.  As of September 2009, 32 states and the District of Columbia have recognized Juneteenth as a state holiday observance; these are Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

March 2^nd

My friend Roger Moore publishes a calendar that begins on March 2 instead of January 1.  We’re serious about our independence here in Texas, and Roger is more serious than most.  He is a gifted artist/cartoonist and he sells plenty of calendars every year to other Texans.  It was on March 2, 1836 that Texans gathered in the small town of Washington-on-the-Brazos and declared Independence.  The document was primarily written by George C. Childress.  It starts by saying….”When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it was instituted, and so far from being a guarantee for the enjoyment of those inestimable and inalienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression.”

 I also observe March 6, the day the Alamo fell and remember the brave Texans who fought to the last man at Thh Battle of the Alamo.  For years, I would make it a point to be in San Antonio on that day and would walk down to the Alamo just before dawn, and pause there for a while in their memory.

I surely was standing on hallowed ground where Texan blood was shed on that fateful morning.  These are all strictly and uniquely Texas holidays.  You Can Be Texan Wherever You Are by observing and celebrating these holidays.  Break out the Lone Star, fire up that barbecue pit, and get the brisket ready.   And as you make your own Real Texas Holiday, wherever you are….Remember to take your hat off and toast the heroes that made Texas possible.

Tagged as: Texas Holidays