National Anthem Day of Canada

"O Canada!"The history of the origin of the national anthem of Canada and the content of its texts (it has two officially accepted versions, not quite the same content - French and English) perfectly reflect the unique binational nature of the Canadian state.

During the British colonial rule in Canada, the melody of the anthem “God Save the Queen” was sung at official ceremonies and public gatherings. When the dominion was formed, the role of its “national song” was claimed by the song “Maple Leaf Forever” folded in 1867.

In contrast to this national song of the Anglo-Canadians and was composed the national song of the French-Canadians - "O Canada!". It was written in the days of preparation for the holiday of Quebec (French province) by the famous Quebec composer Calix Lavalle overnight on the poems of the former supreme judge of the province Adolphe-Bazille Ruthier. The anthem was first performed in Quebec City on June 24, 1880, the day of the national holiday of French Canadians.

Over the next two decades, the anthem "O Canada!" gained immense popularity in the province of Quebec, but did not go beyond its borders; it was sung exclusively in French. However, the result of the growing popularity of the anthem was that over time began to appear its English versions. The most popular of these, created by Judge Robert Stanley Weyer in 1908, became the traditional English version of the anthem.

Since 1921, the anthem has been printed in school textbooks. The melody of the anthem began to knock chimes on the Peace Tower, crowning the building of the Canadian Parliament, it was performed at hockey matches, other sports and cultural events. Until recently, Canada had no official national anthem.

It wasn’t until 1964 that the Canadian government passed a resolution recognizing “O Canada!” as the national anthem, and “God Save the Queen” as the royal anthem.

The present version of the anthem is based on Weyer's text and incorporates the 1968 amendments introduced by the Senate Joint Select Committee and the House of Commons. The French version of the text remained unchanged.

However, the relevant act (law) was not adopted by the Parliament. And only on June 27, 1980 - 100 years and 3 days after its first performance - "O Canada!" received the official status of the national anthem of Canada, enshrined in a special Act on the national anthem, which came into force on that day. (Based on gov.pe.ca, canada.gc.ca, sovet.ca, eventmarket.ru, countries.ru)