Dump Day!

A couple of weeks ago, as I was checking out at the grocery store, the cashier asked if the kids were home because of Dump Day.

In all the years of homeschooling, I have never heard that one before.

I have been asked if it’s a P.D. Day, if they are sick, or are we on vacation, but never because of Dump Day.

Now, Dump Day is not a fancy title to celebrate sitting on the throne the day after a good curry.

Neither is Dump Day the day you can explore dating new people.

Living in Nova Scotia has taught me that there is so much about Canada that I am ignorant of, even after living in this country for over thirty years.

If you know about Dump Day, good on you, because I had no clue.

Also, please don’t google “Dump Day.” I made that mistake, and boy, you sure do end up down some crazy rabbit holes quicker than you can flush the toilet.

After a very brief google search, I discovered that it is actually called Dumping Day!

Now, for those of you who were in the same boat as me (pun intended, and soon you’ll understand), let me enlighten you as to what in Carnations I am talking about.

Nova Scotia is a very rural province. Even the cities are very country, in my opinion. During the pandemic, Nova Scotia’s population just hit one million people, so it is extremely underpopulated.

This underpopulation is due in part to a lack of industry. The main industries in Nova Scotia are forestries and fisheries. The natural resources are the back bone of this province.

While this is slowly changing due to the influx of people from other provinces, due to lower housing costs and more acreage, there are only so many online opportunities available before the entire Timmies industry collapses.

I’m not a coffee drinker, but I see the line-ups, and I’m sure there’d be a full-blown revolution if there was no one available to work at Tim Horton’s.

Side bar.

While away at summer camp this past summer, my middle child told me that she was attempting to show off. A child, who was also showing off declared that they had 80 acres. Getting a bit proud, our child declared that we have 145 acres.

Well, we can all imagine what happened next.

Another child announced that they have 200 acres, then another yelled out 318, and another and another and another, until those with under 200 acres just had to slink away into the shadows.

Anyway, back to Dumping Day!

Historically, children did in fact miss school on Dumping Day, so the cashier was right with her questioning.

Well, Dump Day is what we call the first day of Lobster fishing.

It is typically held on the last Monday in November, and is somewhat of a celebration. A day when communities come together to send off the fishermen and pray that they all return home safely.

My local lighthouse holds festivities on Dumping Day, but they are Early O’clock in the morning. I couldn’t find the schedule for this year as they still have last years information posted.

https://capeforchu.com/dumping-day/

Perhaps I’ll manage to wake the family up for the celebration in 2025, as that will be my birthday, and they couldn’t possibly refuse to take me out for 5:30am on my special day!

Now, I was going to end this article here, but the more research I did, the more thoughts came to my mind.

So, here is my brain dump in celebration of Dumping Day!

I do not want to get into any sort of debates, but as a person of colour, and quite a beautiful colour if you ask me, I have a profound empathy for my First Nations brothers and sisters.

As someone who has absolutely no idea who my people of colour are, (I can trace my non-melaninated slave-owner ancestors through to the 1800’s in France, and I have been told that my Jewish Lopez ancestors came from Spain, and of course, my Ruddock ancestors were my official slave-owners from Scotland) however, I can not even imagine living in my homeland and watching people destroy it, and then burn down my house when they don’t like what I am doing.

If you research the nonsense that is going on within the fisheries industry in Nova Scotia, it will bring tears to your eyes…unless you okay with people stealing land, making treaties and then protesting when those unfair treaties are being used by the First Nations to make a living.

Now, I know, there will be some that say they are over fishing and we need to ensure that there are fish for future generations. Others will say that we all need to follow the same rules. But my very unpopular thought is that it’s their house. Let them be.