Public Transportation Day
Public Transportation Day (Frakanic: Jour du Transport Public) is a federal holiday in the Federation of the Southern Coast of Lapérouse to celebrate the concept of public transportation. Public transportation has been a fixture of Côtoise culture since Mending the Land, as the cities and neighborhoods being rebuilt always was designed around a public transport. Examples including rebuilding a village centered around a bus stop, instead of religious buildings or town squares like other nations do. Bus stops and train stations became a fixtures of Côtois daily life, even more so with later additions making bus stops into small buildings with storefronts. Such as the cultural impact, a movement to establish a holiday about Public Transportation was started in the late 1960s. Becoming a holiday in 1976 being signed into law by FPM Audun Strande to much fanfare. The last friday of every November being declared Public Transportation Day, with several scheduled fun activities such as pardoning train from recyclement and sending them to a museum. Religious organizations such as the Hjørdist temples, Akuan shrines and Duarist temples taking advantage of the holiday to hold service or rituals. Using public transportation as a metaphor and hosting games for children. The holiday is one of the most celebrated holidays within the Federation, coming close to Union Day and Yule.
History
Public Transportation Day has no known roots or traces from the previous regime of Queendom of Lapérouse. Being a strange case of a completely organic creation of a holiday, started by a popular movement but lack any ties to any other holidays and cultural heritage outside of the transportation facilities being centered around neighborhoods and towns. It became a minor topic of study by sociologists from outside of the Federation due to is strangeness of origin. The initial movement was started in République C.D, by students between the ages 8 to 18, later being joined by university students in 1968. The stated goal of the movement was to create a federal holiday, being notable for its complete seriousness and lack of sarcasm as some Norgsveltian reporters suggested at first. The students was completely serious, as later remarked by a Norgsveltian historian with a specialization on Federation history. It was brought to the People's Federal Royal Parliament in 1976, and quickly approved by all three houses of the parliament. Later being signed by Audun Strande, who was recorded being remarkably joyful about signing the law, completely out of character for the Lew Federal Prime Minister as noted by her majesty Queen, Magrete I while visiting the Federation at the time.
Celebrations
Public Transportation Day is celebrated across the Federation in several ways, religious, education and other manners. Homes across the Federation are decorated with miniature train sets, often going around the roof if the front yard is not possible for whatever reason. The rails the train goes on being colored lights, and the train itself usually having lights of red, white and gold to symbol the color of the nation's flag.
Pardoning of a Train and Parade
The sitting FPM opens the day at 8AM by pardoning of a train set to be recycled, sending it to a museum and paying for its maintenance. After pardoning, a parade is held in République C.D with the pardon train leading the way. The parade televised and streamed across the country by Red Dove Media. The parade features parade floats with specific themes outside of just public transportation, performances from various musical cooperatives, large balloons of anime characters, media personalities and university marching bands. The float traditionally ends with a original paradon train. The parade features both traditional and new media personalities, coming from online and more traditional roles such as television and movies. Online personalities being a newer addition added by FPM Jeanne Pierre, with the first new addition being Jarl Jørgen Bjørn of Vakrestrender in 2018. Being notable for being the same year as the Red Crown Terrorist Attack, and being his first public appearance. He was heavily scrutinized online, and was the first time the parade was ever streamed widely outside of the Federation. The Jarl was ruthless criticized for 'looking too normal' and 'shouldn't be there at all.' Though the comments was primary made outside of the Federation, as later online hate was analyzed to come from outside of the country. Most Côtois being more fixated on the train being paradon as it was the first electric train to be pardoned.
Education
The last week with a Friday in November is known as Public Transport week in schools, with a class replacing Civic classes in grades Pre-K through 12 to teach about Public Transportation. Teaching about safety, polite manners, history and the favorite among students is the construction of the vehicles. Children under the age of 13 make cardboard buses for the classes and children to 14 to 18 create model train sets that will go around the school's roof though this project starts at the first of November rather than waiting for the week to start. University and Trade School students hold a competition to build the best train set at their schools, judges being selected from pensioners who volunteer.
Films
The holiday has several dozen holiday films made, with the most popular being "le bon conducteur de bus" (Codexian/Staynish: The Good Bus Driver). The film being about a bus driver who felt like she was not making a impact on her local community. When she went to sleep, she was visited by bus drivers past, present and future. Being taking a adventure to show the impact of bus drivers and of her own impact more specifically. Future showing her what will happen if she died and theoretically couldn't be replaced with her neighborhood becoming dilapidated. After which, the bus driver wakes up and goes to work with a smile, politely greeting passengers knowing her impact on her community. There are several holiday specials on streaming services and television; Process of Creation, a show about how common everyday items are manufactured having a two hour special about the railways.
Religious Services
Religious organizations with the Federation take advantage of the holiday by hosting special service or rituals and having games for the children to play. The services usually using metaphors about transportation as for one's soul or in the case of Akuanists hosting a ritual to bless the drivers, conductors and the machines themselves. Akuanism, having rituals to gather favor from the guardian spirits of transportation, buses, trains, travelers and drivers. Hjørdist, Akuanists and Duarists usually joining together after service to host games for children. Young children dressing up like bus and train drivers, running on a set track to collect 'passengers' which is candy or other forms of sweets. Teenagers and young adults joining in a race, where three people get in a box with bottom removed in order to run in a race. The boxes are designed to either look like buses or trains by the three person teams and the end of the race track is a stop sign held by a pensioner.