It will soon be Victoria Day, and this occasion will once again be enthusiastically celebrated in New Westminster.
Victoria Day was first honoured here just a couple of months into the city’s existence in May of 1859.
A newspaper account of the event emphasized its importance: “The 24th of May was a day of general rejoicing and festivity in Queensborough (New Westminster), the capital of British Columbia, in honour of the anniversary of Her Majesty’s birth, and what rendered the day so peculiarly interesting was its being the first time Her Majesty’s subjects in this distant part of the world have had an opportunity of expressing their loyalty and devotion to their beloved Sovereign.”
The upcoming Victoria Day celebration on Monday, May 23 will feature a formal salute by the Ancient and Honourable Hyack Anvil Battery using anvils rather than cannons. The 1859 salute, and others that followed, were usually fired by cannon and rifles, but the purpose of all these firings is the same: to honour the reigning sovereign. Today, the Battery fires to the memory of Queen Victoria, as well.
The Anvil Battery has been firing such salutes since the latter half of the 1800s. They were then using an earlier form of creating a celebratory noise in honour or recognition of someone or something. There are many examples of this to be found, one of which is the arrival, after almost two years of waiting, of a riverboat to serve the needs of Yale.
The vessel Henrietta arrived in Yale to great excitement and to add noise to the community festivities, “anvils were made to answer the purpose of cannon and quite a brisk firing was kept up during the afternoon.”
If you’ve been to Yale, you can imagine this sound bouncing off and echoing from the mountain sides at the entrance to the Fraser Canyon.
The Anvil Battery fires each year in New Westminster on Victoria Day. However, they may also be seen at other regal or vice-regal events, and particular important occasions that fit the Battery’s protocols. The Battery has honoured royalty and representatives of royalty, celebrations with royal links, special recognitions such as Simon Fraser, the 2010 Olympic torch, the opening of the Anvil Centre downtown, and a few select others.
One such unusual event occurred in 1927 when the Anvil Battery started off a day-long set of festivities with a salute of 21 shots as New Westminster marked Canada’s Diamond Jubilee of Confederation.
Want to see this long-standing Royal City tradition?
The very unusual event blends the honouring of Victoria Day, the close city ties to royalty through our history, and the dedication of the members of the Ancient and Honourable Hyack Anvil Battery. The salute happens on Victoria Day in Queen’s Park Stadium from about 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
It’s fun, it’s free, it’s loud, and you’ll never forget it. Everyone is welcome.
