(AJPH) Abstract: This study seeks to address both the theoretical and empirical aspects of national holidays' selection. Noting a breadth of historical events that a state may choose to celebrate, this study asks how and why only some events are selected for national remembrance and commemoration. I answer this question by considering the role of national holidays in politics of history and memory and state- and nation-building. Using an example of the Russian government replacing an established public holiday — the Revolution Day, celebrated on 7 November — with a new holiday — the National Unity Day, celebrated on 4 November — I set out to demonstrate how the choice of historical events for national celebration hinges on their potentiality to be reconstructed and deployed for the present political agendas.
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