The Anniversary of the First National Government ( es, Primer gobierno patrio) is a

public holiday A public holiday, national holiday, or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year. Sovereign nations and territories observe holidays based on events of significance to their history ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

, commemorating the

May Revolution The May Revolution ( es, Revolución de Mayo) was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. This Spanish colony included roughly the terri ...

and the creation of the

Primera Junta The Primera Junta ( en, First Junta) or ''Junta Provisional Gubernativa de las Provincias del Río de la Plata'' (''Provisional Governing Junta of the Provinces of the Río de la Plata''), is the most common name given to the first government of ...

on May 25, 1810, which is considered the first patriotic government of Argentina. Along with the 9 July, which commemorates the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...

, it is considered a National Day of Argentina.

History

Commemorations of the May Revolution have been held since 1811, the first anniversary:

Cornelio Saavedra Cornelio Judas Tadeo de Saavedra y Rodríguez (September 15, 1759 in Otuyo – March 29, 1829 in Buenos Aires) was a military officer and statesman from the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. He was instrumental in the May Revolution, the firs ...

ruled so for Buenos Aires, and

Manuel Belgrano Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano y González (3 June 1770 – 20 June 1820), usually referred to as Manuel Belgrano (), was an Argentine public servant, economist, lawyer, politician, journalist, and military leader. He ...

and

Juan José Castelli Juan José Castelli (19 July 176412 October 1812) was an Argentine lawyer who was one of the leaders of the May Revolution, which led to the Argentine War of Independence. He led an ill-fated military campaign in Upper Peru. Juan José Castel ...

did the same during their military campaigns at the cities they had under control during the anniversaries. The day was officially declared a national day by the

Assembly of Year XIII The Assembly of Year XIII ( es, Asamblea del Año XIII) was a meeting called by the Second Triumvirate governing the young republic of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (modern-day Argentina, Uruguay, part of Bolivia) on October 18 ...

on May 5, 1813. The 1816

Argentine Declaration of Independence What today is commonly referred as the Independence of Argentina was declared on July 9, 1816, by the Congress of Tucumán. In reality, the congressmen who were assembled in Tucumán declared the independence of the United Provinces of So ...

provided an alternative national day. In the beginning, this added to the conflicts between Buenos Aires and the provinces in the

Argentine Civil War The Argentine Civil Wars were a series of civil conflicts of varying intensity that took place through the territories of Argentina from 1814 to 1853. Initiation concurrently with the Argentine War of Independence (1810–1820), the conflict p ...

, with the date in May being related particularly to Buenos Aires and 9 July to the whole country. This led the unitarian

Bernardino Rivadavia Bernardino de la Trinidad González Rivadavia (May 20, 1780 – September 2, 1845) was the first President of Argentina, then called the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, from February 8, 1826 to June 27, 1827. He was educated at ...

to cancel the celebration on July, and the federalist

Juan Manuel de Rosas Juan Manuel José Domingo Ortiz de Rosas (30 March 1793 – 14 March 1877), nicknamed "Restorer of the Laws", was an Argentine politician and army officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly the Argentine Confederation. Although ...

to re-allow it, but without giving up celebrations on May. The celebrations in 1857, when Buenos Aires had temporary seceded from the

Argentine Confederation The Argentine Confederation (Spanish: ''Confederación Argentina'') was the last predecessor state of modern Argentina; its name is still one of the official names of the country according to the Argentine Constitution, Article 35. It was the name ...

, were large and included the remodelation of the Plaza. By 1880, with the

federalization of Buenos Aires Federalization, in Argentine law, is the process of assigning federal status to a territory with the purpose of making that territory the national capital. Federalization of Buenos Aires politically separated the city from the Buenos Aires Provinc ...

, the local connotations were removed and the May Revolution was considered the birth of the nation. Massive celebrations of the holiday have been a tradition during the 19th century and part of the 20th century, but were slowly forgotten by the end of it. However, the

Argentina Bicentennial The Argentina Bicentennial ( es, bicentenario argentino) was a series of ceremonies, festivals, and observances celebrated on May 25, 2010, and throughout the year. They commemorated the 200th anniversary of the May Revolution, a sequence of histo ...

held in 2010 raised again the public interest in the holiday, becoming the most attended public event in the history of Buenos Aires.

Legal status

May 25 is considered a national and non-workable holiday by law 21.329.Law Nº 21329
Requires

Microsoft Word Microsoft Word is a word processor, word processing software developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name ''Multi-Tool Word'' for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other pla ...

It is immovable, meaning it is celebrated on May 25 regardless of day of the week.

References

{{authority control National days May observances Public holidays in Argentina May Revolution Autumn events in Argentina