When I was thinking about how to link Shakespeare to the Fourth of July, I admit I was a bit stumped. Despite being appreciated by millions of Americans, it didn’t seem like Shakespeare had any close ties to the founding of the country. While religious, political, and economic freedom might have been high on the list of the colonist’s concerns, I don’t know where Shakespeare or any other writer would have fallen (except perhaps under the general umbrella of freedom of expression).

Even when thinking about the day in contemporary terms, our observance of Independence Day has little to do with theatre or literature. This is not a criticism; rather, the winter holidays seem lend themselves more to celebrations of a theatrical nature. Mostly, we go to parties, cook food over an open flame and, most importantly, watch a fireworks display, often with patriotic musical accompaniment.

I was delighted to find a unique way to celebrate July Fourth that does connect somewhat to Shakespeare. In Massachusetts, Shakespeare and Company holds an annual reading of the Declaration of Independence. Imagine what it would be like to hear the words that founded our country spoken by performers trained in Shakespearean verse. It seems to me that you might be able to hear these familiar words in a new way.

The Declaration of Independence is a document that changed not just our country, but also the world. It doubtlessly inspires feelings of patriotism and a sense of history. It is also a beautiful piece of writing, every bit as poetic as any of the “literary” texts we hold so dear. In this way, it is very, very closely tied to Shakespeare because both writings demonstrate the beauty and power of words.

Father’s Day has just passed, and whether you’re a dad or not, the day has some kind of meaning for you. It’s a day when you can reflect on your own pop and possibly enjoy being someone else’s dad. Most Father’s Day cards evoke standard male clichés: yard work, cookouts, tools, television, beer, and, of course, neckties. One thing it might not bring to mind is Shakespeare. Yet, this past Sunday, a Shakespearean professor wrote a brief memoir that did just that.

The professor recalled her own father who passed away just as she was bringing her own child into the world. While trying to juggle both joy and grief, she found that she felt differently about the words that she had spent hours analyzing, reciting and interpreting with her students. Shakespeare, suddenly, was all about fathers, particularly lost ones. Indeed, The Bard’s plays are replete with fathers who are absent or lost in the course of the stories. Those that remain often have difficult relationships with their offspring.

In a way, she found her life and work intersecting unexpectedly and Father’s Day became a holiday that represented that intersection. Anyone who has ever lost someone—especially a parent—is always a bit haunted by them (not in a scary way, but rather a sort of permanent melancholy). For this Shakespearean scholar, her work is now one of the places where her father revisits her. No doubt there is something both comforting and saddening about these visits.

Memorial Day is a day of many meanings. Hopefully, its most important role should be as a time of remembrance, though in the eagerness for summer that significance is sometimes lost (or at least muddled). For many, it is a time of beginnings and endings: the end of a school year (or the end of a school career for those graduating); the end of the television season; or the beginning of a period of vacations and other leisure time activities such as cookouts. Since the mid 1970’s, Memorial Day was traditionally the beginning of the summer movie season, as the long weekend allowed a blockbuster to rack up additional dollars based on the extra free time moviegoers have. In the past decade or so, that date has backed up to the beginning of May, as big budget films try to steer clear of each other and still recoup a gazillion dollars to cover its overblown budgets, outrageous star salaries, and ridiculous advertising costs (which is why some such tentpole movies can make $100 million dollars and still be considered flops).

Theatre is a different animal, and Memorial Day still marks the end of the regular theatre season (as evidence, note the mid-May announcement of the Tony Award nominations followed by the ceremony itself in early June). The long weekend also marks the transition to summer seasons, of which Shakespeare Festivals make up a considerable percentage. Since many of these venues are outdoors, it makes sense that they might choose the milder months to stage their works. In addition, their talent pool is drawn from both professional theatre and academia, both of whom become more available in the summer months. Memorial day means many things to many people, but for Bard buffs it means a smorgasbord of Shakespearean theatre.

Memorial Day is a day of many meanings. Hopefully, its most important role should be as a time of remembrance, though in the eagerness for summer that significance is sometimes lost (or at least muddled). For many, it is a time of beginnings and endings: the end of a school year (or the end of a school career for those graduating); the end of the television season; or the beginning of a period of vacations and other leisure time activities. Since the mid 1970’s, Memorial Day was traditionally the beginning of the summer movie season, as the long weekend allowed a blockbuster to rack up additional dollars based on the extra free time moviegoers have. In the past decade or so, that date has backed up to the beginning of May, as big budget films try to steer clear of each other and still recoup a gazillion dollars to cover its overblown budgets, outrageous star salaries, and ridiculous advertising costs (which is why some such tentpole movies can make $100 million dollars and still be considered flops).

Theatre is a different animal, and Memorial Day still marks the end of the regular theatre season (as evidence, note the mid-May announcement of the Tony Award nominations followed by the ceremony itself in early June). The long weekend also marks the transition to summer seasons, of which Shakespeare Festivals make up a considerable percentage. Since many of these venues are outdoors, it makes sense that they might choose the milder months to stage their works. In addition, their talent pool is drawn from both professional theatre and academia, both of whom become more available in the summer months. Memorial day means many things to many people, but for Bard buffs it means a smorgasbord of Shakespearean theatre.

A recent news brief included a complete hodgepodge of listings from Mother’s Day stuff a performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The article did so without any hint of irony, yet I was struck by the idea of celebrating Mother’s Day by seeing a play that is often interpreted in a highly Freudian manner. So, in an effort to make a really sweet holiday seem as icky as possible, I’m going to ask what the deal really is with Gertrude. Is the mommy obsession in Hamlet something that comes from the text or from certain high profile interpretations that have colored our reading of the play.

The evidence used for Hamlet’s potential Oedipal complex stems from his apparent obsession with Gertrude’s sex life with Claudius. Throwing out phrases like “nasty sty” and “inseamed bed” have certainly bolstered that interpretation. Still, the make-or-break scene in the play is when Gertrude summons him to her chambers and he accidentally murders Polonius. The debate over this issue and this scene is complicated and contentious, with scholars going the rounds over whether or not there might have been a bed onstage when it was staged in Elizabethan England. That bed, whether it is real or imaginary, is the elephant in the room (and attempts to prove its existence are clearly related to the “Shakespeare would have wanted it that way” defense).

I’m not saying you can’t stage Hamlet with an Oedipal approach (although Mel Gibson’s assault of Glenn Close’s Gertrude in the 1990 film version is a teensy bit lacking in the subtlety department). I do, however, wonder if the play will be forever in the shadow of that interpretation. Will Gertrude and Hamlet ever be just a mother and son?

It’s almost time. Men will be dashing to drug stores and supermarkets to pick up last minute gifts, cards and other sundries. Women will begin their collective eye-rolling at this panic, marveling how “the most romantic day of the year” still manages to take their mates by surprise year after year. Despite Valentine’s Day’s commercial veneer, many just want to feel special about the someone special in their lives. While the “Be Mine” heart-shaped candies and ubiquity of the color red in stores leave little doubt that the day has been largely consumed by commercialization, the day still manages to make people reflect on their relationships. Regardless of age, race, culture or orientation, couples must pick a side on Valentine’s Day, either for it or against it—and woe to the couple whose partners are not on the same side.

If overpriced chocolates, flowers and stationery are not your thing, the Orient Express’s British Pullman is offering a romantic dinner ride with Shakespeare a la carte. Scenes from his comedies (no doubt with an emphasis on romantic ones) will be presented by members of the Oxford Shakespeare Coompany. Instead of listening to Celine Dion or light jazz, adventurous romantics can take in samples of A Midsummer Night’s Dream or As You Like It. If you’ve every endured your significant other’s maladroit attempts at poetry (seriously, should the word “hot” ever appear in a poem), you may welcome the reprieve this unique entertainment offers. Who knows? Maybe Two Gentlemen of Verona’s aptly named character Valentine might even make an appearance.