🇺🇸 Most Americans have never heard of Patriots Day, and almost no one outside the U.S. knows it exists.
Yet it’s one of the most action-packed holidays in the country, and it holds a lot of significance.
Celebrated only in Massachusetts and Maine, it marks the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the opening shots of the American Revolution.
Every year, on the third Monday of April (today), Boston holds its marathon at dawn, the Red Sox play a morning home game at America’s oldest ballpark, and reenactors fire muskets at each other in the suburbs.
In 2013, two bombs were detonated near the finish line, killing 3 people and injuring hundreds more.
The following year, Boston came back with record crowds lining the route, the city's defiance becoming as much a part of the day's identity as the race itself.
The world's oldest annual marathon, a sold-out ballpark, a 250-year-old battle, and the stubborn refusal to be broken, all on the same morning, all in the same city.