On the eve of Independence day……

“Our office will remain closed on 15th August 2007 on the eve of Independence day”
This holiday notice appeared in the local English newspaper on 14th August 2007 prompted me to discuss it here.
It has become a style for quite a few to use ‘on the eve of’ but wrongly with a different meaning attached to it.
It looks as if ‘on the eve of’ also means ‘on account of’, but it doesn’t.
'On the eve of' is an idiomatic expression and any idiom carries a meaning.
It is dangerous to use such expression if we are not sure about the meaning.
'On the eve of' any special/specific day or event means the evening before, the night before, the day before, the period before the special day or event
Generally speaking 'the eve of' means just prior to and never refers to the special day itself.
On the eve of the conference the main speaker backed out means the speaker backed out the night before the conference.
We usually refer to New Year eve and Christmas Eve as the day/night before New Year and Christmas, respectively.
On the contrary, when eve is written alone in general it means the evening.
A summer eve can thus mean a summer evening and a pleasant eve, a pleasant evening.
Now, imagine what impression the holiday notice would have created in many a mind.