Re: OT: Christmas/Holidays

Mark J. Reed wrote:
> On 12/27/05, *Tristan McLeay* <conlang@thecartographers.net
> <mailto:conlang@...>> wrote:
>
>     I was of the understanding that starting Winter on the solstice was an
>     American thing, and that Europe (or at the very least the British and
>     Irish) considered it to begin at least at the start of December, if not
>     earlier---certainly in Australia, summer is considered to start on the
>     first of December and last to the last of Feburary (and the simple
>     inverse in the northern hemisphere: if anyone asked I would say the 3rd
>     of December was winter in America).
>
>
>  I specifically said "astronomy" for that reason.  In the Western
> tradition of astronomy, the seasons begin on the equinoxes and
> solstices; this is not an American thing but one that predates the
> European settling of America.  Other traditions, including Eastern
> astronomy and Western non-astronomical usage, have other definitions.
Okay, I think. I'm still a little confused though, because such official
sources as the Australian Bureau of Meterology considers summer to begin
the same day the rest of Oz does, and I can't really see what astronomy
has to do with the seasons, what with them being weather things.

...

>     (BTW: Today is actually the 27th of December---though it is the Boxing
>     Day public holiday ;)
>
>
> My greeting was a little late for ye folks on the far side of the globe
> from here, 'tis true.  So how come your Boxing day on the 27th while the
> UK's is on the 26th?
I specifically said "the Boxing Day public holiday" for that reason.
Boxing Day was the 26th (the day before yesterday by now). The 27th was
the Boxing Day public holiday, because the 26th couldn't've been,
because it was the Christmas Day public holiday, because Christmas Day
couldn't've been, because Christmas Day was on the weekend. (You do of
course need to days for Christmas: One for the wife's side and one for
the husband's; I have no idea how you Americans get by with only one.)
It probably becomes clearer when you consider New Years Day. New Years
Day next year is, obviously, 1 January 2006, but the New Years Day
public holiday is 2 January 2006, the day after. (I'm not entirely sure
why there's a New Years Day public holiday in the first place. Then
again, there's a (Melbourne) Cup Day public holiday---for a horse race.
Who really needs an excuse for a day off?)

Oh, perhaps I need to digress and explain what Christmas Day means in
Australia, because I think it means something different in America. In
America I think it's basically a religious festival that's significantly
more important than most, hence "Happy Holidays!". In Australia though,
Christmas is much more of a cultural holiday fulfilling much of the role
fulfilled by Thanksgiving in America: Going and seeing your family and
having a bbq and so forth (just with Santa and presents and the more
Chritianly-inclined also throw in nativity scenes and stars). Well,
Americans probably don't have a bbq for Thanksgiving, wrong time of year
and all that, and probably an American Christmas is still more the way
*I* think of Christmas than the Internet tries to lead me to believe.
But I hear Americans, _en masse_ not just a few weird isolated cases, do
things like go see a movie as a family on Christmas day. I'll be happy
to believe you if you tell me I've been fed Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.
(End first digression.)

Basically the way it works is that public holidays can't happen on a
weekend (except, by definition, Easter Saturday in the states that have
it). Christmas Day, Easter Sunday and the morning (I think) of Good
Friday and Anzac Day (a war memorial day, held both in Australia and New
Zealand) are no-trade days, when basically shops over a certain size
cannot open. But if any public holiday falls on a non-working day,
including one that is also a no-trade day, then the gazetted public
holiday is the next working day. This means that Monday-to-Friday
workers always get all public holidays (barring Easter Saturday); on the
other hand, it means people who have to work on Easter Sunday and
Christmas Day if they fall on a weekend don't get public holiday rates
or a day in lieu or whatever benefit they would've got. Also from a
business perspective having the Xmas day public holiday and no-trade day
separated is not very good: I got paid 100% for hours I didn't work on
Sunday that I normally would've and then got paid 250% for the hours I
worked on the 26th and 27th.

(Actually, I can't remember if Easter Sunday is both a no-trade day and
a public holiday, or just a no-trade day. I think it varies between the
states and over time. If necessary, read "Easter Saturday and Sunday"
for "Easter Saturday".)

Anzac Day recently fell on the weekend: I think some states, arguing
that it was Anzac Day itself that was special and that it's an
international holiday so that we must have consistency. Of course, this
had never been the case before, and the default in both Australian
states and New Zealand is to have the the Monday following the public
holiday, so by not changing it, inconsistency was caused.

I expect most of the above holds true for the UK as well. In fact, I
would expect most of the above holds true for America and almost every
other country on earth that has public holidays.

(BTW: In spite of the fact that most of the days I've mentioned are
religious, there's no established churches in Australia and in fact the
Commonwealth (federal) Government is forbidden from doing that by the
Constitution. One of the few Bill-of-Rights-style constitutional
protections we have, because of the many Irish immigrants and convicts
in the pre-federated Australian colonies. "No!" says the Commonwealth
Attorney-General to his Victorian counterpart, "you mustn't bring in a
nasty charter of Rights & Freedoms, because it will strip Victorians of
their common-law rights that you overlook! Look, the Australian Capital
Territory has completely fallen apart since *they* brought one in, I
mean, they even dared *challenge* the federal government!" But I
digress. I never really did have any reason to criticise the government,
bless their souls, did I?)

--
Tristan.

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