Bank Holidays

Vandag is seker een van die onproduktiefste dae in SA. Hoekom? Gister was 'n vakansiedag en ek dink daar is net 10 van ons wat vandag werk in Johannesburg. Die ander hou lang naweek.

Die UK het soortgelyke probleme gehad tot hulle Bank Holidays ingestel het. Dit val op Vrydae of Maandae. Problem solved ;-)

Hulle vakansiedae is op:

1 January
2 January
17 March
St Patrick's Day (also Republic of Ireland)
The Friday before Easter Sunday
Good Friday
The day after Easter Sunday
Easter Monday
First Monday in May¹
Last Monday in May²
First Monday In June
12 July
Battle of the Boyne - Orangemen's Day
First Monday in August
Last Monday in August
Summer Bank Holiday
Last Monday in October
25 December
Christmas Day
26 December or 27 December ³
Boxing Day (St Stephen's Day in the Republic of Ireland)

Dus... geen probleme met dae tussen vakansiedae en naweke nie, want hulle vakansiedae maak dit reeds lang naweke.

Die naam Bank Holiday

The term started out referring to days when banks (in the U.K.) were closed so that bank employees could have a holiday. Before 1834, banks observed 33 days a year as bank holidays, and these were mostly saints' days and the typical church holidays like Christmas and Easter. In 1834, however, bank workers had most of those taken away such that the only holidays left were Good Friday, May 1st, November 1st, and Christmas Day. Yet, someone felt for the poor bank workers, so that in 1871, Sir John Lubbock's Act was passed, naming the following as bank holidays in England and Ireland: Easter Monday, Whit Monday, the first Monday in August, and Boxing Day (December 26). In Scotland they got New Year's Day, May Day, the first Monday in August, and Christmas Day. These holidays came to be appropriated by non-bank workers, but the term had already stuck. So, no matter for whom one works, one gets bank holidays. (www.takeourword.com).