Every day is a holiday, somewhere
My favorite daily newspaper (because it’s thin, because it’s international but still has US comic strips, because it has excellent editorials and because it provides background insights) is the International Herald Tribune. I should get a subscription, but instead I pick it up whenever I go through an airport.
One of their daily columns is a travel update - what countries, airlines, airports are on strike, what new conveniences and inconveniences have popped up which will affect travellers, and a list of which countries are having a bank holiday this week. This is important information for business traveller; my company prints a wall calendar every year which lists all bank holidays in each of the countries we have offices.
The simple bank holiday list in the Herald Tribune, ordered by day of the week, fascinates me and stimulates the imagination. There is not one day of the year which is not a holiday somewhere in the world. The names of the holidays are not listed, only the names of the countries. This week, Bahrain was listed as having a number of bank holidays. I wonder what they are celebrating in Bahrain this week?
Thank goodness the internet can answer (almost) all of my crazy questions. Bank holidays around the world are listed at www.bank-holidays.com.
When I clicked on the site today and chose my language, the first thing I read was “Qatar, today is your national day…. all the best on this special day.” Call me a “geocultural literacy geek”, but that kind of stuff makes me smile.
Bank-holidays.com could certainly use an update/upgrade of its user interface, but the data is there and I was able to find out what has been going on Bahrain this week. Sunday December 16 was their national day. Tuesday December 18 was Civil Servants Day and Wednesday December 19 is Al Waqfa Day, a religious holiday which I believe has the same roots as the Feast of the Sacrifice, the last and biggest day of the annual pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca.
As we head into the largest Christian holiday season of the year, it is important to remember that different countries and cultures have various traditions and holidays which will affect when they are open for business.
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