Over my working life I’ve gradually seen January 2 given traction as a day off; this year it’s ambiguous because it’s a Sunday anyway, but more and more people are giving and expecting this day off, a final toot of the New Year’s noisemaker as an appendage to the holidays.
It needs a name. I gather that in other, less imaginative provinces it’s called a bank holiday. We can come up with something better than that. Resolution Day would be good – Journée des résolutions – the first serious day of the year in which you should wake without a hangover, back off on the snacks, lift a few weights or go for a walk.
Here’s another thing: we also badly need a Sanity Day somewhere between January 2 and Easter. Easter dances around the calendar, but this year it’s on April 24; the latest it can possibly be is April 25. (Western Easter falls on the Sunday following the full moon which falls on or after the vernal equinox, allowing for a little ecclesiastical splitting of hairs.)
That means many workers will spend almost four months without a long weekend, in the darkest and coldest part of the year. Won’t somebody come up with a Journée de la santé mentale for us?
Neath 18:37 on 2011/01/02 Permalink
Why not just call it what it is, a much needed winter break? I would suggest it actually be the Friday and the Monday of a weekend in late February.
Bonhomme de Carnaval 19:46 on 2011/01/02 Permalink
good idea, make a holiday for me! since i am cheering up
the crowd …
Ian 20:43 on 2011/01/02 Permalink
Third Monday of February is “Family Day” in Alberta, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. I’m lucky enough to work for a company with some Ontario and BC offices so we all get each others’ holidays off – a holiday in February is sorely needed, IMO. Quebec only has 8 stat holidays, where most of the provinces have 9 or 10. Could be worse, though – we could live in Newfoundland or Nova Scotia which only gets 6 stat holidays.