Easter Public Holidays

[Occams Barber]

In Australia Good Friday and Easter Monday are both federal public holidays. By that I mean paid days off work - effectively a four day weekend with pay. I understand that the UK is the same.

I was therefore surprised to hear that in the US, an otherwise 'Christian' nation, Good Friday is a state holiday in only a limited number of states and Easter Monday as a holiday, paid or not, doesn't appear to exist.

Is there a reason the US is so stingy with public holidays?

OB

 

[Chesterton]

Because we wanted to keep working on those days so we'd have time to help the world by inventing important things like Elvis, computers and stuffed crust pizza.

 

[Sketcher]

In Australia Good Friday and Easter Monday are both federal public holidays. By that I mean paid days off work - effectively a four day weekend with pay. I understand that the UK is the same.

I was therefore surprised to hear that in the US, an otherwise 'Christian' nation, Good Friday is a state holiday in only a limited number of states and Easter Monday as a holiday, paid or not, doesn't appear to exist.

Is there a reason the US is so stingy with public holidays?

OB

We tend to err on the side of as few of them as possible for whatever reason. Maybe it goes back to our colonial roots where you had to work your tail off every day to survive. I think we could afford to allow for a bit more slack.

I can think of no better example than President's Day and Martin Luther King Day. Schools in my area alternate which day they have off every year. We can afford to take them both off.

I was surprised to learn that Easter Monday even exists.

Now, my employer is 24/7 so holidays are harder to come by. You get holiday pay, but you might not get the day off. You may get a different day off, or you may get 8 hours worth of extra pay on your check as long as you work all your scheduled hours that week, but it doesn't count as OT so it's not time-and-a-half. What you end up getting will depend on a combination of seniority and first-come, first-served.

Since Good Friday isn't a federal holiday, if you want the day off, you have to put in for it as a regular day off. You get a certain amount of hours that you can use for them which accumulate during the year. Either you have more than enough if you're only taking occasional days off, or if you have to take 2-3 weeks off, you could end up with nothing left. So, there's an incentive to not take as many days off, in case your sick time runs out. Conversely, there's a cap on the number of hours you can earn, so it's use it or lose it - such is the incentive to actually take days off.

 

[Occams Barber]

Because we wanted to keep working on those days so we'd have time to help the world by inventing important things like Elvis, computers and stuffed crust pizza.

It's good to hear that Americans are putting their extra working days to good use.

We usually waste our extra days off by wasting time at the beach or visiting the rels.

OB

 

[Hans Blaster]

In Australia Good Friday and Easter Monday are both federal public holidays. By that I mean paid days off work - effectively a four day weekend with pay. I understand that the UK is the same.

I was therefore surprised to hear that in the US, an otherwise 'Christian' nation, Good Friday is a state holiday in only a limited number of states and Easter Monday as a holiday, paid or not, doesn't appear to exist.

Is there a reason the US is so stingy with public holidays?

OB

The US is a legally secular nation with a secular government.

As a child I thought that "Good Friday" was more a Catholic thing than Protestant, so it made sense that in our fairly Catholic area that public schools closed at noon on GF (and government offices). (We may have had Easter Monday off as well, but we didn't have a week long "Spring Break" to my memory. So that may have been for working off the Easter hangovers. )

Anyway, the main holiday is on a Sunday which isn't a normal work day anyway and it moves in the calendar in ways that can't be codified with simple "third sunday of April" language. (Plus some Christians disagree when it should be.)

The only explicitly Christian holiday that is fully recognized is Christmas (the western dating), but that's mostly because so many would refuse to work then anyway.

 

[Occams Barber]

We tend to err on the side of as few of them as possible for whatever reason. Maybe it goes back to our colonial roots where you had to work your tail off every day to survive. I think we could afford to allow for a bit more slack.

We (Australia) also have 'colonial roots' which depended on hard work for survival but we still have many public holidays as well as 4 weeks annual (paid) leave for everybody.

I was surprised to learn that Easter Monday even exists.

You'll be even more surprised to hear we also get the day after Christmas as a public (paid) holiday. It's called 'Boxing Day'.

OB

 

[returntosender]

When I was a state worker years ago there were 11 legal holidays. During that time they made rules about when to celebrate holidays that fell on Friday or Monday. That's all I remember, lol.

 

[Occams Barber]

The US is a legally secular nation with a secular government.

So is Australia. In fact Australia is measurably less Christian (and more secular) than the US.

I'm not sure that secularity accounts for the dearth of paid public holidays in the US. Looked at from here the US comes across as somewhat Dickensian in its working conditions (public holidays, annual leave, sick leave, minimum wage, parental leave, termination conditions etc.)

OB

 

[Sketcher]

You'll be even more surprised to hear we also get the day after Christmas as a public (paid) holiday. It's called 'Boxing Day'.

I knew about Boxing Day, Canada has that.

 

[Hans Blaster]

So is Australia. In fact Australia is measurably less Christian (and more secular) than the US.

I'm not sure that secularity accounts for the dearth of paid public holidays in the US. Looked at from here the US comes across as somewhat Dickensian in its working conditions (public holidays, annual leave, sick leave, minimum wage, parental leave, termination conditions etc.)

OB

It's the secularity of the government that explains why we don't waste our precious public holidays on religious holidays (except Christmas). As for the relative dearth of such days, the poster noting the colonial period might be on to something. It could be related to the Puritan colonies of New England and the persistence of their ideas. They not only didn't have a holiday for Christmas, some of them banned the celebration. But those colonies were theocracies that prohibited work on Sundays.

 

[Occams Barber]

It's the secularity of the government that explains why we don't waste our precious public holidays on religious holidays (except Christmas). As for the relative dearth of such days, the poster noting the colonial period might be on to something. It could be related to the Puritan colonies of New England and the persistence of their ideas. They not only didn't have a holiday for Christmas, some of them banned the celebration. But those colonies were theocracies that prohibited work on Sundays.

A paid day off is a paid day off. Australians are fairly indifferent to any religious justification. We also have a State (Victoria) public holiday for a horse race and another for the annual state (NSW) Agricultural Show.

Any excuse will do.

You may be right about the Puritans in the US. Luckily for us God didn't get here on the First Fleet back in 1788 although Satan may well have been a stowaway.

OB

 

[Ignatius the Kiwi]

It would be good if US Christians could advocate Easter becoming a public holiday and reinforcing the once Christian nature of the US. But they won't, now that the US is less Christian and is committed an anti-Christian path morally and politically. The secular assumptions inherent in the US won out against the Christian influence that was once there and formed the basis of many states.

 

[Paidiske]

So is Australia. In fact Australia is measurably less Christian (and more secular) than the US.

Sorta kinda yes and no. On the one hand, it is true that religiosity measurable by public observance is definitely lower here. On the other hand, we have no formal legal separation of church and state the way America does. Our constitution prohibits having an Established church, but beyond that, there's much more scope for church-state relations than America's legal system allows; which is why we get things like government funding for church schools etc. (Or why I'm fronting up on Monday to lead prayers for the local ANZAC day observances; something I find almost as objectionable as the local atheists might).

I'm not sure that secularity accounts for the dearth of paid public holidays in the US. Looked at from here the US comes across as somewhat Dickensian in its working conditions (public holidays, annual leave, sick leave, minimum wage, parental leave, termination conditions etc.)

True that, though.

 

[Occams Barber]

It would be good if US Christians could advocate Easter becoming a public holiday and reinforcing the once Christian nature of the US. But they won't, now that the US is less Christian and is committed an anti-Christian path morally and politically. The secular assumptions inherent in the US won out against the Christian influence that was once there and formed the basis of many states.

Having a Christian motivated public holiday doesn't make the country more Christian.

The real significance of Easter for most Australians is two consecutive four day weeks as a result of the Easter public holidays. By using 8 days of our paid annual leave we can join the weeks together and get 17 consecutive days off with pay.

That and the Easter Bunny.

OB

 

[Ignatius the Kiwi]

Having a Christian motivated public holiday doesn't make the country more Christian.

The real significance of Easter for most Australians is two consecutive four day weeks as a result of the Easter public holidays. By using 8 days of our paid annual leave we can join the weeks together and get 17 consecutive days off with pay.

That and the Easter Bunny.

OB

Well no, it would be evidence of a more Christian country that would want to reinforce Christianity in public holidays. Making Easter in of itself won't result in more Christianity, but I would still like it, even if it were a step in the right direction away from total secularism.

 

[Hans Blaster]

Well no, it would be evidence of a more Christian country that would want to reinforce Christianity in public holidays. Making Easter in of itself won't result in more Christianity, but I would still like it, even if it were a step in the right direction away from total secularism.

And as you may fail to recognize, despite the number of Christians located here, the US is not a Christian country. It has a secular government and has so for more than 200 years. (Tradition!)

 

[Ignatius the Kiwi]

And as you may fail to recognize, despite the number of Christians located here, the US is not a Christian country. It has a secular government and has so for more than 200 years. (Tradition!)

When did I say anything otherwise? The US is a Godless country whose direction is towards secularity and the diminishing influence of Christianity. That isn't to say there isn't or wasn't a strong Christian presence there that had an effect on public life in the past. That has been eroded and can only continue to be eroded, sadly enough. Not due to Atheists but Christians letting it happen.

 

[Hans Blaster]

The US is a Godless country whose direction is towards secularity and the diminishing influence of Christianity.

Yeah!

 

[Occams Barber]

Sorta kinda yes and no. On the one hand, it is true that religiosity measurable by public observance is definitely lower here. On the other hand, we have no formal legal separation of church and state the way America does. Our constitution prohibits having an Established church, but beyond that, there's much more scope for church-state relations than America's legal system allows; which is why we get things like government funding for church schools etc. (Or why I'm fronting up on Monday to lead prayers for the local ANZAC day observances; something I find almost as objectionable as the local atheists might).

While we may have a less legally restrictive church/state relationship it doesn't seem to encourage religious practice in the country as a whole or significant public declarations of religiosity. This is not unlike the UK where there's an official State Church but little interest in Christianity.

Contrast this with the US where church and state are ultra-legally separated and yet religiosity is worn on the sleeve and seems to infect the entire political system, particularly on the Republican side. It's as if separation of church and state amounts to some kind of legal fantasy which doesn't reflect the actual deep relationship between Christianity and the US State.

Enjoy your ANZAC experience. Don't forget to set the alarm for Sparrowfart.

OB

 

[Paidiske]

While we may have a less legally restrictive church/state relationship it doesn't seem to encourage religious practice in the country as a whole or significant public declarations of religiosity.

Oh, I agree. I was just pointing out that simplistic claims about us being a "legally secular nation" might need to be nuanced. We're more a nation which legally makes room for religious plurality.

Enjoy your ANZAC experience. Don't forget to set the alarm for Sparrowfart.

Thank you, I think?