Signpost with national flags of different countries, sky in background - 3D illustration Flag reference: www.wikipedia.org My own font face design and sky photograph.
Everybody loves public holidays right? Of course, we do, it’s a paid holiday, you don’t have to go to work and it doesn’t deplete your annual leave.
So, who wouldn’t like to be compensated for their time off?
According to new research, some nations are far luckier than others and enjoy up to a month’s worth of annual public holidays.
The holiday car rental experts at StressFreeCarRental.com have identified the best places to live around the world for those trying to bank as many days off as possible.
ALSO READ: Five Facts About the Metaverse you need to know
Employees are entitled to time off for a wide range of occasions, including holidays, memorial days, religious traditions, and historical events and the number of days off that employees receive varies greatly around the world.
Spokesperson for StressFreeCarRental.com says some countries are very generous with how many days off they grant for their employers.
“If you’re going for a holiday, then it’s good to familiarise yourself with the cultural calendar of your chosen destination in order to plan your trip more efficiently. It’s useful to know if you should be expecting any public holidays while you’re abroad, because it can mean that a lot of places will be closed for days.”
South Africa has a total of 12 public holidays and since public holidays are not counted as leave, they can be a real bonus, with many people targeting them to make long weekends last even longer.
South Arica is a rainbow nation with a multitude of religious and cultures with many people including Muslims, Hindu’s Tamils and Jews among other groups celebrating religious holidays and traditions.
Public holiday in South Africa include:
1 January – New Year’s Day, 21 March – Human Rights Day, 10 April – Good Friday, 13 April Family Day (Follows Easter Sunday), 27 April – Freedom Day, 1 May – Workers Day, 16 June – Youth Day, 9 August – National Women’s Day, 24 September – Heritage Day, 16 December – Day of Reconciliation, 25 December – Christmas Day and 26 December – Day of Goodwill.
This is a list of countries with the highest number of public holidays in 2022:
The first place goes to Myanmar, where you can receive a full month’s worth of paid free days in a year to celebrate different holidays. One of the biggest occasions in Myanmar is the water festival Thingyan in the middle of April, which is also the hottest time of the year. In 2022 Thingyan was celebrated for eight consecutive days.
Sri Lanka is not far off from the first place holder and offers its workers 29 public holidays per year. Their public holiday calendar is filled with Poya holidays, which occur every full moon, thus they have at least one day off per month. They commemorate significant Buddhist events, and during Poya, the sale of alcohol, meat, and fish is forbidden.
The third place is shared between two countries – Iran and Nepal. Novruz, or the Iranian new year, is celebrated for two weeks in the spring. An interesting fact about the public holidays in Nepal is that there is a day off dedicated solely for women. The Haritalika Teej festival is a day when Nepalese Hindu women all around the country fast, worship Lord Shiva, sing, and dance.
Like in Iran, Azerbaijanis also celebrate Novruz, which is the Persian New Year that marks the beginning of spring. By law, workers must receive five days off from work for Novruz. Azerbaijanis celebrate the Gregorian New Year at the beginning of January in addition to the Persian New Year, so they are given an additional four days off from work for that as well.
Those three countries share the same number of public holidays and since Islam is the predominant religion in all three nations, they all celebrate the most significant feast in the Muslim calendar. The three-day Feast of Sacrifice, or Eid al-Adha, which is commemorated in July, honours the sacrifices made by Prophet Abraham for God. Besides having a feast with their loved ones, another important tradition is donating money, food and clothes to the poor.
In the Philippines there are two types of holidays – regular holidays and special non-working days. One example of a special non-working day is the Chinese New Year, which isn’t an automatically paid holiday for everyone, but those who work on the day are entitled to 30 percent extra pay. Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are also special non-working days.
Southeast Asian nation Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy and Buddhism is the most popular religion there. This may be seen in the country’s public holidays, many of which are dedicated to the monarchy or Buddhism. One of the royal holidays is the King’s Mother’s birthday on June 18th. In Argentina, however, you can get two days off from work because of the annual carnival. The festival marks the start of Lent, which is a 40-day-period when many Argentines refrain from eating meat on Fridays.
There are nine official public holidays in Saudi Arabia.
One of the biggest public holiday events is Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. It begins the day after the sighting of the crescent moon, so the dates can only be estimated and may vary by a day or two.
ALSO READ: WATCH: Inside the caves of our ancestors at the Cradle Boutique Hotel
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
