Lesley Foster wrote:First of all to everyone a Very Happy New Year and I hope your hangoveers weren't too bad yesterday
I have a question which I am hoping our learned friend Andrew can answer for me.
In the list of public holidays in my new diary I notice that in Scotland the 2nd of January is a holiday but not anywhere else in the UK, also in England, Wales and NI Easter Monday is a public holiday but not north of the border and whereas we have a summer bank holiday at the end of August you Scots have yours at the beginning of August. I wonder if you or anyone knows why there are these differences.
Hoping you all had a lovely festive season and that Father Christmas bought you all you wanted.
Lesley.
And a very happy new year to you, too!
Your question about public holidays requires a variety of answers; firstly, the question of the public holidays at new year.
In Scotland we used to celebrate Christmas on January 6. When I first went to work, my office opened on December 25, as on any other day. The GPO was open on December 25, courts sat on December 25. But in those days, people in England did not get a holiday on January 1. The additional day at the New Year is offset against other holidays that are enjoyed in different parts of the UK, but not in Scotland.
Some of the differences in public holidays can be explained by the traditions that were carried into the Union by the different nations in the UK. Scottish Hiring Fairs (now local holidays) were set by Royal Warrant. Thus Port Glasgow had the first weekend in July, Glasgow the third weekend in July, etc.
In addition to this: Scottish schools work towards Scottish exams that are taken in May and June. The Scottish school holidays start at the beginning of July and end in mid August. English exams are taken later and the English schools generally seem to begin their summer vacation later.
The Easter Monday vacation seems to have been tagged onto the celebration of Easter in some parts of the country, but the Monday after Easter Day has no particular religious significance. Actually, the Churches in Scotland agreed over a century ago to accept a fixed date for Easter, if the civil authority could agree on one. We are still waiting!
This year, Easter will come about as early as it possibly can. Easter moves about because it attempts to combine a lunar calendar into a 12 month solar year. The date of Good Friday is calculated as the First Friday on or after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox, and the formula has been followed since the work of Dionisius Philocalus in about 354 AD. The Eastern Orthodox Church dates Easter according to a different convention, so that the whole Church celebrates the same date for Easter about once in every seven years.
I am looking forward to celebrating "Old Christmas" on Sunday! (The date coincides with the celebration of the festival of Epiphany).
All the best for 2008.
Andrew
