ON THE MATTER OF PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

Hawaii today celebrates King Kamehameha the First Day as a public holiday.  Next Monday, June 19, or Juneteenth, is a Federal holiday.  However, 22 states, including Hawaii, do not recognize this as a public holiday.  Four of these will begin to honor this day next year, not Hawaii.  Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery.  Here are the Hawaii holidays, and note three that only we have:

• New Year’s Day: 1st day in January
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: 3rd Monday in January
• Presidents’ Day: 3rd Monday in February
• Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day: 26th day in March
• Good Friday: Friday before Easter
• Easter: Calculating Easter
• Memorial Day: Last Monday in May
• King Kamehameha I Day: 11th day in June
• Independence Day: 4th day in July
• Statehood Day: 3rd Friday in August
• Labor Day: 1st Monday in September
• Veterans’ Day: 11th day in November
• Thanksgiving Day: 4th Thursday in November
• Christmas: 25th day in December

There are 11 paid Federal holidays, plus every fourth year, January 20, Inauguration Day, but as a paid off-day only in DC, Maryland and Virginia.

The problem about comparing holidays with other countries is that there are inconsistencies regarding a variety of factors.   Wikipedia has a list, in holidays/year:

• 
  35  Nepal
• 32  Myanmar
• 26  Iran
• 25  Sri Lanka
• 20-22  Liechtenstein
• 22  Bangladesh, Egypt
• 21  Cambodia, India
• 19 Argentina
• 18-20  Malaysia
•  
• 11  China, France, Israel, Kosovo, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, USA
• 10 Belgium
• 8-10  UK
• 8 or 9  Ecuador

Switzerland has the least, with 7, but goes up to 15, depending on where you live.  Read this article to appreciate the complexity.

Then, there is another list which says Cambodia has the most public holidays with 28.  And another that says Nepal only has 30.  But added, people there normally work 6 days/week.  So you can see how it is difficult to determine which country is most generous.

Here some interesting comparisons regarding hours worked /week/country:

• Longest workweek in hours.
• 54  Mauritania and Tanzania
• 53  Egypt
• 52  South Korea (not listed in this source, but another)
• 51  Bangladesh, Gambia, Senegal
• 50  Qatar, Burkina Faso, Lesotho
• 49  Cambodia, Liberia
• 48  Seven countries
• Shortest workweek in hours.
• 29  Australia, Reunion
• 30  Micronesia, Iraq, Netherlands
• 31  Somalia, Kazakhstan, Rwanda
• 33  Norway, UK
• 34  Germany, Israel, Argentina, Belgium, Denmark
• 35  Switzerland, Ecuador, Chad

However, I checked about Australia, and while there seems to be a trend towards a 4-day (32 hours) workweek, the reality today is 36 hours.  The USA currently averages 38.7 hours/week.

However, this gets complicated when you crank in vacation time.  The Japanese, for example, have long been known to work long hours and not take a full vacations.  But this source and graph shows the USA and Japan about the same at 1800 hours/year, or 34.6 hours/week.  The UK is a bit lower.

Then there are 83 International Holidays in 2023, as for example:

• June 14  World Blood Donor Day
• June 16  International Day of the African Child
• June 17  World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought

So how does Hawaii celebrate King Kamehameha the First Day?  Depends on where.

• The Royal Hawaiian Center in Waikiki has festivities from June 6 to 10, but not today.
• That Lei Draping Ceremony at Aliiolani Hale happened on June 9.
• Honolulu had a floral parade on June 10, but Kona parades today.
• For most, this is just another day off.

I'll close with Audition 2 of America's Got Talent.  The most noteworthy performance was by Putri Ariani, a 17-year old blind pianist-singer-songwriter from Indonesia.  She got a golden buzzer from Simon himself.  The audience and judges cried.  Her dream is to be accepted to Julliard.  Now a cinch.  

Another audition you should watch is that of 6-year old Zoe Erianna Cui (click on this to watch her).  She sang Born This Way (that was the X-rated version by Lady Gaga...or if you prefer, here is her Grammy effort), and will hereby be known as Baby Gaga.  Your day will be materially enhanced by watching both acts.  Zoe also writes music.  Watch her playing her very own Butterfly in a Beautiful Garden.  She is from Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, and her parents came from the Philippines.

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