Off to a quiet start

Lance Neita, Contributor

NEW YEAR'S Day 2011 was like any other day in my part of the world. Shops, stores and supermarkets were open and the watering holes did their usual Saturday afternoon business, complete with sound systems tuning up for the late-night sessions and Caymanas Park results creating hysterics at the bar.

It was not the usual atmosphere of a public holiday. Gas stations were busy and traffic flowed, as per usual, but you got the feeling that people were all dressed up with nowhere special to go.

A public holiday on a Saturday is a bit of a waste, as far as public holidays go. There is no break from work or office, unless shutters are closed a little earlier on Friday afternoon to allow for last-minute shopping. But, in this case, all the shopping had been done the previous weekend, while the big-ticket offerings for New Year's Eve extravaganzas had taken care of any left-over change.

A glance at the calendar indicates that we are going to find the same kind of holiday vacuum come Independence Day which falls on Saturday, August 6. However, we get the full weekend package the previous week, as Emancipation Day, August 1, is on a Monday, giving us a nice Saturday, Sunday and Monday mid-summer break.

Doubling up

The granting of two holidays within five days of each other still confounds me, and, as will be the case this August, represents an enormous amount of time and money, and for business and industry, a stop and start. We already have double-dip holidays on our calendar. But Christmas and Boxing Day are back to back, while Good Friday and Easter Monday roll neatly into one weekend package.

The double holiday in August was introduced as recently as 1997. A 1996 National Symbols Committee headed by Professor Rex Nettleford, recommended the reinstatement of Emancipation Day on August 1, and the celebration of Independence Day on August 6, rather than on the first Monday of August.

This was not without controversy. Then Opposition Leader Edward Seaga thought that the move would result in "the downsizing of the importance of Independence" and questioned whether anything would be achieved by the change.

Bruce Golding, then leader of the National Democratic Movement, was concerned about the number of public holidays and suggested that the two should be merged into one. But Prime Minister Patterson soldiered on, defending the recommendation as a "sharpening of focus and reawakening of consciousness". It was also going to provide a nice little political leverage for his party.

But the last thing a poor country like Jamaica needed was another holiday. For employers, it meant double-time twice in a week. Senator Douglas Orane said it would affect productivity. In fact, the cement company reported a dip in production in 1997 attributed to the extra holiday (Emancipation Day), Election Day, and an unscheduled and famous November 17 holiday, declared in honour of the Reggae Boyz's World Cup qualification.

Significant milestones

The two days, Independence and Emancipation, represent significant milestones in our history. But the dates are so close to each other that we should have rolled them into the first weekend of August and called it quits, rather than vacillate and seek such an odd compromise. Who knows, Mr Golding may yet see an opportunity here for another of his famous game changes.

Meanwhile, back to 2011. Those New Year's Eve fancy prices would have taken their toll, not just on the head, but in the pocket. I suspect that Saturday was one huge hangover for those who danced the night away.

The churches on Friday evening were not as full as they were on December 31, 1999. On that occasion, people were in fear and trepidation that if they were caught doing something wrong at midnight they might miss the bus and be left behind by the 'Rapture' predicted for millennium end. My pastor acknowledged that he knew some of his congregation were merely dusting off their shoes in the pews before making a dash for the door to see if the coast were clear.

I hope 2011 will be as peaceful as it appears to have been on Saturday, January 1.

Comments to columns@gleanerjm.com or lanceneita@hotmail.com.