My inaugural humor column concerned the downright craziness that happens during public holidays in Russia, and it met with a few raised eyebrows from certain quarters, as I was somewhat critical about the approach and method to scheduling Russian public holidays, which try to force a three day weekend around the actual date, sacrificing weekends in the process. I further noted that this reaches ludicrous levels when two holidays are lumped together, such as May 1 – Labor Day and May 9 – victory Day.
There are those who feel I went too far in suggesting that this approach to public holiday scheduling is slightly silly. So, just for the record, here is a portion of an article that caught my eye in this week’s Moscow News announcing the probable holiday break down for New Year 2009 - 2010:
“The nation can expect to unwind for 10 days straight come January, the deputy head of the Federal Service for Employment and Labour Relations, Ivan Shklovets, said last week.
"I can say with 90 per cent certainty that the New Year's holidays will be extended in conjunction with the shifting of days off," Shklovets said. He stated that January 1-5 are nonworking days.
"Taking into account that January 2 and 3 fall on a Saturday and a Sunday, the Saturday day off will be shifted to January 6 and the January 3 day off, which falls on Sunday, will be shifted to January 8," said Shklovets. "January 7 is Christmas and January 9 and 10 fall on a Saturday and Sunday."
You be the judge.