Give Me Back My Holidays!

I feel like at this point, if you’re an ardent follower of my posts, you already know a lot about my childhood. One thing you may not know though (well, now, you would), is that I grew up in a very religious country.

The beauty of this? Public holidays! Oh! We observed every single Muslim and Christian holiday. So it didn't matter what your religion was (or wasn't), you benefitted. Good Friday, Easter, Eid — we had it all. But the sweetest holiday was the one that came after the Muslims finished Ramadan, the 29/30-day fasting period.

If you didn’t know, the end of the fast depended on the sighting of the moon. And since the moon might not be spotted at the same time in different places, we got two days of holiday to compensate. That's already cool. You know what's cooler though? The government could just wake up and add days.

For those of you that find this outrageous and hard to believe, please, don’t fight the messenger. It’s not my fault your government doesn’t like to go with the vibe. If you check the list for this year, you’d find holidays with tentative dates and some additional holidays.

The Churches

The christian holidays have always been certain, so we can’t say the christians contributed much to the holiday galore. Nevertheless, you know what they didn’t fail to contribute? Buildings!!!!

One time, I travelled to a city and couldn’t help but notice that on every street I took, there was a church and a hotel. What an unlikely combination! Don’t ask me what I mean.

There was even one time when a very popular church declared a mandate to have a church building within every 5 minute walk. Why? Thanks for asking! I think it was so that you never had an excuse for not making it to church.

I imagine someone sitting down one day and mentally cataloguing every excuse church members had given for not showing up — couldn't find a bus, no money for transport, feeling under the weather — and realising there was one elegant solution to all of them.

You can't use bus money as an excuse if you're walking. And if you're sick? Walk 5 minutes and get prayed for. All problems solved! Members everywhere!

If you're wondering what mandates 2 and 3 were. Ermmm…. they were to make heaven and have a church member in every family of all nations. So, I guess I was wrong, it wasn’t so you didn’t have an excuse for not going to church. Oopsie, sowieee 🤭

A Serious Country

Anyways, you can imagine my shock when I moved to a “serious” country. If you've been here a while, you know I have a whole bus and arm ritual story from this same journey. This is the holidays chapter.

The UK in 2026 has just 7 public holidays. Oh, and they don’t call them public holidays, they’re called bank holidays. Do they have anything to do with the bank? I don’t know. If you know, please tell me.

Seven. How does a whole country survive on seven?

But then again, is this why things actually work here? Could the secret to a functional society be fewer holidays? I might be onto something. Still, I miss the chaos of not knowing when the next random day off might land in your lap.

I remember texting a friend last year, and her response was funny and at the same time not funny. I think my peeps have heard enough of my holiday complaints that it's become a roasting point now.

But is it my fault? No! I simply miss having so many public holidays. I know you won't judge me. And that's why I brought it here.

Thanks for listening, and come back next time 🤪

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