Taiwan Today

Beginning next year, Children’s Day will be a national holiday, the Ministry of the Interior announced March 24. The announcement followed a meeting of representatives of women’s, business and labor groups, along with government agencies, to discuss the MOI’s draft “Bill Regarding Memorial Days and Festivals,” to put the celebration of holidays on a legal footing. The MOI said children are the nation’s future, so those present at the meeting agreed to a holiday to highlight their importance. To emphasize the importance of women’s welfare policies and to avoid any questions of gender equality, Women’s Day will be commemorated but without a day off from work, officials said, contrary to an earlier suggestion from Premier Wu Den-yih. Eleven nonworking holidays were decided on, including Founding Day of the Republic of China Jan. 1, Lunar New Year’s Eve and the following three days, Peace Memorial Day Feb. 28, Children’s Day April 4, Tomb-sweeping Day, the Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and Double Tenth National Day Oct. 10. The dates for Lunar New Year’s Eve, Tomb-sweeping Day and the Dragon Boat and Mid-Autumn festivals are determined by the lunar calendar and thus vary year to year. Peace Memorial Day, Double Tenth, the Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival all fall on Mondays next year, so there will be three-day holidays. Children’s Day and Tomb-sweeping Day will be on Monday and Tuesday in the same week, creating a four-day holiday. The third day of the Lunar New Year will fall on a Saturday, so an additional day off will be added the following Monday to observe it, making six straight days off from New Year’s Eve to the fifth day of the new year. MOI Deputy Minister Chien Tai-lang said it was suggested in the meeting that when folk festivals fall on weekends they should be made up on a weekday, and the regulation requiring that when holidays fall on Tuesday or Thursday the Monday or Friday also be a day off should be rescinded. However, it was decided that as the economy has not yet fully recovered, not too many changes should be made, Chien said. Under the newly revised holiday calendar, when holidays are adjusted people will still be required to make up work another day, with the exception of the Lunar New Year period. (THN)