Public holidays in Menghe
There are a total of 10 public holidays in Menghe, which collectively result in 19 days off from work. Depending on the year, some of these days off may fall during weekends; in 2020, companies which follow a 5-day workweek had to offer 15 days off due to public holidays. During holidays, non-essential private businesses and government agencies either stop work or reduce staffing, allowing workers to rest or travel. Some holidays also coincide with national flag-display ceremonies.
Menghean public holidays are divided into two types: Holidays (휴일 / 休日, hyuil) and Festivals (명절 / 名節, myŏngjŏl). Holidays are patriotic celebrations honoring events in modern Menghean history, and are celebrated in all parts of the country. Festivals are traditional celebrations rooted in Meng culture, and differ by region: the main list below covers Meng-majority areas, but the six Semi-Autonomous Provinces have established different Festival days to coincide with the local ethnic majority's culture. In the southwest, for example, the lunar new year is not a public holiday, but Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr both have three-day holidays surrounding them.
Because some holidays follow lunar or lunisolar calendars, the Gregorian calendar dates may differ from year to year. To assist in planning, the Ministry of Civil Affairs publishes an official holiday schedule one year before the start of the year in question, and publishes projected holiday dates online for the coming twenty years.
National holidays (Meng-majority areas)
| English name | Menghean name | Date | Comments | Days off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Festival | 正朝 / 정조 jŏngjo |
1st day of the 1st lunar month |
New Year's festival in the Hemithean lunisolar calendar. | 3 |
| Tomb Sweeping Festival | 寒食 / 한식 hansik |
first Saturday in April |
Traditional holiday in which families provide gifts and offerings to departed ancestors. Also known as the pure brightness festival or tomb-sweeping day. Originally celebrated on the 105th day after the winter solstice. | 1 |
| Labor Day | 勞動日 / 로동일 rodong-il |
first Monday in May |
Holiday dedicated to the achievements of the labor movement and the Menghean socialist movement, as well as the indispensable role of workers in Menghe's economic growth. Originally celebrated on May 1st. | 1 |
| Dragon Boat Festival | 龍船節 / 룡선절 ryongsŏnjŏl |
first Friday in June |
Traditional festival celebrating loyalty and filial piety, usually falling in late May or early June. Also known as the "Double 5 festival" for the lunisolar date on which it falls. | 1 |
| Victory Day | 勝利日 / 승리일 sŭngri-il |
July 27th | Commemorates the end of the Menghean War of Liberation and the restoration of Menghe's independence. Since 1990, Menghe has held its main military parade on National Day, using the holiday as an opportunity to showcase new equipment. | 1 |
| Memorial Day | 顯忠日 / 현충일 hyŏnjung-il |
July 28 | Dedicated to Menghean soldiers who lost their lives in recent military conflicts, most notably the Pan-Septentrion War, Menghean War of Liberation, and Innominadan Crisis. Originally observed on the 1st Monday in July. | 3 |
| National Day | 建國紀念日 / 건국 기념일 gŏnguk ginyŏm-il |
August 2nd | Celebrates the formal establishment of the Federative Republic of Menghe in 1901, and the end of the Three States Period. | 3 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival | 秋夕 / 추석 chusŏk |
15th day of the 8th lunar month |
Traditional harvest festival celebrated during the full moon of the 8th lunar month, usually around the autumn equinox (mid-September to early October). | 1 |
| Revolution Day | 革命日 / 혁명일 hyŏgmyŏng-il |
December 21st | The anniversary of the Decembrist Revolution. Celebrated with speeches from political leaders, followed by a torchlight parade at Heroes' Square in Donggyŏng, the epicenter of the coup. Combined with Dongji to produce the five-day Yusin Week. | 2 |
| Dongji Festival | 冬至 / 동지 dongji |
Winter solstice Dec. 21, 22, or 23 |
The traditional winter solstice holiday, which falls on December 21st, 22nd, or 23rd. Combined with Revolution Day to produce the five-day Yusin Week. | 3 |
Scheduling of holidays
Background
While some Menghean public holidays are based on the Gregorian calendar (e.g., Victory Day on July 27th), others are customarily based on the lunisolar calendar (e.g., the Mid-Autumn Festival on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month) or in relation to the winter solstice (e.g., Dongji and Hansik). This means that the calendar dates of some holidays differ from year to year, as do the weekdays on which they fall.
In addition to complicating planning, this also complicates travel. Many traditional holidays celebrate family unity and filial piety, and it is culturally important for adult children to return to their parents' homes to celebrate. During the Menghean economic miracle, large numbers of internal migrant workers moved from the countryside to the cities in search of low-wage work, meaning that large numbers of people require a day or more for travel in each direction.
The NSCCs which convened in July of 2000, 2001, and 2002 held debates on whether to adjust the process for determining the dates of holidays. Among the main issues was whether it was acceptable to schedule traditional festivals on a basis other than the lunisolar calendar. Eventually, the elected delegates and consulted religious authorities concluded that the Dragon Boat Festival and Cold Food Festival did not have an "important cultural basis" for using the lunisolar dates, which were originally approximate; whereas Dongji, the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the Lunar New Year should follow the lunisolar calendar or winter solstice. Memorial Day, originally July 1st, was also moved to the first Monday in July, while other important national anniversaries were kept. The first year to use the new holiday dating system was 2005.
Scheduling policy
- Spring festival
- Three public holidays are mandated for the Spring Festival: lunar new year's eve, lunar new year's day, and the day after. For example, in 2020 the lunar new year fell on January 25, so January 24, 25, and 26 were public holidays that year.
- Tomb-sweeping festival
- Originally the 105th day after Dongji, the tomb-sweeping festival (also called the cold food festival or pure brightness festival) is officially observed the first Saturday in April. The preceding Friday is a public holiday to allow workers to travel home. Non-essential companies with weekend working hours are also required to close down during Saturday and Sunday; companies which ordinarily take weekends off are unaffected.
- Labor day
- The 2003 Regulation on National Holidays originally left Labor Day on May 1st, to align with international labor day. In the wake of the Ummayan Civil War and the ideological schism with Maverica and Innominada, the National Assembly amended the law to schedule Labor day on the first Monday in May. This was officially intended to encourage travel and rest, but it was likely also intended to distance Menghe from the labor-oriented variety of socialism in Maverica and Innominada, now rivals.
- Dragon boat festival
- The scheduling of the dragon boat festival is similar to the scheduling of the tomb-sweeping festival: originally held on the fifth day of the fifth lunisolar month, it is officially held on the first Friday in June. Unlike the tomb-sweeping festival, the official regulations on the dragon boat festival do not require businesses to reduce their weekend hours.
- National Week
- National Week, also known as Golden Week, is a new combined public holiday which was announced in 2014 and implemented starting in 2016. It combines three important national holidays: July 27th, the anniversary of the Communist-Nationalist victory in the Menghean War of Liberation; July 28th, the new date for Memorial Day; and August 2nd, the anniversary of the formation of the Federative Republic of Menghe in 1901. Altogether, this results in a period of 7 public holidays, starting on the 27th and ending on the 2nd.
- Mid-Autumn Festival
- Unlike the tomb sweeping and dragon boat festivals, the mid-autumn festival in Menghe is still observed on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. This ensures that the festival takes place during an evening with a full moon, as many customs woven into the festival revolve around the full moon and the lunar cycle. Adjacent days are not taken off, nor is a separate day off created when the full moon falls on a Saturday or Sunday. Instead of traveling home, people are encouraged to celebrate this holiday together with their friends, neighbors, and co-workers.
- Yusin Week
- Yusin Week, also known as Silver Week, is the name for a long public holiday which combines two individual holidays: the Dongji festival, held on the winter solstice (December 21, 22, or 23), and the anniversary of the Decembrist Revolution (December 21). Thus, it is meant to combine both the turnover to a period of steadily longer daylight hours, and the reformation or rejuvenation of Menghe through Choe Sŭng-min's rise to power. A total of five public holidays are allocated for this festival. If Dongji falls on a Saturday, the preceding five workdays become public holidays; if it falls on any other day, the following five workdays (or the work week including Dongji itself) become public holidays. The one exception is for years when Dongji falls on a Saturday which is the 23rd, such that December 21st is a Friday; on these weeks, that Friday takes on a Sunday work schedule, and the Sunday after the holiday takes on a Friday work schedule. As with the tomb-sweeping festival, if Dongji falls on a weekend, companies which normally perform weekend work must treat Dongji and the preceding or following day as public holidays.
"Island days"
The term "island days" refers to single or double weekdays which are sandwiched between a public holiday and a weekend, which sometimes occurs for the Spring Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and National Week. For example, in 2018 Golden Week ended on a Thursday, leaving Friday, August 3rd as a lone workday between the end of the holiday and the next vacation. Likewise, if the Lunar New Year falls on a Wednesday, then Monday and Friday of that week will both be "island days" - though this has not happened since the holiday law was revised and it will not happen again until 2028.
Official Menghean policy holds that island days are not officially public holidays, but private businesses are encouraged to treat them as such. Workers may also use accumulated vacation days to take off island days, turning a 3-day break between weekends into a continuous 9-day break. Companies also have the option of turning an island Friday into a day off, but requiring employees to come to work on the following Sunday to make up for lost time. All of these solutions help stagger out travel dates around the ends of the break period, reducing the strain on the country's transportation infrastructure.
Regional variations
All of the traditional festivals listed above are significant only in Meng culture. They exclude religious holidays important among other regional minority groups, particularly those practicing Shahidism. Menghe's six semi-autonomous provinces all have the constitutional authority to set their own festival holidays, though they must respect the same set of core national holidays.
Shahidic-majority SAPs
The Daryz, Lakkien, and Argentan Semi-Autonomous Provinces all observe public holidays around Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr, the two most important holidays in Shahidism. These holidays are based on the Shahidic lunar calendar. As in the rest of the country, the dates are calculated two years in advance and published at the start of the preceding year. As with the Meng lunar new year, these festivals are important days for returning home and spending time with relatives, so each one has a three-day holiday period falling around it. This also results in a total of six cultural holiday days, the same number as in Meng-majority provinces.
Because the Shahidic Calendar is purely lunar, rather than lunisolar, Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr advance by about 11 days each year, and thus fall in different seasons. Where they overlap with National Holidays, no additional days off are added. In its strictest form, Shahidic tradition also requires that the start and end of each month be based on the observation of the crescent moon by a cleric, but the Menghean Council of Shahidic Scholars concluded that a pre-tabulated calendar with alternating 28- and 29-day months is acceptable. The provincial Bureaus of Civil Affairs use this tabulated calendar to calculate each year's dates for religious holidays at the start of the preceding year, to allow planning of work travel in advance.
Dzungar and Ketchvan SAPs
The Dzungar and Ketchvan Semi-Autonomous Provinces observe a three-day public holiday around Tsagaan Sar, the Dzungar lunar new year. Because the Dzungar lunisolar calendar is slightly different from the lunisolar calendar of the Meng, this public holiday often falls on a different day from the Menghean New Year. The Dzungar SAP originally observed Naadam on July 29 through 31st, making it the first Menghean province to create a de-facto Golden Week. Since 2015, when Golden Week's nationwide rollout rendered the Naadam holiday redundant, there has been some local debate on whether to move the Naadam festival to a different set of dates or select three smaller Dzungar holidays to observe. So far there has been no change on either front, and the Dzungar and Ketchvan SAPs both have three fewer public holidays per year than the rest of the country.
Kungnai SAP
Because the Kungnai people never converted to Shahidism in large numbers, the Kungnai SAP has its own set of holidays as well. The most important is the Kungnai New Year, which is based on the lunar calendar but falls in late November or early December. The other two Kungnai public holidays are the Ball Festival, held on the third Friday in March, and the Day of Honoring Ancestors, held on the third Saturday in June with the preceding Friday a public holiday.
Minorities outside their majority province
Menghean law holds that individuals officially registered under a faith under than the local majority one must be allowed to take time off from work for religious observance, even if there is no public holiday on that date. This time-off requirement is only mandatory for the religious holiday itself, and not for the adjacent travel days, which are at the employer's discretion or can be met using vacation days. Employers may also request that religious minority workers run extra shifts during local-majority holidays which they do not celebrate, to allow more local-majority workers to take time off.
Effect on travel
Meng culture strongly values family relations, and stresses the importance of visiting one's family during the Lunar New Year and the Tomb-Sweeping Festival. In Shahidism, it is also customary to visit one's relatives during Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr, to ask forgiveness from elders and clean ancestors' graves. During the Menghean economic miracle, millions of rural working-age men and women left their home villages to find work in the cities, meaning that the return to one's ancestral village can require a journey of hundreds or thousands of kilometers. During important festivals, Menghe sees massive surges in the number of bus, train, plane, and road trips, as upwards of a hundred million people leave for their hometowns on the same day.
The extended weekends and week-long holidays also generate a great deal of tourism. Today a middle-income country, Menghe has a large and rapidly growing middle class, and the number of domestic tourist trips per year grew exponentially from the 2000s onward. The summer "Golden Week" or "National Week" holiday, while intended to reduce the concentration of tourism and travel around Yusin Week and the Lunar New Year, generated a new period of overcapacity, as many better-off families vacation during both weeks and during minor holidays as well.
Altogether, the high rates of travel mean that Menghe's transportation infrastructure faces massive surges in demand in late December, late July, early April, and wherever Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr fall during the progression of the lunar calendar. This had a major impact on the design of Menghe's expressway network and passenger rail system, which must accommodate peak travel volumes far above the normal annual average.
Flag raising regulations
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On nationally significant holidays (Victory Day, Memorial Day, National Day, and Revolution Day), citizens are encouraged to fly the national flag outside their houses as a show of patriotism. The strictness of "encouragement" has varied over the course of the 20th century; during the Pan-Septentrion War, flying the national flag on patriotic holidays was made compulsory, and during the Disciplined Society Campaign of the mid-1990s overzealous Party officials subjected noncompliant households to public criticism.
Today, failure to fly the flag on these days is not punishable by legal action, but may be met with social criticism from one's peers. In rural counties, teams of Youth Vanguard and Joguk Janyŏ still circulate during national holidays to "investigate" any houses not flying the national flag and distribute flags from their own supply, but this is rare in urban areas. As an alternative or supplement to the national flag, especially patriotic citizens may display the portrait of Choe Sŭng-min or the flag of the Greater Menghean Empire, depending on the nature of the holiday.