Having grown up on foreign shores I am very used to everything coming to a complete standstill on the Easter weekend. In most of Europe , work stops half way through the Thursday and restarts again first thing Tuesday morning. Good Friday there is little open. Easter Sunday; forget about buying anything and Easter Monday shop like crazy because everything is open and on sale. The United Kingdom is the least religious country in the world, yet Easter is observed en mass in a non religious way.
The United States is so religious, that it decides elections. Everyone says God bless this and God bless that. The President can't make a speech without referencing God at least twice. Yet with all this devotion to God it is unclear if Easter is actually a holiday. The banks, normally a great barometer for who works and who doesn't are fully open. The stock market and bond markets are both closed. Shops are open. It is most confusing.
I have to work tomorrow. I will come to work in jeans which in itself is a rarity reserved for those non holiday-holidays. I get a day back for working on Good Friday. I will do little to no work tomorrow. I will listen to music, watch T.V, play video games, speak on the phone and nap at my desk. I have to be present just in case the world blows up. If it does there won't be much I can do about it since anyone who I could trade with will be at home.
Less than two per cent of the United Kingdom attend church services at least twice a month. More than 30 per cent of Americans attend religious services monthly. Even with these statistics weighing heavily in favor of a religious holiday, The United States finds it very hard to make it a National Bank Holiday, forcing most businesses to close. The only religious day off is Christmas day. So millions of would be practicing Christians have to work on Good Friday because of the separation of church and state argument making it near impossible to impose a day off for religious activities. In the United Kingdom this is completely the opposite. Millions are off work for a religious holiday they have never been to church on.
Good Friday in New York is a heaven for those selling fish. New Yorkers of THE faith eat fish in abundance on that day marking the start of the Easter weekend. Many attend midnight mass and non Catholics flock to church on the Sunday celebrating Easter in full with a big family dinner following services. Outside of the U.S.A the average Joe couldn't give a hoot about the religious significance of Easter but milks the holiday so much that they even have the Monday off. Yes that's right. There is such a thing as Easter Monday, a term Americans have probably never heard of. Me, I am still stuck in Passover mode. I have been off work the past two days eating cardboard and other well known digestive blockers. I always work Good Friday. I allow my practicing Christain colleagues to not have to work on their Observant Day. I am not alone. Most of my Jewish friends in NYC are at work tomorrow relieving those who need a day off to celebrate Easter. We co exist so well here in New York. Everyone scratches each others backs. So I end this blog with a great "God bless New York City" for all who live here and take off the non holiday- holiday and those who work to allow the non holiday-holiday celebrations to flourish.
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