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Should the Start of Chinese New Year Be a Federal Holiday?

Posted by timothy on from the lunatic-idea dept.

First time accepted submitter CarlosF writes "Does Lunar New Year belong alongside those other red-letter days? Efforts to recognize Lunar New Year at the state and local level have been afoot for years. In 1994, San Francisco decided to close public schools on Lunar New Year, but this was largely a response to demographic reality rather than political pressure."

9 of 307 comments (clear)

  1. No, it shouldn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Should Bastille day be a national holiday?

    1. Re:No, it shouldn't by osu-neko · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Should Bastille day be a national holiday?

      In countries that contain the Bastille, yes. Does the first new moon of the year fail to occur in some nation?

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
    2. Re:No, it shouldn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Is it relevant to anything besides astrology?

      I see no reason to have a statutory holiday dedicated to worshipping the moon.

    3. Re:No, it shouldn't by Ol+Biscuitbarrel · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In medieval times the calendar was packed with holidays, about one per week IIRC. Seems like that would've been a good way to blow off some steam, eh? Most of these are only historical curios now. I'd be for bringing those back, or secular equivalents, rather. Starting with Festivus, of course. Feats of Strength!

    4. Re:No, it shouldn't by IICV · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The thing is, the days really do have to be mandatory - otherwise, you get those people who basically live in the office and never use vacation time ruining it for everyone else. They almost never do more work, they're just slower at it (because they're burnt out from never taking any time off, it's a chicken and egg thing I guess). The worst part is that because "butts in seats" is an easily quantifiable metric (significantly easier than, say, "work quality" or "features completed"), managers tend to even encourage that self-destructive behavior.

      That's pretty much how the USA got to where it is right now, in fact - we have the worst time off laws of almost any nation, and it's largely because of the ridiculously overblown Protestant "you should either be working, eating or sleeping" work ethic. We would probably get more done as a country if we had more time off.

  2. How bizarre... by osu-neko · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "... but this was largely a response to demographic reality rather than political pressure."

    Since when did politicians respond to reality? Reality doesn't vote. You get elected by responding to what people believe. I guess this must be once of those rare cases of congruence between the two...

    --
    "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
  3. Why not ... by prasadsurve · · Score: 4, Insightful

    start celebrating Mexican holidays as well? They outnumber the Chinese in US.
    Lets not start going on that slippery slope.

  4. Why National? by Dave+Emami · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Emphasis mine:

    In 1994, San Francisco decided to close public schools on Lunar New Year, but this was largely a response to demographic reality rather than political pressure.

    Which is as it should be, and an indicator that federalism is working just fine, thank you very much. In an area where lots of people want to take the same day off, it's off. Otherwise, it's not. Heck, we could make Nooruz (Persian New Year) a national holiday, but I doubt there's a demand for that anywhere except in certain parts of Los Angeles. It would be nice for the various Slavic and Greek enclaves around the US if their New Year (based on the Julian rather than Gregorian calendar) was a national holiday. We could make Rosh Hashanah a national holiday, along with at least half a dozen different New Year days from India (it depends on the region). Etc. Etc. Etc.

    It's one thing to be respectful of minority groups, and for everyone to have the same legal rights regardless of ethnicity, religion, etc. That's as it should be. But it's an entirely-different thing to bend over backwards pretending that there are no minorities. I wouldn't expect to get Christmas off if I lived in China, nor would it be any kind of insult or malign discrimination on China's part if I didn't.

    --

    "The Greens lynched a hacker in Chicago. Last month, but I think the body's still hanging from the old Water Tower."
  5. As soon as everyone is hung over... by flibbidyfloo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As soon as the night before is used as an excuse to get drunk by a large portion of the populace, who are then too hung over to go to work on the holiday, it will become an official American day off. New Year's day isn't a holiday because anyone is celebrating the start of a new year.