Compared to Japan, there seems to be less public holidays for New Zealand people. I think that there should be a couple more public holidays especially between Queen's Birthday and Labour Weekend.
So, if you were in charge of these things, what holidays would you have? Lets go through my suggestions:
1. October 23rd - All Blacks Day. Not everyone is a rugby fan, I know, but whether those people like it or not when people think of New Zealand, the country is associated with rugby and the All Blacks. So why not celebrate the win by the team at the 2011 World Cup. This could extend Labour Weekend or produce a Japan type Golden Week with another holiday in that week.
2. How about a holiday celebrating our farming community. Agriculture is a big part of our nation's economy and these people and industry could be celebrated. The day could be noted as us townies been invited onto the farms or the farmers are invited into the nearest towns for a kind of festival or celebration.
3. Why isn't St. Valentines Day an official public holiday? I know many people will say "bah, humbug" but isn't love a good thing to celebrate? Surely if we sat down and thought about it the lack of love is what causes most of our problems in this world. So why not emphazise it and call February the 14th an official public holiday?
4. Lets create a day like Melbourne Cup Day in Victoria, Australia. Would it be popular in New Zealand? I think so, if you had a big enough race. Awapuni could be the course where it is held and the Palmerston North Cup, with the right marketing and right prize money could be a great sporting extravaganza for the Manawatu and New Zealand. I can imagine a huge crowd at Awapuni for this.
5. In Japan, traditionally on the 10th of October, but now it is the second Monday of October is called Sports Day. This holiday celebrates the opening of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. New Zealand is a land of sports lovers, so why isn't there a national holiday celebrating this love of sports? New Zealanders could be persuaded to go to their local parks and in organised events try sports that they might not normally play.I'm sure the participating clubs would get new members through this initiative.
6. From memory, I think that August the 1st is every horse's birthday. Is that correct? Am I mistaken? Pick a day in the year and say that that is the day that every university student is graduating. Can you imagine the carnage involved in that? For one night only the bars in Palmerston North will be like it's Mardi Gras.
7. This isn't really an idea as much as a discussion point. In 2012, are the holidays of Easter and Christmas very relevant in our society? Both are religious holidays and are to do with a Christian festival. Should we be celebrating these holidays when we are supposedly a secular country? They certainly are good. I'm not questioning that, just questioning it's appropriateness.
8. 20th of July. This is Sir Edmund Hillary's birthday. He is arguably one of the most famous New Zealanders to have graced this planet. Why don't we celebrate his achievements by naming a national holiday after him? I think that it would be a popular choice.
9. New Zealand is considered around the world as a clean and green country. It is nuclear free and that is non-negotiable so lets celebrate that. Something to do with the environment Day would be a popular one and maybe copied around the world, although in saying that, isn't may the 4th, Greenery Day in Japan? I can't remember.
10. Of course we could just keep the status quo. There is nothing wrong with them after all and why fix something that isn't broken?
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