FAMILY DAY SOUTH AFRICA

Family Day is a public holiday celebrated in South Africa. Many countries worldwide such as Australia and Canada celebrates Family Day. It is also called the Family and Community Day and is celebrated every year in November on the first Tuesday. On this day, people take a break from the hard work and gather around with their families and enjoy quality time. Workers take the day off of work to get some rest and to be appreciated by their employers. Government agencies are closed on this day. Some private owned businesses stay open although it varies from place to place. Family Day is presently celebrated in South Africa, Alberta, Ontario, Australian Capital Territory, and Saskatchewan provinces in Canada.

It was typical in South Africa to take a day off of work after Easter. This day, which is also known as Easter Monday, was renamed as Family Day in 1995. This extra day off for the holiday was meant to give families more quality family time together and to allow them to go on vacations with friends and family.

Family Day is celebrated differently in each country and province. It is not a legal holiday in Ontario and they did not officially recognize this day until 1970. Family Day was then at that time declared a public holiday by the Saskatchewan Province. It has been reported that Alberta Territory was the first territory to recognize Family Day as a legal holiday. To minimize the cost of business, Canadian Herritage day has been made a civic holiday so that this does not allow all workers to take off work.

The government of South Africa emphasizes spending quality time with family on this day so that people can get together and have a celebration. Friends, relatives and family members will gather together, have meals, drink wine, and enjoy their time with those people that are most important to them. Many people go on vacation with their families and friends or may even invite their friends and neighbors to join in the family feast. Therefore, the day has great significance to all South African citizens as this is a public holiday. The importance of Family Day is uniting families together in the spirit of the holiday.