this is for all the new folks out there. feb 28th is a holiday. this year it falls on saturday. so, if you regulary work on saturdays you got a free day coming. spend it well.
Be sure to take a moment on that day to think about why it’s a holiday though.
Another thought…why is almost every holiday on the weekend this year? bah.
and don’t forget to join hands across Taiwan that day at 2:28 pm in the afternoon, wherever you are. Even if you cannot take part in the event, you can take part symbolically by stopping whatever you are doing at the moment and look up at the sun. And think good thoughts about Taiwan. That will help the harmonic convergence.
It’s really too bad that when holidays are on Saturdays, Friday isn’t a holiday, and when a holiday is on a Sunday, Monday isn’t a holiday. I never have to work on the weekend, so whenever a holiday is on a Saturday or Sunday, to me it’s like missing the holiday.
In fact, six of the next eight public holidays are on the weekends!
228 (er4 er4 ba1) is on Saturday, February 28th
Election Day is on Saturday, March 20th
Grave Sweeping Day (qing1 ming2 jie2) is on Sunday, April 4th
Labor Day (lao2 dong4 jie2) is on Saturday, May 1st
Dragon Boat Festival (duan1 wu3 jie2) is on Tuesday, June 22nd
Mid-Autumn Festival (zhong1 qiu1 jie2) is on Tuesday, September 28th
Double Ten Day (shuang1 shi2 jie2) is on Sunday, October 10th
New Year’s Day (yuan2 dan4) is on Saturday, January 1st
(Christmas will also be on a Saturday this year, but Christmas isn’t a public holiday in Taiwan.)
Well, the good news is I’ve heard that since Grave Sweeping Day is on a Sunday this year, the following Monday (April 5th) will be also be a public holiday, so it’s good that we’ll finally have an “extended holiday” for once.
Yes, but New Year’s Day is so being a week from Christmas day, one can assume that it too falls on a Saturday. It also means I will be shortchanged when it comes to my Christmas holiday because always starts after the Friday before Christmas. Or maybe I’ ll get lucky and get the whole week before Christmas off.
ImaniOU, you should count your blessings! I’ve had to work on Christmas Day every year since 1998!
Mark
Less holidays = mo $$ for me.
I’m bummed that I’m going to miss the income from my Saturday morning classes the last week of February. I needed that bread. 
…um can anyone confirm April 5th is a holiday…i very much doubt this is the case…in fact i’ve heard spring scream is going to be split into 2 weekends because of this problem
April 4 (Sunday) is a holiday. Sometimes the gov’t will go ahead and make the next day a holiday so people will have some time off; but that sort of thing tends to be ad hoc and at the last minute.
April 4 (Sunday) is a holiday. Sometimes the gov’t will go ahead and make the next day a holiday so people will have some time off; but that sort of thing tends to be ad hoc and at the last minute.[/quote]
And as it falls soon after the presidential election rather than before, the chances of their being inclined to bestow largesse on the general public will be that much less (and they won’t dare to do so early, before the election, for fear of the obvious accusations that would follow). Indeed, as the current administration will almost certainly have come out losers in the election, they’ll probably want to punish the electorate by not giving them an extra holiday.
According to my Lonely Planet book, Tomb Sweeping Day is on April 5th on non-leap years and on April 4th on leap years. This year is a leap year, so Tomb Sweeping Day should be on April 4th this year.
But I’m confused because Yahoo Calendar says that Tomb Sweeping Day will be on April 5th this year. Also this website says that Tomb Sweeping Day will be on April 5th this year, but this website says that it will be on April 4th. And this website also says that Tomb Sweeping Day will be on April 4th this year.
Both April 4th and April 5th will be a holiday at the university where I teach, and the official school calendar says that both days are Tomb Sweeping Day!
Well, I’ve found Lonely Planet to be very reliable so I think Tomb Sweeping Day will probably be on April 4th this year.
Anyway, it makes more sense for Tomb Sweeping Day to be on April 4th because that’s the 4th day of the 4th month, and the number 4 sounds similar to the word for “die”.
Well, this Web site says the holiday is April 4 – and it’s from the government, which should probably be trusted even though it seems to be having a hard time with the abbreviation for “Friday.” 
Cranky,
Thanks a lot for that link. That answers two questions:
- Tomb Sweeping Day will be on April 4th this year.
- April 5th will not be an extended holiday.
Also, I notice that “Armed Forces Day” on Friday, September 3rd will be a public holiday this year according to the government calendar at that website. Armed Forces Day didn’t use to be a public holiday before, so I guess the government decided to give us one more day off to make up for all the holidays they took away in 1998.
But still only three of the next nine public holidays will be on weekdays!
I don’t think “Armed Forces Day” (Sept 3) is a holiday…not according to the calendar they gave us at work anywayz. Sept 28th is a holiday though - Moon Festival. June 22nd is also a holiday - something to do with wrapped sticky rice. 
Some of us in the media work on that day…the news never stops.
What’s my birthday got to do with sticky rice? But of course it’s only right that such a special day should be a holiday.
delete
Time is short so we must act quickly. Trying to get the locals to line up is nearly impossible so this is what we gotta do. Get as many carpenters together as possible to quickly construct the longest counter running from Taipei down to Kaohsiung. Then put one cash register on the right side of the counter with one 7’Eleven employee. Everyone else stands on the left side of the counter. You will have no problem getting the locals to stand facing the counter as they will all assume they are all first in line. Problem solved.
- No cameras though as if the locals see them they won’t hold hands as they will be doing the “peace” sign.
Isn’t 2-28 the holiday when we celebrate the KMT’s attempt to help the public stop smoking?