Bridge Holidays

Hungary has what are called "bridge holidays."  That is, if a public holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, the corresponding Monday or Friday is also a public holiday so that people can have long weekends for those holidays.  But, the missed work and school days are compensated for with working Saturdays.  For example, Tuesday, October 23 was Republic Day.  Monday, October 22 was also declared a holiday and was made up for on Saturday, October 27.  It can get confusing, though when the holiday cannot easily be compensated for on the following Saturday.  Since Christmas Day falls on a Tuesday this year, the 24th is also a holiday.  However, the holiday will be made up for on Saturday, December 15.  In 2012, of the ten official holidays, five of them fall on Tuesday or Thursday!  

This has caused a lot of confusion, not only for us, but for some Hungarians, too. Some time ago, a youth conference was planned for the Open Bible Churches here in Hungary.  The dates were set for this Friday through Sunday, November 30-December 2.  Just last week it was discovered that Saturday will be a work day!  Some schools and workplaces (but not all) will be open to make up for December 31 being a holiday (New Year's Day falls on a Tuesday.)  After prayer, it was decided to go ahead with the conference.  Some of the teenagers will just miss a day of school with their parents' consent.  Others will have to miss the conference on Saturday. 

Please pray for God's blessing on the youth conference.  Mike will be speaking for the closing service on Sunday.