在英國，某些特定的日子叫做Bank Holiday。在這些日子里，所有的人都放假。Bank Holiday 是法定節日，但它又比較神秘，因為它的日期不是特別固定的，每逢銀行假期和傳統節日或者周末重合的時候，人們就會另選一天作為銀行假期。既然能放假休息，又何樂而不為呢？
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| Bank of England |
Sometimes when we are in Britain, we see on the notices at the scenic spots’ doors that the spots close on Bank Holidays and Public Holidays. We know what public holidays are. They are like our Chinese national holiday, New Year’s Day, etc. But bank holidays are absolutely unique in Britain. What are they actually?
Bank holidays are holidays authorized by law. They can be known as public holidays, because employees don’t need to work when these two holidays come. The name bank holiday means when banks close, there is no trading in the area, and people can have a rest.
Bank holidays were first introduced by the Bank Holidays Act of 1871. It designated different bank holidays for each part of Britain. Most of the holidays are the same, but we can still find out the difference.
There are 8 bank holidays in England and Wales:
New Year’s Day
Easter Monday
Good Friday
Early May Bank Holiday
Spring Bank Holiday
Summer Bank holiday
Christmas Day
Boxing Day
Among these holidays, Good Friday and Christmas Day are traditional holidays; they are not specified by law but commonly recognized, therefore they were not included in the Act of 1871.
Scotland also has 8 bank holidays:
New Year’s Day
2nd January
Good Friday
Early May Bank Holiday
Spring Bank Holiday
St Andrew’s Day
Christmas Day
Boxing Day
2nd January was included to be an additional bank holiday in Scotland In 1973. It was according to the 1971 Act. We say the 1971 Act instead of the Act of 1871, because the latter one was repealed 100 years later. Yet, its provisions wereincorporated into the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971. The new Act remains the statutory basis for bank holidays. Since then, when government creates a new bank holiday, the 1971 Act should be taken into consideration.
Northern Ireland has 9 bank holidays:
New Year’s Day
St Patrick’s Day
Good Friday
Early May Bank Holiday
Spring Bank Holiday
Battle of the Boyne (Orangemen’s Day)
Summer Bank holiday
Christmas Day
Boxing Day
St Patrick’s Day (17 March) is appointed by a special Act of Parliament in 1903, while Battle of Boyne (12 July) is by the Governor of Northern Ireland in 1926. Even though England celebrates St Patrick’s Day, they do not have a bank holiday on that date.
The above mentioned holidays do not fall to the same date each year. If one of the bank holidays is happened to be on a weekend, it’s then changed to another day. Normally, there are several dates in lieu of the original fixed dates. British tend to spend bank holidays and public holidays respectively,
You may ask is there any difference between bank holidays and public holidays? Yes, bank holidays are legally appointed; while public holidays are customary holidays. However, British people just spend these two types of holidays as the same.
Customary, on bank holidays, banks, shops, museums and other places of interests do not open. But as the economic activities increasingly connect people’s daily life and national affairs, some banks and shops still open to business on bank holidays. But Christmas Day is of course the exemption.
When we plan to travel to Britain, if in case of unexpected troubles we may have to plan our journey in the consideration of bank holidays!
Good Friday： 耶穌受難日
Boxing Day： 節禮日
Repeal： 廢止
Provision： 條例
Incorporate： 將某事物包括進去
Statutory ： 法定的
Battle of the Boyne： 博恩戰役，1690年，信奉新教的英格蘭國王威廉三世在博恩打敗信奉天主教的前任君主詹姆士二世，這是愛爾蘭近代著名的戰役之一。同時，威廉三世的家族姓氏是Orange-Nassau，他的家族成員在慶祝這個節日時，都會戴著橙色的花和橙色的帶子。因此該日又叫Orangemen’s Day
In lieu of： 代替，相當于replace
Exemption：例外.
（中山大學通訊員吳海珠供稿 英語點津 Annabel 編輯）
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