It's the end of the semester and everywhere in Sheffield, people are preparing for Christmas. Not many people (non-muslims that is) seem to realize it EID @ Hari Raya Haji (in Singapore) today. Schools in Sheffield celebrate EID and Christmas and the bbc website mentions it. However, a rough survey of my colleagues in the department suggests that most people are not aware of it. I would not be aware either, if I did not work with a muslim family.
This was when I thought about Singapore, and how lucky we are to enjoy cultural diversity and how making cultural festivals a public holiday is a fantastic way for people to know that the festival exists. If people know about the festival, they are more likely to want to learn about it. This learning leads to increased inter-cultural understanding and better social cohesion among different groups in the community. If people don't celebrate a certain festival, they will certainly know of it, as they won't have to go to work.
This practice works well in Singapore probably because we have a fair number of people in different cultures. Of course, there are still minority cultures who are left out of the Singapore public holiday calendar. But it just means that we have greater opportunities to learn more about other people's way of living. Hmm... one more thing to add to the list of things I like about my country. :>
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