Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
Closeup of calendar page.
Closeup of calendar page. - Credit: ml12nan / DepositPhotos - License: DepositPhotos
Business
Culture
Lifestyle
Suriname
Antilles
Whit Monday
Diversity Day
Keti Koti
Eid al-Fitr
Sunday, 5 June 2022 - 13:50
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Many workers want to be able to trade official holidays for other days off

In a new survey by EenVandaag, almost half of respondents indicated they would like to swap one of the official Dutch holidays for a "diversity day." This flexible holiday would allow workers from different cultures or belief systems to celebrate holidays that don't necessarily fall on the Christian calendar.

Respondents from a Surinamese or Antillean background tended to favor the idea of a "diversity day" the most: 74 percent of them said they would like this holiday. On the other hand, four out of 10 people surveyed did not approve of the idea. 

"I am absolutely against it," one of them wrote. "We live here in the Netherlands in an originally Christian culture. Other cultures have to adapt to us. Elsewhere in the world our holidays are not celebrated, are they?"

However, many people agree that some national holidays, like the upcoming Whit Monday, are becoming less meaningful even to people from a Christian background. "All those 'second' days (Boxing Day, Easter Day and Whitsun) are only for commerce. As far as I'm concerned, they can all be exchanged or abolished," one respondent opined.

Instead of these holidays, people said they would like to celebrate times of the year like Liberation Day or Eid al-Fitr, or take a day off during Pride month. Many respondents with a Surinamese or Antillean background said they wanted to celebrate the abolition of slavery on July 1, known as Keti Koti.

"I think this is an important day in the history of all Dutch people," said one respondent with a Surinamese background, according to EenVandaag. "If I really have to choose, I would hand in Ascension (and I am Catholic)."

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • About 150 houses heavily damaged after Zierikzee tornado
  • Necklace worth €27 million snatched in Tefaf Maastricht art fair robbery: Report
  • Philips: Issues with sleep apnea machines less harmful than thought
  • Instructor, student killed in small plane crash on Tuesday
  • Covid hospital patient total jumps 17 percent; New infections rise by 29 percent
  • Supreme Court confirms mother's conviction for girl's fatal fall from Hoogeveen flat

Top stories

  • Necklace worth €27 million snatched in Tefaf Maastricht art fair robbery: Report
  • Covid hospital patient total jumps 17 percent; New infections rise by 29 percent
  • Small plane crashes in Flevoland lake; Rescuers working to save victims
  • Farmers burning hay bales on highways with more nitrogen policy protests expected
  • Health Min. wants to expand euthanasia access to terminally ill children under 12
  • Woman, 73, killed in Zeeland tornado

© 2012-2022, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content