Holidays… on the weekend?

Not that I mind holidays, in general, nor the number of national holidays in France during the month of May [especially when I live there], but we are accustomed to seeing holidays applied to varying days during the work week. [Let’s hear it for the holidays that are optimally placed on Fridays or Mondays]. A small section in a newspaper on Monday raised my eyebrows as it listed national holidays in countries around the world during the week. This seemed to be a big week for holidays; some 50 countries have a day off. What caught my attention was that on Saturday this week, it is a holiday in Hong Kong (a country known for hard long hours); and, on Sunday the 8th April, it is a holiday in Egypt, Israel and Croatia. The first two countries are, with a little retrospection, understandable; but Croatia as well? Anyway, goes to show how different life can be from one country to another.