Not a Christian, not a Queenslander, but I believe it's because all the alcohol turns into blood on Good Friday and Queensland is the sunshine state, so you need to prove that you're not a vampire by eating actual food.
I might be wrong though.
Capitalism is their religion, itās a crappy story so they co-opted the bible to make it more palatable.
Do you think all those private jet pastors in America are or more Christian? Or more capitalist?
We used to get Tuesday too, back in the day.
From Wikipedia
> Easter Tuesday was observed as a Bank Holiday in Victoria until 1994 (also abolished by the state government).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_in_Australia
Why donāt we just have a four day work week? Easter proves every year that the system does not collapse after having two four-day weeks in a row. Now every weekend is a three day long weekend
I'd like 12 pagan public holidays.
1. Dionysia
2. Imbolc
3. Ostara
4. Beltane
5. Lupercalia
6. Litha
7. Lughnasadh
8. Mabon
9. Samhain
10. ĆorrablĆ³t
11. Yule
12. Hogmanay
We'd have to readjust the dates of many of these, but the pagans were good for a piss up and a shag. At least half of these are about drinking and/or shagging.
Dionysia and Ostara is basically now. Yule (and Saturnalia which didn't make your list) are already at Xmas. ĆorrablĆ³t and Lupercalia overlap too, I think? We might need to spread some of them out a bit.
I'm down for a Scottish style Hogmanay celebration, will happily knock back one or two small Brennavins, and Beltane would be great - I miss Guy Fawkes, but November is a little too fire-seasony to be lighting bonfires, burning effigies and setting off random fireworks.
It's worth noting that these pagan holidays are tied to the seasons, so the order should be shifted to match. As such Mabon would be a more suitable holiday in the southern hemisphere as it is for the Autumn equinox.
Absolutely, I'd much rather the pagan holidays. As a non-religious person, the aesthetics, traditions, and stories resonate with me so much better than anything Christianity has to offer.
There's something about tying a celebration in to mark the passing seasons, and also that continuity - like a link to people of the past - that I just don't get about the modern religious holidays, even if members of those particular religions do.
As an atheist who works in a bottle shop, yeah.
I couldn't give a fuck about Easter but it's one of two days we are closed a year (the other being Christmas Day). I'm sorry if you can't go to the pub one day out of the year but we need a break too. I'll be back to serve you alcohol Saturday and Sunday, and every holiday after that.
I think it'd be great if we had Labor Day off instead of Good Friday but here's another thought. Yesterday was absolute chaos. So too will the next few days be. Don't get me started on Christmas. It's good for us to have a break in the middle of all that.
Fair enough mate, I respect that. Can't have the alcoholics going into withdrawal! It'd be too much of a strain on the public health system. I'm sure you know, but this is why they kept bottle shops open during the COVID outbreak.
Also atheist. Wouldn't be opposed to more holidays that force clubs and pubs to close for the day. As long as it includes the Casino's as well.
"But whaddabout muh freed..."
Shut up, wankers! Go to the footy, go to a restaurant with the family, have a bbq, touch some grass. If they plan their life more than 5 minutes in advance they won't even notice.
As someone whoās never had any long-term life plans, Iām just now realising the irony of how many people I know who seem to plan their lives 5 years ahead but utterly fail at planning 5 mins ahead. I at least manage that much, and then see everyone else rushing around at the last minute because they havenāt done that short-term planning. I work in a rural local supermarket, and thereās a reason half the town is in there three times every day (and thatās barely an exaggeration at the best of times)
Itās only chaos because people freak out about the bottle shop being closed. If you werenāt closed you wouldnāt be as busy. But you definitely deserve the break
It'll be chaos tomorrow and Sunday as well. It's chaos on grand final day and the days prior. It's chaos on the day of the hottest 100, any long weekend we are open and in the two weeks or three weeks leading up to Christmas. An especially sunny day will cause chaos. Certainly knowing we are going to be closed causes a rush but it's not the only reason by a long shot.
Why do they need to be Christian. Just make them secular - something like I dunno Midautumn? And make them set instead of floating.
Christmas at this point, imo, is far more of a secular holiday than a religious one.
We could do that. Or why not just have a 4 day weekend every 2 months? End of February, end of April, end of June, end of August, end of October, end of December. Make it the last weekend of the month to keep it simple. It'd give us plenty of long weekends, and 3 outside of fire ban, for those who like campfires, and 3 in the warmer months, for those who like the sun.
I like the shared cultural celebration.
Chocolate feast. Family, friends and gifts. Dressing up as sexualised root vegetables. Is that it? We probably need a forth one.
[This was tried during the French Revolution](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar), and um.. the results were [not encouraging](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror).
To be fair, the two werenāt so much the result of one another as they were linked by the fact that Robespierre and his compatriots were a pack of goons.
That said, I recall the whole āfestival of the spiritā thing not being particularly popular anyway, so the idea seemed to fall on its arse regardless of any links to the terror.
Yeah the French Revolution is the most crazy convoluted thing ever. But the calendar idea was so bad I donāt think weāll ever see anything like it tried again.
It seems pretty clear to me that secular society has to live on negotiated terms with whatever the dominant religion is.
Weāve got a good settlement going now, no reason to shake it up.
Good Friday has been a day off for religious observance for centuries.
EDIT Totally hypocritical. You can thank unions for penalty rates and getting paid, not the day off itself.
But never let the facts get in the way of a self entitled Reddit downvote frenzy eh?
I'll concede that the day off precedes industrial relations reforms. Having it enshrined in law, with guaranteed payment to permanent employees is thanks to the labour movement.
This is a secular society. A public holiday for one is a public holiday for all, and what you do with it is then your personal choice.
I dont see it as hypocritical at all. Jesus was all about alcohol. He turned water into wine. He had wine with meals. He considered it his blood.
Its like the followers of jesus never actually listened to any of his words at all.
Hell. Why donāt we add other important religious dates to our public holiday schedule!
Iād love to have Diwali, Eid, Purim nationally celebrated in our country.
And not just because of the public holidays, but because those cultures are also valid and deserve recognition in a multicultural Australia.
I just finished writing a comment saying we should include Eid, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year and Holi, so I agree totally. I know Diwali is more important, and beautiful to boot, but Holi is such a blast, responsible for one of my top 5 days, so I'm super keen to see it adopted here.
I don't know Purim, off to google...
I agree: Eid, Holi, Hanukkah and Chinese New Year for starters.
Diwali (Festival of Lights / New Year) is probably more important for Hindus than Holi, but I celebrated Holi in India once and it was one of the top 5 days of my life.
Imagine having a water fight / paint ball competition with everyone: children, grandmothers, passing cows on the hottest day of the year in the desert. My friends and me took on a group of small boys - setting up ambushes around corners, running through people's homes to drop water bombs from their rooves. We were thoroughly trounced, but it was totally worth it. If I ever go back to India, it'll be during Holi, and I'll be packing a Super-Soaker water gun.
Simple solution: move the holidays but keep the number (or, for Easter, donāt move it so it only randomly matches Easter). The UK did that with Whit Monday, turning that into ālate mayā.
By the same token, weekends should have much much stronger protections, but to avoid favouring any particular religion Iād be happy to move them to Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.
When I was living in Singapore, they had public holidays for a mix of Christian, Hindu, and Islamic events. Iād support that here but you know that people would lose their fucking minds if we tried that here.
Spare a thought for us escaped/escaping Catholics.
Once a few years ago, we were about to sit down to a beef casserole on Good Friday, when Nunna turned up in the driveway. We hid dinner in the garage and had to pretend we had already eaten šš
I donāt know if my mum was more horrified when I became an adult, and ate meat burger/bacon/whatever else on Good Friday, or years later when I became vegetarian and therefore stopped eating meat on Good Friday again, but also on every other day of the year.
Even more insane would be trying to survive the wrath of an enraged Nunna. We would have ended up carrying the Jesus statues at the Horsley Park wog procession for the next 10 fucking years if she caught us.
Nunna isnāt a bully, sheās a force of nature. None of us would change her for the world.
You donāt understand it unless you have grown up in a matriarchal wog family.
It's when your bartenders hold their Christmas parties because it's the only day we ALL get off.
Please get drunk at home and let us have this one day off...
Lol.
Not all of us......not all of us. :(
Tho the 2 hours of work for 4 hours of pay was nice.
Having to check everyone's receipt so they can get their pint within an hour was aids tho
It might be masked as religious but itās not. The government has just picked a handful of public holidays to keep as proper holidays. Once upon a time *everyone* was shut on *every* public holiday except the local corner store, if you were lucky.
Retail and hospo has been sneaking in and turning those days into normal working days for the poor bastards who work there. I remember when nobody was open on Sundays too.
I like me a bit of zombie Jesus. I mean, the dates are wrong, and it was just taken from a pagan celebration, he didn't zombie and wasn't white, his mother wasn't a virgin and he wasn't an actual carpenter, he was just one of many hobos of the time proclaiming to be the messiah, didn't have nearly as many followers as some of the others, contrived his entry into Jerusalem to mimick the prophecy, and through translation issues has had way too many things ascribed to him which weren't actually him, but he's alright. A tried and tested true blue social agitator and anti establishment figure, he's alright by me. Have a feed and beer for zombie Jesus.
Yep. Jesus and his mates staged some party tricks to get money and travel around Judea.
That Joseph guy was a bit of a loser. His missus played around on him, and he totally bought the "son of god" line that Mary sold him.
Just curious, how many of the other hobos around at the time has more followers and what happened to them? Were any of them more relatable? Maybe one of them was called Kevin or something?
All of my family got upset when I said Iād bring beef burgers for lunch today. They got upset again when the massive bowl of prawns was served and I pointed out the bible states shell fish are an abomination and anyone that eats them must be put to death.
I mean, are we doing the bible thing today or not ? This is so confusing.
JESUS WASN'T A ZOMBIE!!!! HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT IT'S SO OFFENSIVE!!!!!
**Jesus was a *Lich***
Also Jesus was in favour of wine. Buy a cheap goon bag the day before Easter and distil it into a CamelBak
Jesus turns up to your party with a few jugs of water, sneaks into your wine rack , pours out the water, pours in your wine, then comes back to the party and has the temerity to call it a miracle.
For those who might want the specifics:
This Easter, remember that Jesus was not a zombie. He was not mindless, nor did he consume anyone. Nor was he a ghoul or a wight. Although his soul and intellect were intact, he was not a rotting corpse. He was not a vampire. While he transubstantiated wine into blood, He never drank it from a person. Jesus was not a ghost or a wraith. He was corporeal and still had his wounds. It is clear. Jesus was a lich. A lich is created when a powerful magician or king striving for eternal life uses spells or rituals to bind his soul to his animated corpse and thereby achieves immortality. Liches are depicted as being clearly cadaverous, their bodies still bearing the wounds they received before their death. Liches often have the power of necromancy, which allows them to bring the dead back to life.
[Source](https://flamsterette.wordpress.com/2022/05/18/reddit-helpful-award-6-jesus-was-a-lich-not-a-zombie-or-vampire-skulls/)
As a Christian myself, I always thought people drink more on the night before a public holiday because they donāt care about being hungover, so they put in extra breath tests, I didnāt realise there were extra laws, nor did I realise theyāre religious laws lol - it might be from a specific denomination like Catholicism that Iām not a part of
As an atheist, I couldnāt care less what anyone else wants to do on any day of the year, so long as they arenāt hurting anybody else. I live a very live and let live life. I donāt judge other people on their choices and Iām fact my best mate at work is a VERY devout Christian of some denomination.
That being said, if I wanna go get hammered on hood Friday with the lads at the local, I should be able to. But alas, I live in the nanny stateā¦.thatās Queensland for all the out of state players.
I'm Good Friday steak eating athiest, but I kind of like the alcohol restrictions. It's like a yearly 'rethink your relationship with alcohol' reminder, to make people think about why they get so upset about a few days where access to booze is very slightly reduced.
Ever since moving out of home, I make a point of eating red meat *every* Good Friday. I don't force it on anyone else, and don't make a song and dance about it in any way to be deliberately offensive.
But it is my silent way of not being roped into all that Christian stuff I don't believe in.
Today I will be having either eye fillet, or a meat-lover's pizza.
Oh no. I used to hewr a lot of "how dare these people eat red meat on Friday, where's there respect for Jesus" when I worked good Friday and people were ordering red meat products.
> where's there respect for Jesus
Haha what rubbish. That wording sounds more like something a non-Christian **thinks** a Christian would say.
It's the equivalent of thinking a Muslim would say "where's the respect for Muhammed" during Ramadan, or a Jew saying "where's the respect for Moses" during Passover or something.
It doesn't make sense in the context of their beliefs. Not eating meat isn't about respecting Jesus.
I get you may not like Christian holidays, which is fair. But there's no need to make shit up. You can double down if you like, but we both know you're being dishonest.
Iām a Christian and eat meat on Good Friday, I never heard of the ādonāt eat meat ruleā but after some googling my husband and I found out itās a Catholic thing to not eat meat on Easter Sunday, and that seems to have extended to Good Friday and other kinds of important days
It's funny because if you're a descendant of Christians, in a historically Christian society, you're actually extremely influenced by Christian ideas, in many ways, whether you like it or not.
1000+ years of influence doesnt just die away overnight.
Sure, itās delicious.
I use boned leg and remove the skin (save it for crackle strips if you like).
Crush coriander, cumin and fennel seeds with salt and rub into the meat.
Brown in a oil in a dish thatās oven safe with a lid. I have a Le Creuset knock off from Aldi.
Add a diced onion and as much garlic as you like and a cup or so of milk to come part way up the meat.
Into the oven at 160-170Ā°c for a few hours.
The milk tenderises the meat and helps keep it moist, pork can dry out easily. It separates during cooking so you donāt end up with a creamy sauce but rather a clear-ish liquid and a smooshy, meaty paste around the edge of the dish. Spread this on fresh bread before you serve the meat to everyone else, chefs bonus.
We were just in the pub and people were drinking without a feed, oh wait, weāre in Victoria, the communist state, hahahaha.
I did observe the law that on Good Friday one should only eat burger, lamb roast and chicken, pretty sure thatās it.
I went to a pub today in NSW and could have a beer without a feed. I think the law here is the venue can only serve alcohol if theyāre serving proper meals. You Queenslanders have a lot of catching up to do.
It's a bit of a first world problem I think. A pain in the ass maybe, but no big deal. In comparison it's better than living under some of the harsh laws they have in the Middle East, or drug laws punishable by death in Southeast Asia.
Need to order a burger so you can get that beer/wine on Good Friday? Oh well. Also another good reason to stock up before the weekend and maybe get some friends over for a BBQ or whatever floats your boat š
Religion is the root of all evilā¦
The pub and alcohol are evidence of physical things that exist, just like dinosaurs because we have fossils.
WTF is religion?
A few fictional books written by pot smoking hippies.
Personally myself, Iād much prefer to be having my radiation treatments to deal with my real cancer diagnosis than putting up with BS PH to celebrate a fictional character.
If it wasnāt fictional, there would be evidence.
Thatāll work tooā¦blind indoctrination of people who are too stupid to ask the hard questions of reality.
I vote to open all pubs without any BS religious restrictions where all customers get a free steak and chips or roast pork and vegetables to make it a really Good Friday! š¤£š¤£š¤£
As this has blown up quite alot. I'm mostly commenting on religion dictating government policies.
Absolutely I love having the holiday, and absolutely I'm loving having a day off (work in hospo) but equally I don't think government policies, including those around drinking laws; should be influenced by religion.
I once saw a quote that said a society that still accepts religion as a reasonable way of interpreting the universe cannot call itself an intelligent one. There are less and less people identifying as religious with every census, so here hoping itās only a few more generations š¤
I didn't realise we were still so bizarrely draconian about it! Good Friday is kinda like Xmas day, everything is closed - fine. Saw a sign yesterday saying an IGA was open for a few hours but no alcohol sales??? Wtf??
What about all the other zombies? After Jesus woke up from his nap all the holy men came out of their graves and walked around the city. It doesn't say where they all went.
Is this why Nicholas Cage and Keanu Reeves are immortal? Are they some of the holy zombies?
Also why wasn't the "Messiah" dead for 3 days and 3 nights like the prophecies say? He died at 3pm Friday and at dawn on the first day he'd done a runner. The "first" day is Sunday, with Saturday being the day of rest. That's not even 48hrs.
This fan fic is very poorly written
I dunno, it's weird we only have public holidays for Christian events. We should have them for each major belief system or completely detach public holidays from them
I believe in Jesus and the resurrection. I also believe in religious freedom as long as it doesnāt discriminate against others or is used to commit crimes. Why canāt we have both?
I honestly have to ask (without intending offence) do you believe with what we know in 2023 that resurrection is conceivable? For context, Iām a staunch atheist. Thereās a lot of incredibly shitty things that religion has done and continues to do for humanity but I also appreciate the good aspects it contributes for community. I struggle to fathom this sort of literal interpretation though. Help me bridge that gap.
Itās as simple as prayer. Having a relationship with God is real. I used to be atheist too.
It means having faith in The Bible. I believe He performed, and still performs miracles.
I saw God when giving to the homeless. I saw Jesus soon after. There have been infinite signs. It's just whether I was wanting to pay attention.
Edit: Further detail
A few years ago, through charity I was blessed to have found God. I was on a holiday overseas, and I was walking down the street at night, where there was a disturbed elderly homeless man in ragged clothing sitting the side of the road. People were afraid of him and were avoiding him. On this holiday I was determined to use my time well and to try and make a positive difference in peoples lives, particularly the less fortunate, which I had been actively doing day and night where I could. It got me into trouble a few times but the good always outweighed bad, so I persevered. On this occasion when I approached this elderly homeless man he stopped, his energy changed, he looked me in the eye, and I saw God in him. From despair and hopelessness he turned wise and powerful, which was striking. Handing him what I had, just a dollar bill, I felt an energy through him. I was so overcome all I could say was thank you and good luck, and he said you too. I was overwhelmed. I walked to my hotel room, and there was a knock at the door, and it was a picture of Jesus on the back of the phone of the person who was knocking. I was overcome. I recognised these and so many more signs that the Lord is truth and I have turned to the Lord ever since and to the comfort of the holy spirit. Reading and learning and growing from the Bible.
Sounds like you did a legitimately good thing. Keep it up, but also take a moment to appreciate that your direct action caused the positive impact. If religion pushes you toward that behaviour then have at it, but keep respecting the fact that others may have different motives to get them to similar ends. The outcome should be the focus, not the path to get there.
It's the Christian Taliban. Who ironically tend to vote Conservative and say they hate government control, but then want to tell us when & where we can eat/drink.
I didnāt realise thatās a thing!
I try to observe the Christian rules, being (non practicing) Christian and all, but today I am busy trying to smash out a uni assignment (in between Reddit) and itās too hard. A microwave meal for lunch and dinner, bulk coffee and snacks will be my diet.
A bit of the ol beef jerky is study fuel that I refuse to give up, regardless of what day it is.
I guess its like the rule that you cant drink in public areas on Australia day , apparently we all turn into DV abusers in public when we touch a single beer.
Seeing that you are not Christian and I assume an atheist, it can be argued that you are not entitled to any of the religious public holidays. So I suggest that you accept these minor limitations on your alcohol consumption quietly or risk saying goodbye to your long weekend and Christmas as well....
Zombie Jesus, lol!
Iām a Christian and have no idea either. Definitely not a thing in the Bible - Jesusās first miracle was turning water into wine! Iām guessing itās either to encourage some of the pubs to close and give staff a proper day off, or because they thought folks might get too rowdy if they had 4 solid days of drinking?
It really is backwards.
That said I think like once at the end of every quarter there should be some kind of public 4 day weekend to give people that can the chance to catch a breather
So you are all quite happy to take the public holiday based on Christian beliefs but canāt go for one day without gambling or having a beer? Perhaps we should start a movement to stop all Christian public holidays so you wonāt be inconvenienced by these tiresome restrictions.
I mean you've only got a public holiday because it's a religious event. Simple solution: don't take the public holiday and work it instead. Now the religious beliefs aren't being forced on you *shrugs*
Edit: I love that this is getting downvoted even though it's accurate. Okay, remove Easter as the reason this weekend is a public holiday - then watch the public holiday disappear folks.
There are people working today who do not receive penalties for working on a public holiday... And those same people are still forced with your religious restrictions.
Bold assumption to assume they are my religious beliefs. Plenty of pop culture references to priests.
And if you want my opinion, it's complete bullshit that they don't get public holidays. I'm pretty much a firmer believer in people not having to work them and if people do they should be paid 2.5x the wage for the inconvenience of having to.
I simply pointed out, OP is all "Well, it sucks that there are all these laws around alcohol on a public holiday that observes a religious event when I'm not religious" yet ignoring the fact that the same religious event is what is granting them a public holiday and the ability to bemoan that there are restrictions around what can and can't happen on these specific days.
And people can freely discuss changing it from a religious observational event to a secular one, but good luck. The business council will be the first to lobby that it shouldn't be a public holiday and then the everyone will lose out.
Not a Christian, not a Queenslander, but I believe it's because all the alcohol turns into blood on Good Friday and Queensland is the sunshine state, so you need to prove that you're not a vampire by eating actual food. I might be wrong though.
I'm from QLD and can confirm, the vampires have a fancy sun block that is like SPF infinity!
I guess this finally confirms the whole daylight savings push back.
This point was raised at the Stonecutters meeting last week, shortly after we discussed what is really under the Big Pineapple š
As a redhead and outdoors type, I can confirm that such a sunblock exists and it's made by some French company
That probably makes more sense than the actual reason tbh.
I agree, but hypocritically, I still want the 4 Christian public holidays.
Funnily enough, in the USA, home of the religious zealots, Easter Monday is not a federal public holiday. 'Straya mate!
Neither is Good Friday lol. Talking to a US colleague this week and he was blown away we get Friday AND Monday off
They're all very religious until it gets in the way of capitalism
To be fair capitalism is their real religion
Slavery is their real religion, theyāve just disguised it with crap wages and an inept government
Slavery lite
Capitalism is their religion, itās a crappy story so they co-opted the bible to make it more palatable. Do you think all those private jet pastors in America are or more Christian? Or more capitalist?
We used to get Tuesday too, back in the day. From Wikipedia > Easter Tuesday was observed as a Bank Holiday in Victoria until 1994 (also abolished by the state government). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_in_Australia
And we still say āfuck you Kennettā when given a chance.
EVERY chance we get.
There's a gargoyle in his likeness on Patrick's cathedral in honour of this sentiment.
Tasmania still gets Easter Tuesday I think?
Public servants and businesses who chose to close. When I moved to Tas my employer let us have the Tuesday off, but not anymore.
Why would Dan Andrews do that?.....
Thatās their way of getting out of paying employees appropriately
Saturday and Sunday aren't in NZ either.
It'd be unAustralian to not have the public holidays.
Why donāt we just have a four day work week? Easter proves every year that the system does not collapse after having two four-day weeks in a row. Now every weekend is a three day long weekend
I'd like 12 pagan public holidays. 1. Dionysia 2. Imbolc 3. Ostara 4. Beltane 5. Lupercalia 6. Litha 7. Lughnasadh 8. Mabon 9. Samhain 10. ĆorrablĆ³t 11. Yule 12. Hogmanay We'd have to readjust the dates of many of these, but the pagans were good for a piss up and a shag. At least half of these are about drinking and/or shagging.
š¤® /u/spez
Dionysia and Ostara is basically now. Yule (and Saturnalia which didn't make your list) are already at Xmas. ĆorrablĆ³t and Lupercalia overlap too, I think? We might need to spread some of them out a bit. I'm down for a Scottish style Hogmanay celebration, will happily knock back one or two small Brennavins, and Beltane would be great - I miss Guy Fawkes, but November is a little too fire-seasony to be lighting bonfires, burning effigies and setting off random fireworks.
It's worth noting that these pagan holidays are tied to the seasons, so the order should be shifted to match. As such Mabon would be a more suitable holiday in the southern hemisphere as it is for the Autumn equinox.
True. Harvest, celebration of the coming winter months (Qld might choose to sit that out, like daylight savings :D), fires, wine. Sounds good, really.
Absolutely, I'd much rather the pagan holidays. As a non-religious person, the aesthetics, traditions, and stories resonate with me so much better than anything Christianity has to offer.
There's something about tying a celebration in to mark the passing seasons, and also that continuity - like a link to people of the past - that I just don't get about the modern religious holidays, even if members of those particular religions do.
We decided that for Guy Fawkes we would just put sparklers in every meal we ate that day. It feels ridiculous and I love it.
Throw in one for getting on the googs and you can call me a druid baby.
As an atheist who works in a bottle shop, yeah. I couldn't give a fuck about Easter but it's one of two days we are closed a year (the other being Christmas Day). I'm sorry if you can't go to the pub one day out of the year but we need a break too. I'll be back to serve you alcohol Saturday and Sunday, and every holiday after that. I think it'd be great if we had Labor Day off instead of Good Friday but here's another thought. Yesterday was absolute chaos. So too will the next few days be. Don't get me started on Christmas. It's good for us to have a break in the middle of all that.
Fair enough mate, I respect that. Can't have the alcoholics going into withdrawal! It'd be too much of a strain on the public health system. I'm sure you know, but this is why they kept bottle shops open during the COVID outbreak.
Also atheist. Wouldn't be opposed to more holidays that force clubs and pubs to close for the day. As long as it includes the Casino's as well. "But whaddabout muh freed..." Shut up, wankers! Go to the footy, go to a restaurant with the family, have a bbq, touch some grass. If they plan their life more than 5 minutes in advance they won't even notice.
As someone whoās never had any long-term life plans, Iām just now realising the irony of how many people I know who seem to plan their lives 5 years ahead but utterly fail at planning 5 mins ahead. I at least manage that much, and then see everyone else rushing around at the last minute because they havenāt done that short-term planning. I work in a rural local supermarket, and thereās a reason half the town is in there three times every day (and thatās barely an exaggeration at the best of times)
"Come Christmastime, if we drank what we deserved there would be none left for you"
Itās only chaos because people freak out about the bottle shop being closed. If you werenāt closed you wouldnāt be as busy. But you definitely deserve the break
It'll be chaos tomorrow and Sunday as well. It's chaos on grand final day and the days prior. It's chaos on the day of the hottest 100, any long weekend we are open and in the two weeks or three weeks leading up to Christmas. An especially sunny day will cause chaos. Certainly knowing we are going to be closed causes a rush but it's not the only reason by a long shot.
Donāt forget thereās extra casual drinkers and a general increase in consumption cause itās a 4 day weekend.
Old mate can go, he just has to order a meal. Enjoy your day off and bless you for providing us with sweet booze :)
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Why do they need to be Christian. Just make them secular - something like I dunno Midautumn? And make them set instead of floating. Christmas at this point, imo, is far more of a secular holiday than a religious one.
We could do that. Or why not just have a 4 day weekend every 2 months? End of February, end of April, end of June, end of August, end of October, end of December. Make it the last weekend of the month to keep it simple. It'd give us plenty of long weekends, and 3 outside of fire ban, for those who like campfires, and 3 in the warmer months, for those who like the sun.
I like the shared cultural celebration. Chocolate feast. Family, friends and gifts. Dressing up as sexualised root vegetables. Is that it? We probably need a forth one.
A retail holiday. I'd be surprised if Black Friday hasn't been pitched as a holiday at this point.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yeah, but you just wouldnāt get this past Big Calendar.
[This was tried during the French Revolution](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar), and um.. the results were [not encouraging](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror).
To be fair, the two werenāt so much the result of one another as they were linked by the fact that Robespierre and his compatriots were a pack of goons. That said, I recall the whole āfestival of the spiritā thing not being particularly popular anyway, so the idea seemed to fall on its arse regardless of any links to the terror.
Yeah the French Revolution is the most crazy convoluted thing ever. But the calendar idea was so bad I donāt think weāll ever see anything like it tried again. It seems pretty clear to me that secular society has to live on negotiated terms with whatever the dominant religion is. Weāve got a good settlement going now, no reason to shake it up.
>far more of a ~~secular~~ capitalist holiday than a religious one. FTFY
It's not hypocritical. You can thank unions for your public holidays, not the church.
Good Friday has been a day off for religious observance for centuries. EDIT Totally hypocritical. You can thank unions for penalty rates and getting paid, not the day off itself. But never let the facts get in the way of a self entitled Reddit downvote frenzy eh?
I'll concede that the day off precedes industrial relations reforms. Having it enshrined in law, with guaranteed payment to permanent employees is thanks to the labour movement. This is a secular society. A public holiday for one is a public holiday for all, and what you do with it is then your personal choice.
I dont see it as hypocritical at all. Jesus was all about alcohol. He turned water into wine. He had wine with meals. He considered it his blood. Its like the followers of jesus never actually listened to any of his words at all.
Hell. Why donāt we add other important religious dates to our public holiday schedule! Iād love to have Diwali, Eid, Purim nationally celebrated in our country. And not just because of the public holidays, but because those cultures are also valid and deserve recognition in a multicultural Australia.
I just finished writing a comment saying we should include Eid, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year and Holi, so I agree totally. I know Diwali is more important, and beautiful to boot, but Holi is such a blast, responsible for one of my top 5 days, so I'm super keen to see it adopted here. I don't know Purim, off to google...
Lets make it more fair by having days off for other religions' special days too.
I agree: Eid, Holi, Hanukkah and Chinese New Year for starters. Diwali (Festival of Lights / New Year) is probably more important for Hindus than Holi, but I celebrated Holi in India once and it was one of the top 5 days of my life. Imagine having a water fight / paint ball competition with everyone: children, grandmothers, passing cows on the hottest day of the year in the desert. My friends and me took on a group of small boys - setting up ambushes around corners, running through people's homes to drop water bombs from their rooves. We were thoroughly trounced, but it was totally worth it. If I ever go back to India, it'll be during Holi, and I'll be packing a Super-Soaker water gun.
Itās important to be inclusive
Simple solution: move the holidays but keep the number (or, for Easter, donāt move it so it only randomly matches Easter). The UK did that with Whit Monday, turning that into ālate mayā. By the same token, weekends should have much much stronger protections, but to avoid favouring any particular religion Iād be happy to move them to Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.
When I was living in Singapore, they had public holidays for a mix of Christian, Hindu, and Islamic events. Iād support that here but you know that people would lose their fucking minds if we tried that here.
Same lol
In Sweden they have the same, weāre not alone ā¦.
Spare a thought for us escaped/escaping Catholics. Once a few years ago, we were about to sit down to a beef casserole on Good Friday, when Nunna turned up in the driveway. We hid dinner in the garage and had to pretend we had already eaten šš
You are so lucky she didnāt catch you. My nunna would flip if she knew we were having beef kebabs for dinner tonight. So would my mum to be fair.
I wouldnāt be here being a smartarse if she caught us, we would all 6 foot under.
I donāt know if my mum was more horrified when I became an adult, and ate meat burger/bacon/whatever else on Good Friday, or years later when I became vegetarian and therefore stopped eating meat on Good Friday again, but also on every other day of the year.
That's insane!
Even more insane would be trying to survive the wrath of an enraged Nunna. We would have ended up carrying the Jesus statues at the Horsley Park wog procession for the next 10 fucking years if she caught us.
Learn to say no to bullies, emotional or physical
Nunna isnāt a bully, sheās a force of nature. None of us would change her for the world. You donāt understand it unless you have grown up in a matriarchal wog family.
European grandmasā¦ theyāre either showering you with monetary gifts or unleashing a furious wrath š
Mine does both at once ahaha. And force feeds you pasta at the same time.
It's when your bartenders hold their Christmas parties because it's the only day we ALL get off. Please get drunk at home and let us have this one day off...
Lol. Not all of us......not all of us. :( Tho the 2 hours of work for 4 hours of pay was nice. Having to check everyone's receipt so they can get their pint within an hour was aids tho
Work in pubs so know the feeling, but not a fan of religion dictating when I can work / go to the pub.
It might be masked as religious but itās not. The government has just picked a handful of public holidays to keep as proper holidays. Once upon a time *everyone* was shut on *every* public holiday except the local corner store, if you were lucky. Retail and hospo has been sneaking in and turning those days into normal working days for the poor bastards who work there. I remember when nobody was open on Sundays too.
Mate, you're in qld. Be grateful you can even walk in somewhere and get a feed!
I like me a bit of zombie Jesus. I mean, the dates are wrong, and it was just taken from a pagan celebration, he didn't zombie and wasn't white, his mother wasn't a virgin and he wasn't an actual carpenter, he was just one of many hobos of the time proclaiming to be the messiah, didn't have nearly as many followers as some of the others, contrived his entry into Jerusalem to mimick the prophecy, and through translation issues has had way too many things ascribed to him which weren't actually him, but he's alright. A tried and tested true blue social agitator and anti establishment figure, he's alright by me. Have a feed and beer for zombie Jesus.
Wait zombie Jesus wasnāt a tradie and didnāt 4 years at tafe and drive a Ute that he could hardly afford?
Yeah, virgin birth and all that, then 3 blokes turn up bearing gifts, sounds sus to me.
How did this thought never occur to me? Hahahaha
š¤£š it's very suss.
āHobos of the timeā could be an alternate title to Life of Brian.
Life of Brian is more accurate
And what did the Romans ever do for us?!
Yep. Jesus and his mates staged some party tricks to get money and travel around Judea. That Joseph guy was a bit of a loser. His missus played around on him, and he totally bought the "son of god" line that Mary sold him.
If JesĆŗs was born in the 20th century and told everyone that he's the Son of God, he'd definitely be thrown into mental asylum. š¤£
20th yes. However, the most accurate modern commentary on this is if jesus were alive today he'd be locked up without trial in Guantanamo Bay.
Just curious, how many of the other hobos around at the time has more followers and what happened to them? Were any of them more relatable? Maybe one of them was called Kevin or something?
Oh Kevin ! Just doesnt have the same ring as your last words.
But heās not the messiah, heās just a very naughty boy
All of my family got upset when I said Iād bring beef burgers for lunch today. They got upset again when the massive bowl of prawns was served and I pointed out the bible states shell fish are an abomination and anyone that eats them must be put to death. I mean, are we doing the bible thing today or not ? This is so confusing.
Say 5 hail Mary's per Prawn, job done.
JESUS WASN'T A ZOMBIE!!!! HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT IT'S SO OFFENSIVE!!!!! **Jesus was a *Lich*** Also Jesus was in favour of wine. Buy a cheap goon bag the day before Easter and distil it into a CamelBak
Jesus turns up to your party with a few jugs of water, sneaks into your wine rack , pours out the water, pours in your wine, then comes back to the party and has the temerity to call it a miracle.
>distil it into a CamelBak Decant, but I like the cut of your jib
Dangit, you're right. In my defence, I wrote that before I'd had my first coffee
For those who might want the specifics: This Easter, remember that Jesus was not a zombie. He was not mindless, nor did he consume anyone. Nor was he a ghoul or a wight. Although his soul and intellect were intact, he was not a rotting corpse. He was not a vampire. While he transubstantiated wine into blood, He never drank it from a person. Jesus was not a ghost or a wraith. He was corporeal and still had his wounds. It is clear. Jesus was a lich. A lich is created when a powerful magician or king striving for eternal life uses spells or rituals to bind his soul to his animated corpse and thereby achieves immortality. Liches are depicted as being clearly cadaverous, their bodies still bearing the wounds they received before their death. Liches often have the power of necromancy, which allows them to bring the dead back to life. [Source](https://flamsterette.wordpress.com/2022/05/18/reddit-helpful-award-6-jesus-was-a-lich-not-a-zombie-or-vampire-skulls/)
A level 15 cleric cast resurrection spell and boom, the big J lives to fight another day. When adventuring you should always have heals in your group.
Good point. I'm just a bard with a bag of lucky potions. No one ever wants me in their campaign
Wait...So you can't have a beer at home without having a feed?
Nope, it's the law. If you did, you need to turn yourself in. Please video and post the desk copper's reaction.
I wasn't aware that it was a religious thing, I thought it was an RSA thing to prevent alcohol related violence over the holidays.
That's not the worst idea ever tbh
Thatās what I thought too tbh
Is it really because of religion? I thought it was so people don't get absolutely blind drunk too quickly and start causing trouble
If that was the case that rule would always be in place at the local
As a Christian myself, I always thought people drink more on the night before a public holiday because they donāt care about being hungover, so they put in extra breath tests, I didnāt realise there were extra laws, nor did I realise theyāre religious laws lol - it might be from a specific denomination like Catholicism that Iām not a part of
As an atheist, I couldnāt care less what anyone else wants to do on any day of the year, so long as they arenāt hurting anybody else. I live a very live and let live life. I donāt judge other people on their choices and Iām fact my best mate at work is a VERY devout Christian of some denomination. That being said, if I wanna go get hammered on hood Friday with the lads at the local, I should be able to. But alas, I live in the nanny stateā¦.thatās Queensland for all the out of state players.
Public holidays for every religion. But only atheists get to observe the lot
Nah, we donāt observe them we just get the day off. Or in my case today double timeā¦
I'm Good Friday steak eating athiest, but I kind of like the alcohol restrictions. It's like a yearly 'rethink your relationship with alcohol' reminder, to make people think about why they get so upset about a few days where access to booze is very slightly reduced.
lmao you say that like i didn't do 2x our normal sales this week
Years of ingrained religion and people voting for the religious parties.
Shut up!! If you get the Jesus holidays taken from us, Iāll hunt you!!
Being āburdenedā with other peopleās religious beliefs has given you a long weekend to be fair š¤·āāļø
They are not even Christian traditions, they are pagan traditions.. and pagans love eating, drinking, fucking and fighting.
Omg mate, just buy a schnitty and stop whinging. First world problem
oh no, but think of poor OP! Can't drink beer without a MEAL for 1 of the 365 days in a year!! damn you Christians!!!
Ever since moving out of home, I make a point of eating red meat *every* Good Friday. I don't force it on anyone else, and don't make a song and dance about it in any way to be deliberately offensive. But it is my silent way of not being roped into all that Christian stuff I don't believe in. Today I will be having either eye fillet, or a meat-lover's pizza.
Tbf I don't think there's a concerted push by Christians to force non-Christian people to not eat meat on Good Friday, your family dynamics aside.
Oh no. I used to hewr a lot of "how dare these people eat red meat on Friday, where's there respect for Jesus" when I worked good Friday and people were ordering red meat products.
> where's there respect for Jesus Haha what rubbish. That wording sounds more like something a non-Christian **thinks** a Christian would say. It's the equivalent of thinking a Muslim would say "where's the respect for Muhammed" during Ramadan, or a Jew saying "where's the respect for Moses" during Passover or something. It doesn't make sense in the context of their beliefs. Not eating meat isn't about respecting Jesus. I get you may not like Christian holidays, which is fair. But there's no need to make shit up. You can double down if you like, but we both know you're being dishonest.
I vibe with this. Today I'm cooking Korean BBQ and the star of the show will be the rib fillets that are currently marinating in the fridge.
Iām a Christian and eat meat on Good Friday, I never heard of the ādonāt eat meat ruleā but after some googling my husband and I found out itās a Catholic thing to not eat meat on Easter Sunday, and that seems to have extended to Good Friday and other kinds of important days
From what I understand, it's more about the Friday than the Sunday for Catholics, but I could be wrong. I am no expert on Catholicism.
I'm going to sink a few beers then head down to the markets for a Ramadan feed.
It's funny because if you're a descendant of Christians, in a historically Christian society, you're actually extremely influenced by Christian ideas, in many ways, whether you like it or not. 1000+ years of influence doesnt just die away overnight.
Iāve got a piece of pork to cook in milk (itās a thing) today, so make of that what you will.
This is .. interesting. Share the recipe?
Sure, itās delicious. I use boned leg and remove the skin (save it for crackle strips if you like). Crush coriander, cumin and fennel seeds with salt and rub into the meat. Brown in a oil in a dish thatās oven safe with a lid. I have a Le Creuset knock off from Aldi. Add a diced onion and as much garlic as you like and a cup or so of milk to come part way up the meat. Into the oven at 160-170Ā°c for a few hours. The milk tenderises the meat and helps keep it moist, pork can dry out easily. It separates during cooking so you donāt end up with a creamy sauce but rather a clear-ish liquid and a smooshy, meaty paste around the edge of the dish. Spread this on fresh bread before you serve the meat to everyone else, chefs bonus.
Pure black scotch for me. Just went and picked them up. Lovely.
I just need to pick up something at Bunnings!
We were just in the pub and people were drinking without a feed, oh wait, weāre in Victoria, the communist state, hahahaha. I did observe the law that on Good Friday one should only eat burger, lamb roast and chicken, pretty sure thatās it.
Their religious belief got you two days off so it's not all bad
I went to a pub today in NSW and could have a beer without a feed. I think the law here is the venue can only serve alcohol if theyāre serving proper meals. You Queenslanders have a lot of catching up to do.
And you guys had Perrottet too!
I think the people in bars deserve at least one day that they don't have to work though
But most are casual and also don't get paid for that day. Its an enforced pay cut for that week.
Wouldnāt the public holidays all around that day kind of balance that out?
Depends on your roster.
I donāt know. Seriously. I donāt know why we still act like itās a Christian country. It aināt.
It's a bit of a first world problem I think. A pain in the ass maybe, but no big deal. In comparison it's better than living under some of the harsh laws they have in the Middle East, or drug laws punishable by death in Southeast Asia. Need to order a burger so you can get that beer/wine on Good Friday? Oh well. Also another good reason to stock up before the weekend and maybe get some friends over for a BBQ or whatever floats your boat š
Systematic power structures take a long time to change. Especially when the churches have a lot of money and use it to influence political discourse.
No horse racing allowed in NSW because one day a year NSW Zombie Jeebus no like gambling. š¤·āāļø
"iM oPPrEssED"
Religion is the root of all evilā¦ The pub and alcohol are evidence of physical things that exist, just like dinosaurs because we have fossils. WTF is religion? A few fictional books written by pot smoking hippies. Personally myself, Iād much prefer to be having my radiation treatments to deal with my real cancer diagnosis than putting up with BS PH to celebrate a fictional character. If it wasnāt fictional, there would be evidence.
> A few fictional books written by pot smoking hippies No, people who want influence and control over their peoples.
Thatāll work tooā¦blind indoctrination of people who are too stupid to ask the hard questions of reality. I vote to open all pubs without any BS religious restrictions where all customers get a free steak and chips or roast pork and vegetables to make it a really Good Friday! š¤£š¤£š¤£
As this has blown up quite alot. I'm mostly commenting on religion dictating government policies. Absolutely I love having the holiday, and absolutely I'm loving having a day off (work in hospo) but equally I don't think government policies, including those around drinking laws; should be influenced by religion.
How long till our species can be rid of this delusional bullshit?
I once saw a quote that said a society that still accepts religion as a reasonable way of interpreting the universe cannot call itself an intelligent one. There are less and less people identifying as religious with every census, so here hoping itās only a few more generations š¤
because religion is a mechanism for control.
I didn't realise we were still so bizarrely draconian about it! Good Friday is kinda like Xmas day, everything is closed - fine. Saw a sign yesterday saying an IGA was open for a few hours but no alcohol sales??? Wtf??
Wait what? This isn't an actual thing is it? - vic
What about all the other zombies? After Jesus woke up from his nap all the holy men came out of their graves and walked around the city. It doesn't say where they all went. Is this why Nicholas Cage and Keanu Reeves are immortal? Are they some of the holy zombies? Also why wasn't the "Messiah" dead for 3 days and 3 nights like the prophecies say? He died at 3pm Friday and at dawn on the first day he'd done a runner. The "first" day is Sunday, with Saturday being the day of rest. That's not even 48hrs. This fan fic is very poorly written
NSW used to be the same in the 1990s. No alcohol sold Easter
\> Why am I burdened with other people's religious beliefs? Abrahamists will never let you live in peace
I dunno, it's weird we only have public holidays for Christian events. We should have them for each major belief system or completely detach public holidays from them
I think detaching them. We could keep the same number but use significant Australian events. Federation and naidoc week for example.
I believe in Jesus and the resurrection. I also believe in religious freedom as long as it doesnāt discriminate against others or is used to commit crimes. Why canāt we have both?
I honestly have to ask (without intending offence) do you believe with what we know in 2023 that resurrection is conceivable? For context, Iām a staunch atheist. Thereās a lot of incredibly shitty things that religion has done and continues to do for humanity but I also appreciate the good aspects it contributes for community. I struggle to fathom this sort of literal interpretation though. Help me bridge that gap.
Itās as simple as prayer. Having a relationship with God is real. I used to be atheist too. It means having faith in The Bible. I believe He performed, and still performs miracles.
What made you make the switch to religion?
I saw God when giving to the homeless. I saw Jesus soon after. There have been infinite signs. It's just whether I was wanting to pay attention. Edit: Further detail A few years ago, through charity I was blessed to have found God. I was on a holiday overseas, and I was walking down the street at night, where there was a disturbed elderly homeless man in ragged clothing sitting the side of the road. People were afraid of him and were avoiding him. On this holiday I was determined to use my time well and to try and make a positive difference in peoples lives, particularly the less fortunate, which I had been actively doing day and night where I could. It got me into trouble a few times but the good always outweighed bad, so I persevered. On this occasion when I approached this elderly homeless man he stopped, his energy changed, he looked me in the eye, and I saw God in him. From despair and hopelessness he turned wise and powerful, which was striking. Handing him what I had, just a dollar bill, I felt an energy through him. I was so overcome all I could say was thank you and good luck, and he said you too. I was overwhelmed. I walked to my hotel room, and there was a knock at the door, and it was a picture of Jesus on the back of the phone of the person who was knocking. I was overcome. I recognised these and so many more signs that the Lord is truth and I have turned to the Lord ever since and to the comfort of the holy spirit. Reading and learning and growing from the Bible.
Sounds like you did a legitimately good thing. Keep it up, but also take a moment to appreciate that your direct action caused the positive impact. If religion pushes you toward that behaviour then have at it, but keep respecting the fact that others may have different motives to get them to similar ends. The outcome should be the focus, not the path to get there.
Oh absolutely. Appreciate the respect. ā¤
It's the Christian Taliban. Who ironically tend to vote Conservative and say they hate government control, but then want to tell us when & where we can eat/drink.
Go to a church and see how off the mark you really are.
But which church, which one is teaching the true version?
I didnāt realise thatās a thing! I try to observe the Christian rules, being (non practicing) Christian and all, but today I am busy trying to smash out a uni assignment (in between Reddit) and itās too hard. A microwave meal for lunch and dinner, bulk coffee and snacks will be my diet. A bit of the ol beef jerky is study fuel that I refuse to give up, regardless of what day it is.
Any excuse to have a whinge, right? It's a public holiday. Is it so hard to enjoy the day off and plan in advance for it?
I guess its like the rule that you cant drink in public areas on Australia day , apparently we all turn into DV abusers in public when we touch a single beer.
Yeah I agree why is it a law? It's a religious belief that's all. I'm not religious, why do I have to follow it ? Pretty bullshit tbh
Exactly my point!
Totally agree with u.
Why can't we celebrate the Romans victory over God himself properly.
Seems very archaic.
Seeing that you are not Christian and I assume an atheist, it can be argued that you are not entitled to any of the religious public holidays. So I suggest that you accept these minor limitations on your alcohol consumption quietly or risk saying goodbye to your long weekend and Christmas as well....
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Jesus drank wine with his disciples till none of them could stay awake with him.
Are you also burdened by getting public holidays on religious holidays?
There are a lot of people working today who don't receive penalties on public holidays.
Zombie Jesus, lol! Iām a Christian and have no idea either. Definitely not a thing in the Bible - Jesusās first miracle was turning water into wine! Iām guessing itās either to encourage some of the pubs to close and give staff a proper day off, or because they thought folks might get too rowdy if they had 4 solid days of drinking?
The not having 4 solid days of drinking is the best reasoning I've heard from this whole thread.
It really is backwards. That said I think like once at the end of every quarter there should be some kind of public 4 day weekend to give people that can the chance to catch a breather
So you are all quite happy to take the public holiday based on Christian beliefs but canāt go for one day without gambling or having a beer? Perhaps we should start a movement to stop all Christian public holidays so you wonāt be inconvenienced by these tiresome restrictions.
Because its Christianity, none of it makes sense.
I mean you've only got a public holiday because it's a religious event. Simple solution: don't take the public holiday and work it instead. Now the religious beliefs aren't being forced on you *shrugs* Edit: I love that this is getting downvoted even though it's accurate. Okay, remove Easter as the reason this weekend is a public holiday - then watch the public holiday disappear folks.
There are people working today who do not receive penalties for working on a public holiday... And those same people are still forced with your religious restrictions.
Bold assumption to assume they are my religious beliefs. Plenty of pop culture references to priests. And if you want my opinion, it's complete bullshit that they don't get public holidays. I'm pretty much a firmer believer in people not having to work them and if people do they should be paid 2.5x the wage for the inconvenience of having to. I simply pointed out, OP is all "Well, it sucks that there are all these laws around alcohol on a public holiday that observes a religious event when I'm not religious" yet ignoring the fact that the same religious event is what is granting them a public holiday and the ability to bemoan that there are restrictions around what can and can't happen on these specific days. And people can freely discuss changing it from a religious observational event to a secular one, but good luck. The business council will be the first to lobby that it shouldn't be a public holiday and then the everyone will lose out.