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Source: Office of the Prime Minister (Port of Spain)
Trinidad and Tobago's House of Representatives has passed Order #32 which establishes Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day (March 30) and Indian Arrival Day (May 30) as annual public holidays.
The March 30th public holiday had been announced by Prime Minister, Basdeo Panday, last month (26-Jan-1996), while May 30th had been declared a one-off public holiday in 1995, and there were expectations that it would become an annual public holiday this year.
Note that, in compensation, the Whitmonday and Republic Day public holidays are no longer official public holidays in Trinidad and Tobago, effective this year.
The official reasoning for the removal of Whitsunday is that the aforementioned bill replaces one Christian public holiday with another Christian public holiday, thus causing no offense to the Christian community.
The removal of the Republic Day public holiday is, however, more surprising, at first glance. However, it must be noted that the date of the Republic Day public holiday is kind of a fudge. Trinidad and Tobago became a republic on August 1st, 1976, but as that day was already a public holiday (Discovery Day, later replaced by Emancipation Day), the date chose for this public holiday was that of the birthday of, then Prime Minister, Eric Williams.
Related links:
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Trinidad and Tobago 2012 bank holidays and public holidays (current year)
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Trinidad and Tobago 2013 bank holidays and public holidays (next year)
• Trinidad and Tobago bank holidays and public holidays (news and updates)
• Worldwide
bank holidays and public holidays news updates (February 1996)
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Trinidad and Tobago Declares 2 New Public Holidays