By Yohan Perera

The year 2022 is going to be a year of long weekends as per the calendar.

Accordingly, seven public holidays have fallen on Fridays and Sundays. Full moon Poya holidays of January, April, May, and November have fallen either on Fridays or Mondays while, Thai Pongal, Independence Day and Deepavali have also fallen on Fridays or Mondays.

There is a five-day-long weekend in the Month of April as Sinhala New Year, Poya and Good Friday have fallen in one after the other.

The Poya holidays of September and October, May Day, Haj, May Day and Christmas day had fallen on Sundays. There will be more long weekends if the usual practice of declaring a holiday on following Mondays is carried out.
Holidays have fallen on Fridays and Mondays

Another factor is some public holidays fall on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sri Lankan workers are known to take Mondays and Fridays off whenever public holidays fall on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There can be more long weekends for some if they apply for leave on the extra days when public holidays fall on Tuesdays and Thursdays.