Mark your calendars: There will be 7 long public holiday weekends in Singapore next year, up from 6, following a revision to the date for Vesak Day
next year, up from six, following a revision to the date for Vesak Day which will now fall on a Friday.
The Ministry of Manpower on Thursday said that it has gazetted Jun 2, 2023 as the new public holiday for Vesak Day following the Singapore Buddhist Federation's announcement on the revised date. The previously announced date for Vesak Day was Jun 3, which is a Saturday. In a statement on its website, SBF said that it had earlier advised the Manpower Ministry on the Jun 3 date for Vesak Day, as determined in reference to the Standard Chinese-Western Multi-Year Almanac.
"Upon receiving feedback from members of the public, we have verified the date against other Chinese almanacs and have established that based on the Mahayana tradition, the date of Vesak Day 2023 shall fall on Jun 3, 2023 which coincides with the 15th day of the Fourth Lunar Month," said SBF. The Federation apologised for any inconvenience caused and said that it would conduct additional checks and verifications in future to prevent similar occurrences.As Chinese New Year falls on consecutive days on Sunday, Jan 22 and Monday, Jan 23 next year, they will be part of a single long weekend of four days.