2022-01-17 – I was confused by the holidays today. Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. And it is Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish New Year of the Trees. There is no connection between the two. They just happen to fall on the same day. The next time this will happen will be in 2049. Jewish holidays drift due to the lunar calendar and MLK day drifts due to being a Monday holiday. It’s a rare occurrence.

Being surprised by the holidays means I have to work today. I could have applied one of my “floating holidays” for the day, but I would have had to remember to do that. I’ll have to set up a reminder in my calendar. It probably doesn’t matter, considering that I work in my basement and I would be at the same desk anyway. Whether I’m working or whether I’m on vacay, I’m here.

My recollection of prior years is that we had the day off as a designated holiday (my memory could be wrong, of course). We had Juneteenth off last year. But the trend is to to have several “floating holidays” to let people use them for the holidays that are important to them. I could use my floating holiday for Jewish holidays, if I want. Of course, today is Tu B’Shevat, but in Jewish tradition it’s a minor holiday.

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