Brazil enjoys a holiday as World Cup party begins
Print Edition
BRAZILIAN authorities have augmented the country’s long list of public holidays during the World Cup to let the football-loving country enjoy the tournament and also cut down on traffic problems.
Brazil is known for its generous number of public holidays.
There are nine national holidays every year, not an exceptionally large number. But those are supplemented by seven “optional” holidays granted at employers’ discretion.
Some of those apply to certain professions, such as Teachers’ Day, Commerce Day and Civil Servants’ Day in October.
Then there are the state and municipal holidays.
In Rio de Janeiro, whose residents are known for their laid-back approach to life, there are three local holidays: Saint Sebastian Day, Saint George Day and Black Consciousness Day.
Other local holidays remember events such as the founding of towns, colonial massacres and a conflict known as the Ragamuffin War. The World Cup has taken the phenomenon to a whole new level.
When FIFA demanded Brazil pass a wide-ranging “General Law of the Cup” regulating the organization of the tournament, Brazilian legislators used the occasion to add some more holidays in between provisions on trademark protection and special visas.
The law, passed in 2012, provides for an afternoon off every day that Brazil has a match, as well as a holiday for host cities every time they host a game.
Critics of the decision to spend a record US$11 billion on the World Cup say the days off are just another way to hide the country’s overburdened transport systems and infrastructure problems.
Many schools have also started their July vacations in June to let students take part in the World Cup party.
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