Warning to all interested parties: August 15th is approaching. But what is really “August the 15th“? In many ways, it is “that time of the summer“, when practically everyone is on holiday. Shops are empty, and the few people who did not manage to go away will find city centres quite restful. Holiday resorts, on the other hand, are bustling with currents of activity. Writers, like me, find it hard to write, because aside from the drunken antics of holiday-goers, there is very little to write about.

And then of course there is the holiday, the specific day when, across Europe, most people do not go to work: August 15th, which is known as the “Assumption of Mary" in Western Europe, and her "Dormition“ in the East. This day is a national holiday in Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, Austria, Poland and Portugal, and in some regions of Germany, Switzerland and Spain. Liechtenstein, of course, has an altogether different reason to celebrate: this is the principality’s national day. On the whole, a day that seems to be  important across the european continent.

And yet allow us to note that, aside from a religious holiday, August 15th is a fact of life and a cultural given. But it is also an example.

In communication terms, whether one does or does not celebrate the 15^th of August matters little; what does matter is how the existence of this holiday, and any holiday, can impact on the functioning of a business. Of course this year, August 15th falls on a Sunday, and thus its consequences will be inexistant. But on other years, much will revolve around it: who will go on holiday to gain an extra day away, how to shift work so it is done by the deadline and how to adjust to having customers in a different country, who do not have this day off, and will expect some service.

At the individual level, one celebrates for reasons that are personal: either something related to one’s family group, one’s religious persuasion, or one’s socio-ethnic origin. The decision to celebrate something is therefore, in some ways integral to their character and choices. Thus, respecting or disrespecting a person’s holiday has vast implications for the way one will market themselves to others; it will have implications in the dynamics of a team, and may even become the source of conflict. Which is why communicating the existence of a holiday and the need to respect it is something that I, as a writer take seriously.

Therefore, I would like to wish all who celebrate it a happy Assumption, and to all Liechtensteiners, a most cheerful national holiday.