Saturday, March 29, 2014

Samoa and the International Date Line

In 2011, Samoa moved the International Date Line so that it could be on the same side of the line as Australia and New Zealand. Prior to 2011, Samoa was about one day ahead of those nations. However, this change has not been popular with everyone in Samoa.

The Seventh Day Adventist Church grappled with how to deal with the time change. The Seventh Day Adventists traditionally celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday, but Samoa chose to skip over Saturday, December 30, 2011. In response to this loss of a Sabbath, the church started celebrating the Sabbath on Sundays, rather than Saturday.

Changes in calendars have historically interfered with weekly worship for different faiths. When the world switched to the Gregorian Calendar, which is still used today in most of the world, Christianity and Judaism faced the same problem that the Seventh Day Adventists of Samoa did. Christianity moved its Sabbath worship to Sunday, while Judaism celebrates the Sabbath on Saturdays.

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