{"id":21029,"date":"2014-02-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/global2020prd.wpengine.com\/insights\/global-working-in-march\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T16:24:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T16:24:43","slug":"global-working-in-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/insights\/global-working-in-march\/","title":{"rendered":"Global working in March"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"carnival\"It\u2019s \u00a0impossible to know what\u2019s going on everywhere, and March is a particularly confusing – and culturally delightful \u2013 month if you celebrate according to any religious calendar, or if you work with someone who does.<\/p>\n

Easter, for example,<\/a> \u00a0is very moveable, according to Church and place. This is confusing enough for people who work in non-Christian cultures\/places, but can really catch you out if you live somewhere that DOES celebrate, thanks to differences in Church calendars. You think you know when Lent starts<\/a>, when Easter is coming until, suddenly, people are celebrating and taking holidays at unexpected times.<\/p>\n

Suffice to say that March, April and early May are times when you can\u2019t afford to take anything \u2013 holiday date wise at least –\u00a0 for granted, and if you work on a global team, it pays to ask very explicitly what holidays will be taken, when.<\/p>\n

Many places use the start of Lent as a time for carnival\/carnaval, and amongst the biggest festivals are: Mardi Gras, celebrated in New Orleans (USA), which is, I’m told, already in the party spirit; the World renowned Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Carnevale in Venice, Italy. Officially falling on February 4, some festivities start on March 4, some will end then. There\u2019s a great list on Wikipedia<\/a>: it makes me sorry I live in England, where we\u2019ll be tossing some pancakes and going to work as normal, missing out on the party. Don\u2019t expect too much from your work colleagues if they\u2019re partying that ferociously!<\/p>\n

For Muslims, Mawlid (Maulid) is being celebrated in many places during March. It is both a cultural and religious festival (already\u00a0<\/span>celebrated by some \u00a0in January).It marks the birthday of the prophet Mohammed and is a public holiday in countries like India and Pakistan, as well as some African states.<\/span><\/p>\n

Early March sees the \u2018Harvest Festival\u2019 (Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia) in Argentina. The country produced around 1.3 billion litres of wine in 2012, so the wine harvest is massively significant to people\u2019s\u00a0 daily lives as well as the economy. Although it\u2019s not marked with a national holiday, it is a time for festivities, and if you have co-workers in the region, expect them to be celebrating,<\/p>\n

Falling in March is Holi \u2013 the festival of colours – is an ancient Hindu religious festival celebrated in many parts of South Asia and beyond, including by non-Hindus. A key element is \u2018forgive and forget\u2019. As it falls in line with the lunar calendar, and people start to gather days beforehand, dates may shift a little according to location. Most people will, however, be celebrating on March 17 this year. In Jaipur (India) it becomes the amazingly colourful Elephant Festival.<\/a><\/p>\n

Also on March 17, Ireland\u2019s workers will be taking time off to celebrate St Patricks Day.<\/p>\n

In South Africa, Human Rights Day is celebrated on 21 March. The date marks the \u2018Sharpeville Massacre\u2019, 21 March 1960, when a protest against the apartheid regime in South Africa ended in at least 69 deaths and changed the country\u2019s political landscape. It\u2019s a national holiday, and, given the relatively recent death of key anti-apartheid figure Nelson Mandela, may hold some special significance this year.<\/p>\n

At the end of the month, Bali, Indonesia, will celebrate New Year. With roots as a Hindu Festival, it sees out the old year with festivities, but New Year\u2019s day, Nyepi, on March 31 sees everything closed, including the airport, and a day of silence on which only emergency services are working, and no-one leaves their home (or hotel). Whilst Bali is relatively small in terms of international business, and wouldn\u2019t normally get a mention in this monthly post, I use it to demonstrate again that just because you\u2019ve celebrated something (New Year) you can’t assume that other people you work with on an international team won\u2019t be celebrating the same thing on a different date, and in a different way.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t usually cover regional holidays in this round up, but it is worth mentioning Australia\u2019s Canberra Day\/ Southern Australia on Monday 10 March \u2013 a public holiday marking the naming of the capital, followed by lots of events across the \u00a0week – not least because it affects our own team.<\/p>\n

Keep an eye on our Twitter feed (@GlobalInteg) <\/a>for some of the other festivals that might interrupt your work, including the Noche de brujas (Night of the Witches), celebrated in parts of Mexico, and Las Fallas in Valencia Spain (a massive festival of fire). Although neither are an official holiday, expected some jaded colleagues.<\/p>\n

I can’resist noting here as well to keep an eye on our blog and social spaces during March as we build up to our official birthday. We’ll be 20 years old on April 1 – a lot has changed in that time!<\/p>\n

Why not…..?<\/h3>\n

With so much happening, Worldwide, it really is impossible to cover every festival or national holiday that may affect your work, especially when you get down to a local level. If you work with international teams, or remotely, why not ask your colleagues when they\u2019ll be taking time off and what for?<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re taking a holiday or celebrating something big this month, don\u2019t forget to let work colleagues in other countries know in advance \u2013 you\u2019ll look organized, \u00a0and they\u2019ll be able to factor it into their own schedules and \u00a0won\u2019t be surprised by a lack of response while you\u2019re away from your desk.<\/p>\n

For help and training to work and lead in a global environment, you can \u00a0our Global Working page may also be useful<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(And if you are celebrating, we wish that the day brings you everything you hope for, and more.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s \u00a0impossible to know what\u2019s going on everywhere, and March is a particularly confusing – and culturally delightful \u2013 month […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","type-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGlobal working in March - Global Integration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s \u00a0impossible to know what\u2019s going on everywhere, and March is a particularly confusing - and culturally delightful \u2013 month if you celebrate according\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/insights\/global-working-in-march\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Global working in March\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s \u00a0impossible to know what\u2019s going on everywhere, and March is a particularly confusing - 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