In mostly Buddhist Ceylon last week, Sunday became just another working day. By act of Parliament, stores and government offices will henceforth close each month on four Buddhist feasts called poya days, corresponding roughly to the phases of the moon. The change amounts to a rejection of the custom of Sunday observance that has been standard in Ceylon since 1815, when the island was a British colony. But it does not really bespeak a trend; elsewhere, surprisingly, Sunday is gaining favor, even among countries that have religious reasons for preferring another...
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