MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands celebrates Peat Cutting Monday with a Public Holiday on October 2nd

Falkland Islanders cutting peat to store and dry at shacks next to homes. Peat for centuries has been the natural fuel to cook and heat homes in the Islands

Monday 2 October is a Public Holiday in the Falkland Islands due to the Peat Cutting Monday. This is when the Falkland Islands celebrate the tradition of Peat Cutting, where people used to go and cut peat cubes to heat their homes for the year.

There are large peat deposits around the Islands, which prove to be an essential supply of fuel to cook and heat up homes. The smell of peat burning is very nostalgic since nowadays homes are heated by kerosene/diesel, very few still cut peat on a Monday.

The holiday with deep traditional roots is celebrated on the first Monday in October every year. In 2002, the Executive Council of the Falklands made it an official public holiday to be celebrated on the first Monday in October every year.

Little peat cutting takes place in modern times, with the Islanders instead using the day to go fishing and camping since October in the Southern Hemisphere signals the beginning og spring, officially marked 23 September in the calendar..