SAMOA, a small country in South Pacific and its neighbour, Tokelau, yesterday moved into December 31, 2011, the last day of the year as Nigeria and other nations observed December 30.
By crossing westward over the international dateline to align themselves with their trading partners in the region, the two countries would not observe today (Friday) in their calendars. But their lucky workers would still get their pay for the day as the government has agreed to include the day's wage in their salaries.
According to agency reports, at the stroke of midnight yesterday, time in Samoa and Tokelau leapt forward to December 31 - New Year's Eve. For Samoa's 186,000 citizens, and the 1,500 in Tokelau, Friday, December 30, 2011 (today), will simply cease to exist.
Samoa's Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, explaining the change, said: "In doing business with New Zealand and Australia, we're losing out on two working days a week.
"While it's Friday here, it's Saturday in New Zealand and when we're at church Sunday, they're already conducting business in Sydney and Brisbane."
The time jump back to the future comes 119 years after some United States (U.S.) traders persuaded local Samoan authorities to align their islands' time with nearby U.S. controlled American Samoa and the U.S. to assist their trading with California.
But the time zone has proved problematic in recent years, putting Samoa and Tokelau nearly a full day behind neighbouring Australia and New Zealand, their major trading partners.
In a bid to remedy that, the Samoan government passed a law in June that will move Samoa west of the international dateline, which separates one calendar day from the next and runs roughly north-to-south through the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Under the decree, all those scheduled to work on the non-existent Friday will be given full pay for the missed day of labour.
The time shift was marked by the ringing of church bells across Samoa's two main islands, and prayer services in all the main churches of the devoutly Christian nation.
The government will also today host a service for invited guests and dignitaries.
Nearby Tokelau, a three-atoll United Nations (UN) dependency, also joined its neighbour in the dateline dance to maintain its alignment with Samoa, three sailing days away, where its administration is based.
Time zones in North America were established by railroad companies in 1883.
The Guardian