A few weeks ago–on Sun, Sept 28th–5.3 million Kiwis and I set our clocks ahead an hour as Daylight Saving Time ended and we “sprang forward” into spring.
Yep: Daylight Saving Time is a thing here, too. I was extremely displeased when I found this out.
The first Sunday in November, when we in [most of] the United States “fall back an hour,” has long been my least favorite day of the year. You’re staring down the barrel of an interminably long New England winter, but hey, know what would help? What if we make it so that it’s pitch [expletive] black at 4 PM?
If you are able to picture the level of my excitement at the thought of living in a sane, rational country that didn’t arbitrarily disrupt its citizens’ circadian rhythm twice a year, you can also visualize the level of abject horror I experienced when I found out that they do. They do observe Daylight Saving Time in New Zealand. In fact, Daylight Saving Time was first proposed in 1895 IN. NEW. ZEALAND.
I always assumed that the maddening tradition of changing the time twice a year was a uniquely American thing, but it’s not. In fact, about a third of countries recognize DST.
Here’s a map of countries which observe Daylight Saving Time:
orange = Observes DST around the Southern Hemisphere summer.
Source: Wikipedia.
So yeah, New Zealand does the whole DST thing too. But get this: they observe it in April and September, as opposed to March and November like we do in America. On the first Sunday in April they fall back an hour because it’s going into their winter, and the last Sunday in September they spring ahead an hour because it’s going into their springtime, whereas in the States, we jump ahead an hour on the second Sunday in March as we enter springtime and then fall back an hour on the first Sunday in November when we’re heading into seasonal depression winter.
So loosely speaking–don’t do the math on this–the Eastern Time Zone of the United States, where I’m from, is 18 hours behind New Zealand for about 2.5 months, then 17 hours behind for three weeks (give or take), then 16 hours behind for roughly five months, then looping back to 17 hours behind for like five weeks, and then back to 18 hours behind for the remaining 4-ish or so months of the year (hey, I said don’t do the math).
Does your head hurt yet? Welcome to my world these past five years. Long-distance relationships, both romantic ones and family/friend ones, are hard enough to maintain as it is, let alone 9,300-mile/15,000km-long-distance ones, and then add a whopping 18, 17, 16, 17, or 18 hour time difference which changes four times a goddamned year.
The changing of the clocks a few weeks ago led me to do a deep dive on Daylight Saving Time, which included the discovery that it’s actually “SavinG” time, not SavingS” time. Where did this idea even come from, and why are we still doing it? I’m glad you asked! Let’s go on a Daylight SavinG Time adventure together!
As I mentioned before, the idea for Daylight Saving Time was originally proposed in New Zealand. George Hudson, a British-born entomologist living in NZ at the time, came up with the idea because it would give him more sunlight by which to collect bugs (I swear I’m not making this up). In 1895, he presented a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society proposing a two-hour daylight-saving shift. The idea was well-received, though nothing was actually done about it (so I guess George Hudson isn’t the true villain here, but still, he pitched the idea first). Then a different guy, William Willett, a Brit, living in England this time, independently came up with the exact same idea (what the hell, Brits!!), although his motivating factor for making everyone change their clocks twice a year was not so that he had more time to hunt for insects; it was so that he had more time to play golf. So there you have it: we’re all forced to change our clocks twice a year thanks to a bug nerd and a golf enthusiast.
George Hudson, loser bug nerd (L),
William Willett, selfish golf enthusiast (R)
DST was first implemented in the US with the Standard Time Act of 1918, a wartime measure during World War I in the interest of adding more daylight hours to conserve energy resources. It was repealed the following year, but implemented again during World War II for the same reasons. After WWII, local jurisdictions were free to choose if and when to observe DST, until the Uniform Time Act came along in 1966, which standardized DST. It is therefore a myth that DST was created in the States for the benefit of farmers; in actuality, many farmers have been lobbying against DST since it was first implemented. As stated on Wiki: “The factors that influence farming schedules, such as morning dew and dairy cattle’s readiness to be milked, are ultimately dictated by the sun, so the clock change introduces unnecessary challenges.”
New Zealand, on the other hand, first observed daylight saving in 1927, although the dates on which it occurred, and the amount of time that was changed, varied wildly over the following years. They just could *not* make up their minds about it.
The following timeline comes from the offical NZ gov’t website:
In 1941, New Zealand summer time was extended by emergency regulations to cover the whole year.
In 1946, New Zealand summer time (12 hours in advance of GMT) was adopted as New Zealand standard time. Daylight saving time was effectively discontinued at this point.
In 1974, daylight saving was trialled again, and introduced in 1975. Daylight saving time is 1 hour ahead of New Zealand standard time.
1985 — Public attitudes (pfft, I can tell you what my public attitude would have been) were surveyed and over the next few years the period of daylight saving time was extended twice.
2006-07 — Following public debate and a petition presented to Parliament, the period of daylight saving was extended to its current dates. New Zealand observes daylight saving from the last Sunday in September to the first Sunday in April.
So anyway, yeah: New Zealand has it too.
“Fun” facts about Daylight Saving Time!
- The first implementation of DST was by Port Arthur in Ontario, Canada, in 1908, but only locally, not nationally. The first nation-wide implementations were by the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires, both starting on April 30, 1916.
- Roughly half of all countries have at some point observed Daylight Savings Time. In the past decade alone, about a dozen countries have done away with the practice, including Iran, Namibia, Russia, Turkey, and Uruguay.
- Not every part of every country who observes DST observes DST. Only certain parts of Brazil change their clocks twice a year, and out of the six states and two territories of Australia, two states and one territory do not observe DST. In the States, Hawaii doesn’t change its clocks, all of Arizona except the Navajo Nations doesn’t change its clocks, and Indiana just started changing its clocks in 2006. And 5 of the 16 United States territories don’t observe it (and oh yeah, there are 16 US territories, apparently?).
- Egypt stands out as the only African nation with Daylight Saving Time. It also has the distinction of having ended Daylight Saving in 2014 and then bringing it back again in 2023.
- The Diomede Islands, located in the center of the Bering Straight between Alaska and Siberia, are made up of two islands: Big Diomede, which belongs to Russia, and Little Diomede, which belongs to the United States. The two islands are separated by the International Date Line, so although they are only 2.4 miles apart, Big Diomede (known as “Tomorrow Island”) is 20-21 hours ahead of Little Diomede (nicknamed “Yesterday Island”).
Since I was in daily contact with a certain Kiwi for the approximately 1,280 days that we were long-distance, I became adept at glancing at my watch in the States and knowing exactly what time it was in New Zealand. But my friends and family haven’t had as much practice. So before I left home, I whipped up these handy-dandy reference charts for people to hang on their fridges. Can someone just add “Auckland” to the world clock app on their phones? Obvs. Is it as fun as referencing a cute, lovingly made handmade chart? Pffft.
Here are the cheat sheets I gave people. The teeny tiny font in the bottom right corner explains when the time difference will change four times a year.
In case your brain isn’t full enough:
Back home in the States, Summer Solstice happens on June 20/21 and marks the longest day of the year (that is, the day with the most amount of sunlight). And Winter Solstice, December 21/22, marks the shortest day of the year (the least amount of sunlight). But because Earth’s two hemispheres are topsy turvy from one another, the Northern Hemisphere’s Summer Solstice is the Southern Hemisphere’s Winter Solstice. So while June 20/21 in the Northern Hemisphere is the lightest day it’s the Southern Hemisphere’s darkest one, and while December 21/22 marks the darkest day for the Northern Hemisphere, it marks the lightest day for the Southern Hemisphere.
And a fun mind bender: Stewart’s birthday is in July and mine is in December. We both grew up having wintertime AND summertime birthdays. 🙂🎂🙃
Aroha/love,
Hilary ❤️ 🌎 🕰️
