It’s Thursday, Dec. 29, in Samoa. But tomorrow is New Year’s Eve.
Time travel? No.
The 186,000 citizens of Samoa will skip Friday, jumping straight into Saturday by matter of law. There’ll be no Dec. 30 for them as the nation jumps west of the international date line into a new time zone.
That will bring it in line with trading partners New Zealand and Australia, which are nearly a full day ahead.
Samoa’s prime minister, Tuila’epa Sailele Malielegaoi, said the change will strengthen its trade and economic links.
"In doing business with New Zealand and Australia, we’re losing out on two working days a week," Tuila’epa said. "While it’s Friday here, it’s Saturday in New Zealand, and when we’re at church on Sunday, they’re already conducting business in Sydney and Brisbane."
American Samoa, just east of Samoa, will not undergo the change.
Most Samoans in Hawaii have connections in American Samoa, said local community leader Gus Hannemann.
"I don’t think it’s going to affect people here," he said.
The time shift will be marked by the ringing of church bellsacross the two main islands, and prayer services in all the main churches of the devoutly Christian nation.
The government will also host a service for guests and dignitaries.
Under a government decree, those scheduled to work Friday will get paid for the nonexistent day.
So far, only Samoa’s small Seventh-day Adventist Church has indicated a major problem. Its congregation traditionally holds Sabbath celebrations Friday night through Saturday.
About 180,000 Samoans live in New Zealand, 15,000 in Australia and tens of thousands live in the United States.
It’s not the first time the calendar has lost days. In switching from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in 1752, Britain and its colonies lost the days between Sept. 2 and Sept. 14.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
