An hour less sleep or an hour more for the aperitif? Every year, during the last weekend of March, the time change struggles to get everyone to agree.
If it is indeed an extra hour of sunshine – in the evening – that we will gain, on the night of this Saturday March 25 to Sunday March 26 in France, you should know that the dates of these time differences are not not the same in Europe and North America. across the Atlantic, especially in Canada and the United States, the transition to summer time took place on the night of Saturday 11 to Sunday 12 March. However, the origin of these time changes in spring and autumn is common to both continents.
For us, the first idea of a time change dates back to 1784 and was suggested by Benjamin Franklin. The inventor, politician and Founding Father of the United States, then Ambassador to France, published an anonymous letter in the Journal de Paris, in which he advised to advance the hour of getting up during the summer, in order to save energy. Although this request is a hoaxsome took it literally.
First page of Benjamin Franklin’s letter, published in the Journal de Paris in 1784 and published in French translation, mentioning for the first time the possibility of shifting schedules in order to save energy. | via Wikimedia Commons
The idea ran out of steam before being brought up again during the First World War. In times of war, resources are precious and become scarce. This is why in April 1916, Germany is the first to take the step and introduce daylight saving time. By gaining an extra hour of light in the evening, the country saves its oil and coal resources, by switching on the lights several tens of minutes later.
The United Kingdom quickly followed in May 1916, then it was France’s turn in 1917. The following year, the United States in turn joined the movement, which they called the «daylight saving time». But these will apply it only in time of war (in 1918 and from 1942 to 1945), until an adoption for good in 1966.
When Golf Clubs and Grills Pressure
More than a century after the first experiments – and, in France, an abandonment in 1945 then a return in 1976 following the first oil crisis – the change of time is now established in European and northern habits. Americans. For now. But therefore, with a two-week beat between the two continents, when it comes time to set your watch on summer time.
While Europe makes this change the last weekend in March, North America gains an extra hour of sunshine the second weekend in March, and won’t lose it until the first weekend in November. a week after us.
However, this difference has not always been present. When the measure was reintroduced on both sides, the dates of time changes were similar in Europe and North America until 1986. But the United States decided to make changes, under the impetus from several trade lobbies.
The cliché of the American who grills a good piece of meat on his well-trimmed lawn, a cowboy hat on his head, is perhaps not that far from reality. Because it is indeed the barbecue lobby, very present in the United States, which influenced the transition to summer time two weeks earlier than in Europe, in the mid-1980s.
“At the time, the barbecue industry touted that an extra month of DST meant $200 million in additional barbecue and charcoal sales for them”, develops Michael Downingtime change specialist and author of the book Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Timepublished in 2005.
But meat lovers aren’t the only ones asking the United States Congress for a change. The golf lobby is he also came to support the request at that time, by assuring parliamentarians that an extra hour of sunshine in the evening for a month would bring “An additional $400 million in club sales and club registrations”.
The promise of increased turnover for several commercial sectors convinced Congress and new legislation was passed in 1986. Chambers of commerce and supermarkets also showed their supportthe latter having insisted on the fact that Americans prefer to shop when it is still daylight after work.
A time change or a spell
Daylight saving time is not the only one to have received the wrath of major US pressure groups. In 2005, it was winter time that was the subject of a new shift request, so that it only returned a week later. This time, the barbecue and golf giants have nothing to do with it: it’s Halloween that is in question.
Overall, the date for switching to winter time occurs on the last weekend of October, systematically before the festive evening of October 31. This detail makes all the difference. The candy industry came to Congress in 2005, arguing that by delaying the change for a week, Halloween could be celebrated during daylight saving time and thus offer children “one more hour of sun to go and collect sweets”, says Michael Downing again.
This new legislation came into force in 2007, after two years of negotiations between the various American trade sectors. The airlines have notably tried to oppose it, declaring that the difference in flight schedules – fixed for years – would cause them to lose several hundred million dollars for this week alone.
But Halloween is a holiday deeply rooted in American culture. Millions of children plan their costume sometimes months in advance and the candy-collecting competition is sacred. It was therefore not rocket science to convince Congress to shift winter time by seven days.
For its part, Canada subsequently aligned with the changes of its neighborAfter a law passed in 2006 and entered into force in 2007. This is to facilitate trade between the two bordering countries. And if the United States were to abandon the time change to keep the summer time, as it has been in the pipes for a vote to this effect by the Senate in March 2022it is likely that Canada would follow suit.
