Repentance Day is intended to be a day of Christian prayer when people would come together in church to pray and ask for forgiveness. 

The holiday was first established by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill shortly after he became Prime Minister in 2011. 

It was made a public holiday at the request of a group of churches, who had lobbied O’Neill’s predecessor, Sam Abal. 

The date has no obvious religious or historical significance, though at the time, Pastor Jack Edward from the Shema Evangelism Ministry, the Repentance Day co-ordinator, said that public holiday is observed on what was an annual, informal day of prayer. 

Papua New Guinea undoubtedly considers itself a religious country with 95% of the population saying they were Christian in the 2011 census, with 70% of those following Protestant denominations.