Lebanese residents woke up in two "time zones" on Sunday, March 26, amid a tussle between political and religious authorities over when the clocks should be moved forward.
The confusion was caused by the decision of the Lebanese government to postpone the start of summer time by a month, that is, until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Given that some institutions implemented that decision while others refused, many Lebanese found themselves in a position to "juggle" work and school schedules in different time zones, reports the AP agency.
In some cases, the debate took on a sectarian nature, and many Christian politicians and institutions, including the Maronite Church, rejected the move.
Ramadan began on March 22 and ends on April 21.
This Mediterranean country normally moves the clocks forward on the last Sunday in March, which is in line with most European countries. However, on Thursday, the Lebanese government announced the decision of interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati to postpone the start of daylight saving time to April 21.
No reason was given for the decision, but a video of a meeting between Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, leaked to local media, showed Berri asking Mikati to delay the start of daylight saving time so Muslims could break the Ramadan fast an hour earlier.
Mikati replied that he had a similar proposal, but stated that the decision would be difficult because it would cause problems in the airline's flight schedules, to which Barry added, "Which flights?"
Following the announcement of the postponement of the start of daylight savings time, Lebanon's state carrier Middle East Airlines announced that the departure time of all flights scheduled from Beirut airport between Sunday and April 21 will be moved forward by one hour.
The country's two mobile phone networks sent messages to people asking them to change their watch settings to manual instead of automatic so the time wouldn't change at midnight.
While public institutions are theoretically bound by the government's decision, many private institutions, including TV stations, schools and companies, have announced they will ignore the decision and switch to daylight savings time on Sunday as previously scheduled.
Bonus video:
