In The Giver by Lois Lowry, what does the unscheduled holiday mean to everyone?

In Chapter 17 of The Giver, an unscheduled holiday is declared over the wall speaker in Jonas's home. Everyone looks at each other with surprise because unscheduled holidays almost never occur. Everyone in the community reacts with joy because not only are kids allowed to stay home from school, but adults are also not required to go to work. Children don't even have to fulfill service hours on unscheduled holidays. In an effort to continue mandatory services as needed on those days, though, substitute laborers take the place of those on holiday. The substitute laborers are given a different day for a holiday instead. The services that need to be kept up during an unscheduled holiday are the following: ". . . nurturing, food delivery, and care of the Old" (130). Consequently, Jonas goes outside to meet up with his friends and finds them playing a game of war.