No one wants to be stuck behind a desk and a laptop when the sun is blazing outside. The allure of lazy summer days is tempting enough if you work in the UK, never mind France, Italy, Spain or Portugal…
Which is precisely why during August – or what’s commonly known as ‘silly season’ – you might struggle to get hold of one or two of your European colleagues. During the hot summer months, towns, villages and even cities traditionally ‘shut down’, leaving mostly mad dogs and Englishmen to roam the streets.
At present, under the EU’s working time directive, employees in all European Union countries are entitled to at least 4 weeks’ paid annual leave. In the US, there is no guarantee that employees will receive any paid holidays (nor public holidays) whatsoever. Time off may be granted around Christmas and Thanksgiving, but the days taken off will not necessarily be paid. The standard holiday entitlement in the US is typically two weeks.
In China, extra days of holiday are issued and added on to the nation’s main holidays to round them up to a full week. However, these additional days are compensated for by official working days on Saturdays or Sundays.
Japan and Canada are also on the ‘hard-done-by’ end of the holiday scale, with 18-20 days’ holiday, while France comes out top with 25 days paid annual leave.
In the west, public holidays generally revolve around Christian religious days (such as Christmas and Easter) plus days commemorating each nation’s historical events (Bastille, Republic, Independence, etc.). In the East, national holidays largely revolve around ‘festivals’, which tend to be grounded in religion, superstition or myth. Unlike the Gregorian calendar used in the West, these celebrations are guided by the lunar calendar. In China, for instance, the most notable are the Lunar (Chinese) New Year, and the National Day holiday, which each last one ‘Golden Week’.
However, in all countries, not all holiday days are fixed and can ‘move’: public holidays may or may not, therefore, fall on a weekday.
Navigating these holidays can be tricky. So we’ve listed the key public holidays for some countries below to help you plan your schedule.
Bonnes vacances, wherever you are! FRANCE 01-Jan Sun New Year’s Day National 17-Apr Mon Easter Monday National 01-May Mon Labour Day National 08-May Mon Victory in Europe Day National 25-May Thu Ascension Day National 04-Jun Sun Whit Sunday National 05-Jun Mon Whit Monday National 14-Jul Fri Bastille Day National 15-Aug Tue Assumption Day National 01-Nov Wed All Saints’ Day National 11-Nov Sat Armistice Day National 25-Dec Mon Christmas Day National GERMANY 01-Jan Sun New Year’s Day National 06-Jan Fri Epiphany BW, BY & ST 14-Apr Fri Good Friday National 16-Apr Sun Easter Sunday BB 17-Apr Mon Easter Monday National 01-May Mon Labour Day National 25-May Thu Ascension Day National 04-Jun Sun Whit Sunday BB 05-Jun Mon Whit Monday National 15-Jun Thu Corpus Christi BW, BY, HE, NW, RP, SL, SN & TH 15-Aug Tue Assumption Day BY & SL 03-Oct Tue German Unity Day National 31-Oct Tue Reformation Day BB, MV, SN, ST & TH 01-Nov Wed All Saints’ Day BW, BY, NW, RP & SL 22-Nov Wed Repentance Day SN 25-Dec Mon Christmas Day National 26-Dec Tue 2nd Day of Christmas National SPAIN 01-Jan Sun New Year’s Day National 02-Jan Mon New Year Holiday Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, Castile and León, Melilla & Murcia 06-Jan Fri Epiphany National 28-Feb Tue Andalusia Regional Holiday Andalusia 01-Mar Wed Balearic Islands Regional Holiday Balearic Islands 20-Mar Mon St Joseph’s Day Extremadura & Madrid 13-Apr Thu Maundy Thursday National except Catalonia 14-Apr Fri Good Friday National 17-Apr Mon Easter Monday Balearic Islands, Basque, Country, Catalonia, La Rioja, Navarre & Valencia 24-Apr Mon Aragon Regional Holiday Aragon 24-Apr Mon Castile and Leon Regional Holiday Castile and León 01-May Mon Labour Day National 02-May Tue Madrid Regional Holiday Madrid 15-May Mon San Isidro Madrid 17-May Wed Galician Literature Day Galicia 30-May Tue Canary Islands Regional Holiday Canary Islands 31-May Wed Castile-La Mancha Regional Holiday Castile-La Mancha 09-Jun Fri La Rioja Regional Holiday La Rioja 09-Jun Fri Murcia Regional Holiday Murcia 13-Jun Tue San Antionio Ceuta 15-Jun Thu Corpus Christi Castile-La Mancha 24-Jun Sat St John’s Day Catalonia 25-Jul Tue National Day of Galicia Galicia 25-Jul Tue Saint James’ Day Basque Country & Navarre 28-Jul Fri Day of the Institutions Cantabria 05-Aug Sat Our Lady of Africa Ceuta 15-Aug Tue Assumption of Mary National 01-Sep Fri Eid al-Adha Ceuta & Melilla 08-Sep Fri Astorias Regional Holiday Asturias 08-Sep Fri Extremadura Regional Holiday Extremadura 08-Sep Fri Our Lady of Victories Melilla 11-Sep Mon National Day of Catalonia Catalonia 15-Sep Fri Cantabria Regional Holiday Cantabria 18-Sep Mon Day of Melilla Melilla 09-Oct Mon Valencian Regional Holiday Valencia 12-Oct Thu National Day National 01-Nov Wed All Saints’ Day National 09-Nov Thu Our Lady of Almudena Madrid 04-Dec Mon Navarre Regional Holiday Navarre 06-Dec Wed Constitution Day National 08-Dec Fri Immaculate Conception National 25-Dec Mon Christmas Day National 26-Dec Tue St Stephen’s Day Catalonia ITALY 01-Jan Sun New Year’s Day National 06-Jan Fri Epiphany National 16-Apr Sun Easter Sunday National 17-Apr Mon Easter Monday National 25-Apr Tue Liberation Day National 28-Apr Fri Sardinia Day Sardinia 01-May Mon International Workers’ Day National 02-Jun Fri Republic Day National 29-Jun Thurs St Peter & Paul Rome 15-Aug Tue Assumption Day National 19-Sep Tue St Gennaro Naples 04-Oct Weds St Petronius Bologna 01-Nov Wed All Saints’ Day National 03-Nov Fri St Giusto Trieste 06-Dec Weds St Nicholas Bari 07-Dec Thurs St Ambrose Milan 08-Dec Fri Immaculate Conception National 25-Dec Mon Christmas Day National 26-Dec Tue St Stephen’s Day National PORTUGAL 01-Jan Sun New Year’s Day National 14-Apr Fri Good Friday National 16-Apr Sun Easter Sunday National 25-Apr Tue Liberation Day National 01-May Mon Labour Day National 10-Jun Sat National Day National 13-Jun Tues St Anthony Lisbon 15-Jun Thu Corpus Christi National 15-Aug Tue Assumption Day National 05-Oct Thu Republic Day National 01-Nov Wed All Saints’ Day National 01-Dec Fri Independence Day Restoration National 08-Dec Fri Immaculate Conception National 25-Dec Mon Christmas Day National CHINA 01-Jan Sun New Year’s Day National 02-Jan Mon New Year Holiday National 27 Jan -2 Feb Fri – Thu Spring Festival Holiday National 2 – 4 Apr Sun – Tue Ching Ming Festival National 01-May Mon Labour Day Holiday National 28 – 30 May Sun – Tue Dragon Boat Festival National 1 Oct – 6 Oct Sun – Fri National Day Holiday National
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