Christian holidays

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

The thirteen above-mentioned Christian holidays are free days for all or some Germans.
Which of them mean a day off for you where you live?

Do we have a member from Augsburg? Cause the Peace Festival (Augsburger Hohes Friedensfest) is only celebrated in Augsburg on August 8, making that city the place within Germany with the most legal holidays (14).

Reformation Day is one interesting festival, too. Originally only a holiday in the East German states, it was a onetime holiday in the whole of Germany in 2017, honoring the 500th anniversary of monk Martin Luther nailing his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the All Saints' Church in Wittenberg.
Due to the enormous popularity of that festival with the citizens (and in order to harmonize the number of public holidays in North and South Germany) Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein officially proclaimed October 31 a regular holiday. Lower Saxony is also about to make Reformation Day a legal holiday, as it wanted to await the resolution adopted by HH and SH.
So, isn't it funny? Both Germany and the USA have a day off thanks to an outstanding achievement by a Martin Luther.  8]

Easter Monday would be interesting to watch, too, if Germany hadn't been reunited yet, cause the GDR didn't recognize Easter Monday as a public holiday.

Ascension Day coincides with Father's Day in Germany. What about your country?

And yes, Corpus Christi is not only the name of a Texan city, it is also a festival sixty days after Easter Sunday.


PS: Can the terms Christian holiday and Christian festival be used synonymously?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Easter Sunday and Pentecost because they are both Sundays and then Christmas Day.

[DavidB.]

Good Friday, Eastern Sunday, Eastern Monday, Ascension Day, Pentecost, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Easter Sunday and Pentecost because they are both Sundays and then Christmas Day.

But afaik, most Americans have to work on Sundays, anyway.

[Dr. MB]

Easter Sunday and Pentecost because they are both Sundays and then Christmas Day.

But afaik, most Americans have to work on Sundays, anyway.

Not true.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Easter Sunday and Pentecost because they are both Sundays and then Christmas Day.

But afaik, most Americans have to work on Sundays, anyway.

Not true.

Maybe it's just a cliché, but from what I heard the U.S. labor market policy isn't supposed to be very employee-friendly.

[dead0man]

Easter Sunday and Pentecost because they are both Sundays and then Christmas Day.

But afaik, most Americans have to work on Sundays, anyway.

Not true.

Maybe it's just a cliché, but from what I heard the U.S. labor market policy isn't supposed to be very employee-friendly.

Employers are exactly as "friendly" as they have to be.  If you do a thing better than most people that do that thing, your employer will treat you well.  If you suck at your job, your employer will treat you like sh**t before firing you.

Most places are closed on the weekend.  If you work in the service industry or a job that ya know, actually does an important thing (like doctor, firefighter, keeping the country safe) then you could potentially work at any day or time.  I'm sure you have important jobs in Germany too even if you don't let people buy things on the weekend.


anyway, Christmas is the only religious holiday in the US and it shouldn't be a holiday in my opinion since we're NOT a Christian nation.  That's only for those conservative European and S.American countries, not good, liberal places like the US.

[DC Al Fine]

In Canada, Christmas, Good Friday and Easter are all holidays. Easter Monday is this weird half holiday where the government, schools and banks close but everything else is open.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

anyway, Christmas is the only religious holiday in the US and it shouldn't be a holiday in my opinion since we're NOT a Christian nation. That's only for those conservative European and S.American countries, not good, liberal places like the US.

In Canada, Christmas, Good Friday and Easter are all holidays. Easter Monday is this weird half holiday where the government, schools and banks close but everything else is open.

Are Independence Day and Canada Day also free days in your respective country?

[dead0man]

Yes, but they are not religious.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

As far as I know, Christmas is the only one that's officially a holiday.  The schools around here close for Good Friday and sometimes the day after Easter, but otherwise that's it.

anyway, Christmas is the only religious holiday in the US and it shouldn't be a holiday in my opinion since we're NOT a Christian nation.  That's only for those conservative European and S.American countries, not good, liberal places like the US.

Studies have shown that over 90 percent of Americans observe Christmas in some form, which is larger than the percentage of self-professed Christians.  But since a large majority of Americans are also Christians, it's safe to say that we are a Christian nation, despite the separation of church and state.  The courts have ruled that making Christmas a public holiday is not unconstitutional because it is as much a cultural holiday as a religious one, and I agree.

[BenBurch]

As far as I know, Christmas is the only one that's officially a holiday.  The schools around here close for Good Friday and sometimes the day after Easter, but otherwise that's it.

anyway, Christmas is the only religious holiday in the US and it shouldn't be a holiday in my opinion since we're NOT a Christian nation.  That's only for those conservative European and S.American countries, not good, liberal places like the US.

Studies have shown that over 90 percent of Americans observe Christmas in some form, which is larger than the percentage of self-professed Christians.  But since a large majority of Americans are also Christians, it's safe to say that we are a Christian nation, despite the separation of church and state.  The courts have ruled that making Christmas a public holiday is not unconstitutional because it is as much a cultural holiday as a religious one, and I agree.

I agree too. 

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Happy International Women's Day, everyone!
If you're "lucky" enough to live in communist places such as Berlin or one of 27 former Stalinist or Maoist countries, you can celebrate a public holiday today. 👯‍♀️

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

In Italy the Epiphany, Easter, Easter Monday, the Feast of the Assumption, All Saints' Day, the Immaculate Conception, Christmas, and Saint Stephen's Day are all public holidays. Each municipality also has the feast of its own patron saint as a public holiday - in the case of my city it is Saint Joseph (March 19th).
In addition, the first day of the year is a public holiday, but I am not entirely sure if the rationale is secular (New Year's Day) or religious (the feast of Mary Mother of God).

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Happy International Women's Day, everyone!
If you're "lucky" enough to live in communist places such as Berlin or one of 27 former Stalinist or Maoist countries, you can celebrate a public holiday today. 👯‍♀️

Burger King UK celebrating International Women's Day... 🤣🤣🤣

https://twitter.com/BurgerKingUK/status/1368849338596745223

[If my soul was made of stone]

Happy International Women's Day, everyone!
If you're "lucky" enough to live in communist places such as Berlin or one of 27 former Stalinist or Maoist countries, you can celebrate a public holiday today. 👯‍♀️

Much like Pride Month, it's a travesty how International Women's day has come so far from a revolutionary celebration of liberation fervor to a commodified corporate celebration of Strong Neoliberal Womyn™ who only project authority and individuality as allowed by capitalist exploitation and restrictive proscriptive social norms, and preciously ironic that it remains a holiday in former Eastern Bloc states like Poland that have regressed into fascist nightmares.

[Alcibiades]

Good Friday, Easter Monday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Whit Monday was also a bank holiday until 1971, but it has been replaced by the “Late May Bank Holiday” which falls around the same time (last Monday in May), so sometimes on Whit Monday, but not always. Our other, secular bank holidays are New Year’s Day, the Early May Bank Holiday on the first Monday of May (inspired by May Day), and the August Bank Holiday on the last Monday in August.

[Donerail]

Only Christmas Day. Instead of religious holidays, we have various holidays in the grand American tradition of pandering to electorally important ethnic groups, such as Casimir Pulaski Day, César Chávez Day, St. Patrick's Day, and Robert E. Lee Day (honoring, respectively, Poles, Mexicans, Irish & racists)

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Only Christmas is an official public holiday in Massachusetts, but the heavily Hispanic Catholic school district I work in also has the Epiphany and Good Friday off, so I voted for those too.

[afleitch]

Good Friday, Easter Monday, Christmas and Boxing Day in Scotland. Christmas only became a public holiday in 1958.

[Mike88]

In Portugal, we celebrate the Good Friday and Easter Sunday. In some municipalities, like mine, Easter Monday is also a holiday. Corpus Christi is also a holiday (during the Troika years it was one of the holidays banned), Assumption Day on August 15, All Saints on November 1st and Christmas day. Not on the list, but the 8th of December is also a holiday of the Immaculate Conception, which since the seventen century is the Patroness of Portugal.

[Lexii, harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy]

Carnaval (2 days), Good friday (good Thursday is a "non-work able day", Immaculate conception and Christmas

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Good Friday, Easter Monday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Whit Monday was also a bank holiday until 1971, but it has been replaced by the “Late May Bank Holiday” which falls around the same time (last Monday in May), so sometimes on Whit Monday, but not always. Our other, secular bank holidays are New Year’s Day, the Early May Bank Holiday on the first Monday of May (inspired by May Day), and the August Bank Holiday on the last Monday in August.

What do you call the Sunday before Whit Monday?
Whit Sunday or Pentecost?

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Good Friday, Easter Monday, Christmas and Boxing Day in Scotland. Christmas only became a public holiday in 1958.

Interesting! There seem to be differences between English and Scottish holidays.

[Alcibiades]

Good Friday, Easter Monday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Whit Monday was also a bank holiday until 1971, but it has been replaced by the “Late May Bank Holiday” which falls around the same time (last Monday in May), so sometimes on Whit Monday, but not always. Our other, secular bank holidays are New Year’s Day, the Early May Bank Holiday on the first Monday of May (inspired by May Day), and the August Bank Holiday on the last Monday in August.

What do you call the Sunday before Whit Monday?
Whit Sunday or Pentecost?

Traditionally Whitsunday, although to be honest, most people wouldn’t be able to tell you what either name meant.