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A holiday is day set aside by a nation or culture (in some cases, multiple nations and cultures) typically for celebration but sometimes for some other kind of special culture-wide (or national) observation or
activity.
Based on the English words holy and day, holidays originally represented special days of the Christian Church calendar. The word has evolved in general usage to mean
any special day, or even non-special day on which school and/or offices are closed such as Sunday.
In late 20th century, Saturday has become increasingly considered holiday as well as Sunday.
In Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United
Kingdom; a holiday is also a period spent away from home or business in travel or
recreation (e.g. "I'm going on holiday to Majorca next week."), like an American "vacation".
Public Holiday
A public holiday or legal holiday is a holiday endorsed by the state. Public holidays can be either religious, in which case they reflect the dominant religion in a country, or secular, in which case they are
usually political or historical
in character.
Consecutive holidays
Consecutive holidays are a string of holidays taken together without working days in between. They tend to be
considered a good chance to take short trips, for example. In late 1990s, the Japanese government passed a law that increases the likelihood of consecutive holidays by moving
holidays fixed on certain day to a relative position in a month such as the second Monday. A well-known consecutive holiday in
Japan is golden-week,
roughly lasting a whole week. Similar phenomenon appears in Poland during holidays of
1st and 3rd of May, when taking few days of leaves can result in even 9 days long holidays. This is called The Picnic or (Majówka).
The US Congress changed the observance of Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, and
Washington's Birthday from fixed dates to certain Monday's in 1968 (effective 1971). Several states had passed similar laws earlier.
Religious holidays
Main article: Jewish holidays
- Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
- Passover
- Rosh Hashanah (Spiritual New Year)
- Purim (Based on the events in the Biblical book of Esther)
- Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacles)
- Hannukah (also: Chanukah; the Feast of Lights)
- Tu B'shevat (New year of the trees)
- Purim
- Yom HaShoah (Holocaust remembrance day)
- Yom Ha'atzma'ut (Israel independence day)
- Shavuot (The Feast of Weeks)
- Tisha B'Av
See liturgical year for a detailed list.
National holidays
For more information see Australian public
holidays.
See list at http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/jfa-ha/index_e.cfm
Traditional holidays:
People's Republic of
China:
Republic of China (Taiwan):
See also:
- 1st January - First Day of January
- 10th March - Green Monday
- 25th March - Greek Independence Day
- 1st April - Cyprus National Day
- 25th April - Good Friday
- 28th April - After Easter
- 29th April - After Easter
- 1st May - Labour Day
- 16th June - Holy Spirit
- 15th August - Assumption Day
- 1st October - Cyprus Independence Day
- 28th October - Greek National Day
- 25th December - Christmas Day
- 26th December - After Christmas Day
See Holidays in Denmark.
See Holidays in Finland
See Holidays in Germany.
India
See Holidays in India.
See Public
Holidays in the Republic of Ireland.
See Japanese Holidays.
See Holidays in Latvia.
See Holidays in Poland for background information.
Mondays are public holidays for any public holiday that falls on a Sunday.
Mondays are public holidays for any public holiday that falls on a Sunday.
See Holidays in Sweden.
See also: Holidays of the United
States
Unlike countries where holidays are required by law, there are no national holidays in the United States.
However, the United States Congress has created
federal holidays for employees of the United States Government. While these are not legal
holidays outside of the District of Columbia, most states
have declared state holidays to coincide with these federal holidays. In spite of numerous attempts, the United States has never
established true national holidays.
The holidays, and the days on which they are normally celebrated, are:
There is also one legal holiday in the United States that is not a federal holiday:
Election Day is only observed as a holiday in Presidential election years, which coincide with leap years. The federal government still observes Veterans Day on 11 November. The state of Washington does also, because it was admitted to statehood on 11 November 1889.
Mondays are public holidays for any public holiday that falls on a Sunday. See also Holidays in Puerto Rico for a detailed list.
Farmy Holiday
See Agriturismo.
Others
Many other days are marked to celebrate events or people, but are not strictly holidays as time off work is rarely given.
Humorous, Entertaining Holidays
Some humorous events have captured the attention of the public, to the point where they have been promoted as annual events.
These "funny" holidays are generally intended as humorous distractions and excuses to share laughs among friends.
- International Talk Like a
Pirate Day
- One World Orgasm
day (8 August, every year)
- Steak and BJ day
(March 15)
- Mario Day (March 10, e.g., Mar10)
Related Topics
External links
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