Holiday

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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.

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.

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 or offices are closed such as Sunday.

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 likehood 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.

In late 20-century, Saturday has become increasingly considered holiday as well as Sunday.

For farm holiday, see Agriturismo.

In the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia, 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".

Religious holidays

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

Christian holidays

• Christmas (Birth of Jesus Christ)
• Holy Thursday (Celebration of The Last Supper)
• Good Friday (Death of Jesus Christ)
• Easter (Resurrection of Jesus Christ)
• Ascension Day (Ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven)
• Pentecost (Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus Christ)
• Whitsun
• All Saints Day
• (see liturgical year for a more complete list)

Islamic/Muslim holidays

• Ramadan
• Eid: date determined by the lunar calendar and observation of the moon
  • Eid al Fitr, Lesser Bairam
  • Eid al Adha, Greater Bairam

Hindu holidays

• Rama-Lilas

National holidays

• Australia
  • ANZAC Day (also New Zealand) (April 25)
  • Australia Day (January 27)
  • Remembrance Day (November 11) - NOT a public holiday
  • Queen's Birthday Holiday (June 8)
  • Melbourne Cup Day (first tuesday in November) - Victoria only
  • Show Day (localised holiday, on a different day in each region)

• Canada -- See list at http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/jfa-ha/index_e.cfm
  • Victoria Day (First Monday on or before May 24)
  • Canada Day (July 1)

• Public holidays in Cyprus
  • 1st January - First Day of January
  • 10th March - Green Monday
  • 25th March - Greek Independence Day
  • 1st April - Cyprus National Day
  • 25thApril - 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

• France
  • Bastille Day

• Germany

See Holidays in Germany

• Italy
  • Capodanno (New Years Day) (January 1)
  • Epifania (January 6
  • Rome's foundation (April 21) (in Rome only)
  • St. Peter and St. Paul (June 30) (in Rome only)
  • Ferragosto (August 15)
  • The Victory on WWI (November 4)

• Japan
  • See Japanese Holidays

• Mexico
  • Día de la Constitución (February 5)
  • Natalicio de Benito Juárez (March 21)
  • Día del Trabajo (May 1)
  • Cinco de Mayo (May 5)
  • Dieciséis de Septiembre (September 16), Mexican independence day
  • Día de la Revolución (November 20)

• The Netherlands
  • Queen's day (April 30)
  • Remembrance of the dead (May 4)
  • Liberation day (May 5)

• Singapore - Mondays are public holidays for any public holiday that falls on a Sunday
  • New Years Day
  • Lunar New Year aka Chinese New Year (2 days) - varies (based on the Chinese Calendar,Lunar Calendar), Jan 22 & 23 2004
  • Hari Raya Haji - varies, Feb 1 2004
  • Good Friday - Apr 9 2004
  • Labour Day aka May Day - May 1
  • Vesak Day - varies (Buddhist calendar), Jun 2 2004
  • National Day aka Independence Day - August 9
  • Deepavali - varies, Nov 11 2004
  • Hari Raya Puasa aka Ramadan - varies, Nov 14 2004
  • Christmas

• South Africa
  • Human Rights Day (March 21)
  • Freedom day (April 27)
  • Youth Day (June 16)
  • National Womens Day (August 9)
  • Heritage Day (September 24)
  • Day of Reconciliation (December 16)

• Sweden

See Holidays in Sweden

• United Kingdom
  • see Bank Holiday

• United States: Contrary to popular belief, there are no national holidays in the United States. All of the so called national holidays are in fact federal holidays. These holidays, enacted by congress, apply only to the District of Columbia and by extension, employees of the United States Government. While not legally binding outside of the District of Columbia, most states have declared state holidays to coincide with these federal holidays, but not all have. There has been numerous attempts to establish true national holidays in the United States, but every attempt has failed.
  • New Year's Day (January 1)
  • Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. (third Monday in January)
  • Washington's Birthday (third Monday in February)
  • Memorial Day (fourth Monday in May; originally May 30)
  • Independence Day (July 4)
  • Labor Day (first Monday in September)
  • Columbus Day (second Monday in October; originally October 12)
  • Veteran's Day (second Monday in November; originally November 11)
  • Thanksgiving Day (fourth Thursday in November)
  • Christmas Day (December 25)

Others

Many other days are marked to celebrate events or people, but are not strictly holidays as time off work is rarely given.

• April Fool's Day (April 1)
• Barbes Diena (December 1 Ancient Latvia)
• Boxing Day (December 26)
• Earth day (April 22)
• Father's Day (3rd Sunday in June)
• Grandparent's Day (Sunday after September Labor Day - proclaimed by Jimmy Carter in 1978)
• Groundhog Day (February 2)
• Halloween (October 31)
• Loyalty Day (May 1 United States)
• Mole Day (October 23)
• Mother's Day (2nd Sunday in May in North America, fourth Sunday in Lent in Europe)
• Mother-in-Law's Day (4th Sunday in October)
• Pi Day (March 14)
• Pi Approximation Day (July 22)
• Programmer's day (256th day of the year)
• Sweetest Day (third Saturday in October)
• Valentine's Day (February 14)
• Worker's Day or May Day (May 1, most countries - United States and Canada are prominent exceptions)

External links

• Text of Federal Holiday Legislation
• Bizarre American Holidays -- a comprehensive compilation of special recognition given both to months and individual days. Unfortunately, the origins of the commemorations aren't provided.
• UK public holidays
• Canadian public holidays
• Australian public holidays
• Public Holidays in Cyprus
• Google category: Holidays -- Calendars and Lists
• Sharp calendar of religious festivals