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The EU\u2019s motto is \u2018United in Diversity\u2019, and it shines through whether you cook with olive oil or butter.<\/p>\n
But nothing splits Europe down the middle quite like Easter holidays. If you’re confused about who\u2019s off and when, don\u2019t worry, so is the rest of Europe.<\/p>\n
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Though Easter has largely lost its religious weight in increasingly secular Europe, its public holiday status varies greatly across the continent: From Good Friday to Pentecost Monday, different countries mark different days as public holidays.<\/p>\n
And let’s be honest: there are never quite enough holidays for workers, so it\u2019s only natural to look across the border and feel a twinge of envy.<\/p>\n
So, what does the Easter holiday map look like across the EU?<\/p>\n
A reversal of the Protestant work ethic<\/p>\n
Just like the butter-versus-olive-oil divide, there\u2019s a clear North-South split when it comes to Easter holidays.<\/p>\n
Northern Europe, particularly countries with Protestant roots, tends to grant more days off during Easter than their Southern, Catholic counterparts.<\/p>\n
Not so obvious, given the so-called Protestant work ethic described by sociologist Max Weber as the foundation of capitalism.<\/p>\n
Yet, traditionally “hard-working” nations like Germany go big on Easter, observing almost the full Easter holiday package – Good Friday, Easter Monday and even Ascension Day and Pentecost Monday.<\/p>\n
Oddly enough, Easter Sunday itself isn’t a nationwide public holiday there except in the state of Brandenburg.<\/p>\n
Easter Sunday surprise<\/strong><\/p>\n Germany is not an exception: In many EU countries, Easter Sunday isn\u2019t officially recognised as a public holiday – and not because it’s not important, but because it already falls on a non-working day.<\/p>\n Instead, the emphasis shifts to Easter Monday, which is a public holiday in most places.<\/p>\n At least 12 EU countries, including Austria, France, Czechia, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Luxembourg, do not count Easter Sunday as an official holiday for the same reason.<\/p>\n That said, Easter Monday is a public holiday across nearly all of the EU, except for a few exceptions like Spain, where it\u2019s only a holiday in certain autonomous regions\u00a0such as Catalonia, the Basque Country, Navarre; and Portugal, where it\u2019s not officially recognised at all.<\/p>\n The Good Friday patchwork<\/strong><\/p>\n Malta flips the script: it doesn\u2019t observe Easter Monday or any other day with a day off for workers, except Good Friday which is a national public holiday.<\/p>\n Some notable EU countries don\u2019t consider Good Friday a holiday,\u00a0including Italy, France, Slovenia, and Lithuania – despite some of these being traditionally Catholic nations.<\/p>\n In Belgium (where this article is being tapped out while definitely not on holiday), today\u00a0is like any ordinary working Friday.<\/p>\n In Ireland, Good Friday isn’t a statutory holiday either, but it is often observed informally, with many businesses choosing to close.<\/p>\n Austria used to treat Good Friday as a \u201cselective\u201d holiday for members of certain religious denominations, such as the Old Catholic Church and Methodists.<\/p>\n That changed after a 2015 case involving a private detective agency employee who claimed religious discrimination for not receiving holiday pay. The case reached the EU Court of Justice, which ruled in 2019 that such selective holidays based on religion amounted to direct discrimination.<\/p>\n The extended Easter: Ascension, Pentecost (and Maundy Thursday)<\/strong><\/p>\n Think Easter ends after the Sunday chocolate binge? Think again. Ascension Day (40 days later) and Pentecost Monday (50 days after) are celebrated with some days off.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, or the Netherlands, lucky you, both days are public holidays. Meanwhile, places like Greece, Hungary, and Portugal skip them entirely.<\/p>\n In Denmark, Italy, Poland, and Sweden, only Ascension Day is observed, meaning that Pentecost is not a day off.<\/p>\n Maundy Thursday (the day before Good Friday) is generally not a public holiday across most of the EU, but it does get some attention.<\/p>\n In Denmark, where it\u2019s called \u201cSk\u00e6rtorsdag\u201d, it’s a legit national holiday. In Spain, certain regions such as Andalusia, Castilla and Le\u00f3n also treat it as a day off – because when in doubt, add another holiday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ADVERTISEMENT The EU\u2019s motto is \u2018United in Diversity\u2019, and it shines through whether you cook with olive oil…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[3751,2000,7221,299,5187,1699,2837,18751],"class_list":{"0":"post-31727","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-easter","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-eu-policy","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-holiday","15":"tag-religious-holiday"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114362159284720726","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\nADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\nADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n