French Public Holidays

Grumble, grumble... many newcomers to France grumble about the number of public holidays, "Les jours fériés". They are legally defined by Article L3133-1 of the Work Code, "Code du travail". So, not made up as you go along and there are only ELEVEN of them per year. So ENJOY!

It may seem like there's one every other week or even every week sometimes But it's because they're cleverly spanned out over the year in 28 year cycles. There are 5 civil (fixed) dates and 6 religious (of which 3 are *unfixed) dates. Here's a list of them, so you don't get caught out:

Civil Days

• Jour de l'an - 1st January (New Year's Day)

• Fête du travail - 1st (May Day)

• Victoire de 1945 -8th May (Victory in Europe, VE Day)

• Fête nationale -14th July (Bastille Day to English speakers)

• Armistice de 1918 - 11th November (Remembrance/Veterans Day)

Religious Days

• *Lundi de Pâques - Monday after first Sunday following the full moon that occurs on spring equinox (Easter Monday)

• *Ascension - 40 days after Easter (Holy Day of Obligation)

• *Lundi de Pentecôte - 50 days after Easter (Birth of the Church)

• Assomption - 15th August (Rising of the Virgin Mary)

• Toussaint - 1st November (All Saints Day)

• Noël - 25th December (Christmas Day)

So does France get the most public holidays in the world... no, it comes 6th, Japan and India have the most with 16 days! But it's all swings and roundabouts if you take the overall statutory minimum holidays into consideration; then France really does come out on top with a total of 41 days per year. China is last with an overall 21 days combined! It's really quite good, so don't GRUMBLE... the French don't, they just shrug their shoulders and exercise their birthright to go on strike!