Public holidays in Denmark
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of public holidays in Denmark.
Danish public holidays are by law set to be the same as the holidays defined by the Danish Church. Under normal circumstances, employees have these days off. Employees may negotiate additional holidays as part of their contract, and sometimes have that as part of labor union negotiated contracts.
Rules governing when shops are open, may differ from this list.
[edit] Public holidays
| Date | English Name | Local Name | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 1 | New Year's Day | Nytårsdag | |
| Sunday before Easter Sunday | Palm Sunday | Palmesøndag | |
| The Thursday before Easter Sunday | Maundy Thursday | Skærtorsdag | |
| The Friday before Easter Sunday | Good Friday | Langfredag | |
| March/April | Easter Sunday | Påskedag | |
| The day after Easter Sunday | Easter Monday | 2. Påskedag | |
| The 4th Friday after Easter | General Prayer Day | Store Bededag | A collection of minor Christian holy days consolidated into one day. The name translates literally from Danish language, "Great Prayer Day". |
| 40 days after Easter | Ascension Day | Kristi Himmelfartsdag | |
| 7 weeks after Easter | Whit Sunday | Pinsedag | This is a Sunday. Danes celebrate two days of Whitsun. |
| 7 weeks +1 day after Easter | Whit Monday | 2. Pinsedag | This is a Monday. Danes celebrate two days of Whitsun. |
| June 5 | Constitution Day | Grundlovsdag | Danes celebrate the first democratic constitution from 1849. |
| December 24 | Christmas Eve's Day | Juleaftensdag | Danes celebrate Christmas Eve. This is not a public holiday, but many shops are closed and many employees don't have a workday on this day according to their contract. This date is mentioned in the list of public holidays because wikipedia editors tend to insert it, if removed. |
| December 25 | First Day of Christmas | Juledag / 1. juledag | Danes celebrate three days of Christmas, starting early on December 24th in the evening. |
| December 26 | Second Day of Christmas | 2. juledag |
[edit] Other special days
Some of these days derive from politics, and some from catholicism traditions that predate the current national church. Some are simply the Scandinavian tradition of starting the celebrations of a special day on the evening before the actual day.
| Date | English Name | Local Name | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 5 | Crown Princess Mary's birthday | Prinsesse Marys fødselsdag | This is not celebrated a lot, yet, but one day she might become Queen of Denmark. |
| Seven weeks before Easter Sunday | Fastelavn | Fastelavn | Diminished version of the catholic Carnival. Children go to school dressed up in costume and go door-to-door for candy and sweets. A popular baked good associated with the day is Fastelavnsbolle (lit. Fastelavns bun), a round sweet roll usually covered with icing and filled with cream. |
| April 1 | April Fools' Day | 1. April | The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, enemies and neighbours, or sending them on fools' errands, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible. |
| April 9 | Occupation of Denmark | Danmarks besættelse | Historic date. This was the day when Germany invaded Denmark in World War II. Flags on flagpoles must be at half mast until 12:00, to indicate the mourning, after that it goes to full mast to indicate that Denmark is a free country today. |
| April 16 | Birthday of Queen Margrethe II | Dronningens fødselsdag | The Queen is usually celebrated in some places, and she will appear on her balcony at her Castle. |
| April 29 | Princess Benedikte's birthday | Prinsesse Benedikte fødselsdag | This is not celebrated a lot. |
| May 1 | Labor Day | Arbejdernes kampdag / 1. maj | Left-wing policial day. Many people try to get a day off this day, and some even have it in their employment contract. A few people attend political meetings, though many - especially young people - meet at the sites of the political meetings to drink beer and other alcoholic beverages. Copenhagen's Fælledparken is well known for its annual May 1st gathering. This is a full holiday for blue collar workers, but not for white collar workers. |
| May 5 | Liberation day | Danmarks befrielse | Historic date. This was the day that the German forces surrendered in Denmark under World War II. However, the island of Bornholm was not liberated on this date - instead, occupation continued, and the island was later occupied by USSR forces, too, before being rejoined with the rest of Denmark. |
| May 26 | Birthday of Crown Prince Frederik | Kronprins Frederiks fødselsdag | This is not celebrated a lot, yet. |
| June 5 | Constitution Day | Grundlovsdag | Political day. The signing of the Danish constitution in 1849. Some people attend political meetings, though many - especially old people - meet at the sites of the political meetings to drink beer and other alcoholic beverages. |
| June 7 | Birthday of Prince Joachim | Prins Joachims fødselsdag | This is not celebrated a lot. |
| June 11 | Birthday of Prince Henrik | Prins Henriks fødselsdag | This is not celebrated a lot. |
| June 15 | Day of Valdemar and Reunion day | Valdemarsdag og Genforeningsdag | Celebration of Valdemar II of Denmark's victory in a battle in Estonia in 1219, at which Denmark got its national flag Dannebrog. It is also the date on which we celebrate that Sønderjylland was reunited with the rest of Denmark after a referendum. |
| June 23 | Saint John's Eve | Sankt Hans aften | Pre-Christianity celebration day, celebrating summer solstice on June 24th. Sankt Hans is the Danish name of St. John the Baptist. The day is celebrated with a bonfire on the evening before. See the Denmark section under Midsummer |
| November 10 | The eve before Saint Martin's day | Mortensaften | November 11th is a catholic day. Sankt Morten is the Danish name of Saint Martin of Tours. Martin was forced to become a bishop by his parishioners and tried to hide in a barn. However, the noise of the geese gave him away. As "revenge" Danes traditionally eat duck this evening, although logically it should be goose. |
| December 13 | Saint Lucy's Day | Sankt Lucia | Catholic day that was located on winter solstice before the European calendar reform. |
| December 31 | New Year's Eve | Nytårsaften | Mostly celebrated with friends and family. The Queen traditionally holds a televised speech at 6:00 PM. Midnight is celebrated with champagne, kransekage (lit. translated, ringcake)— an almond cake consisting of increasingly smaller and smaller rings stacked one on top of each other, creating an upside down cone form— and private displays of fireworks. |
[edit] External links
- The dates of public holidays in Denmark until 2010.
- Danish official list of public holidays in Denmark
- Official days to use the flag in Denmark
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