Public holidays are known as Jours Feries in France and they are celebrated in different ways as according to the nature of the holiday and the region where it is declared. Schools and offices remain closed on public holidays in France along with museums and shops but cinemas and restaurants are kept open.
Public holidays, or Jours Feries as they are known in France are celebrated in different ways based on the certain holiday and the region of France you happen to be in. All public offices and schools are closed in France on public holidays, in addition to cinemas to museums and shops; however, for the most part theatres and restaurants in France remain open on public holidays.
There is an interesting aspect connected with the public holidays in France. The French would like to create a four day holiday package by taking a day off before weekend if a holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday.
Aside from the entire nation of France celebrating national public holidays, there are regional holidays declared in different regions of France in line with the festivals celebrated there.
New Year Day on the 1st of January and Christmas on the 25th of December are the two important public holidays in France. The celebrations during Christmas and New Year are akin to what we find in most of the other countries. Boxing Day which falls on 26th December is not a declared public holiday in France but it is celebrated with pomp and splendour in the Alsace region of the nation and there will be no business on that day in that region.
Easter, which falls yearly at some time in late March or early April is a public holiday in France. Many of France’s subsequent public holidays that occur later on in the year are indirectly tied to Easter. Good Friday is not a public holiday in France although people in Alsace tend to take the day off on this day.
Ascension Thursday which occurs exactly 40 days after Easter is celebrated in the end of May and is a public holiday in France. Pentecost and Whit Monday follow Easter and they are celebrated on the 7th Sunday and Monday respectively after Easter and are announced public holidays with religious nature linked to them.
National Day or Bastille Day is probably the most famous public holiday on the French calendar as it is widely known in other countries also. It occurs on the 14th of July the day on which the French public ran into the Bastille Prison in Paris in 1789, an act that sparked the French Revolution. Bastille Day is celebrated in all the French speaking nations with pomp and splendour and with fireworks.
1st of November is declared as All Saints Day in France and it is a public holiday. This holiday is religious based with its roots in catholic dogmas. 11th November is also a public holiday in France as this day saw Armistice signed at the end of the First World War.
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