Editing Public holidays in Germany

{{Short description|None}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2008}}
{{Expand German|Feiertage in Deutschland|date=September 2012}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}

By law, "the Sundays and the public holidays remain protected as days of rest from work and of spiritual elevation" (Art. 139 [[Weimar Constitution|WRV]], part of the German constitution via Art. 140 [[Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany|GG]]). Thus all Sundays are, in a manner, public holidays – but usually not understood by the term "holiday" (except for, normally, Easter Sunday and Pentecost Sunday).

Public holidays apart from the Sundays (there must be some of them constitutionally) can be declared by law either by the Federation or by the Länder for their respective jurisdictions. At present the only federal holiday is [[German Unity Day]] (Unity Treaty, Art. 2 sect. 2); all the other holidays, even those celebrated all over Germany, are prescribed by state legislation.

== List by state ==
{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top"
|-style="background:#DDF"
! colspan=2 | Name of holiday
! rowspan=2 | Date
! colspan=16| Federal state
|-style="background:#DDF"
! English
! German
!{{flagicon|Baden-Württemberg}} [[Baden-Württemberg|BW]]
!{{flagicon|Bavaria}} [[Bavaria|BY]]
!{{flagicon|Berlin}} [[Berlin|BE]]
!{{flagicon|Brandenburg}} [[Brandenburg|BB]]
!{{flagicon|Bremen}} [[Bremen|HB]]
!{{flagicon|Hamburg}} [[Hamburg|HH]]
!{{flagicon|Hesse}} [[Hesse|HE]]
!{{flagicon|Mecklenburg-Vorpommern}} [[Mecklenburg-Vorpommern|MV]]
!{{flagicon|Lower Saxony}} [[Lower Saxony|NI]]
!{{flagicon|North Rhine-Westphalia}} [[North Rhine-Westphalia|NW]]
!{{flagicon|Rhineland-Palatinate}} [[Rhineland-Palatinate|RP]]
!{{flagicon|Saarland}} [[Saarland|SL]]
!{{flagicon|Saxony}} [[Saxony|SN]]
!{{flagicon|Saxony-Anhalt}} [[Saxony-Anhalt|ST]]
!{{flagicon|Schleswig-Holstein}} [[Schleswig-Holstein|SH]]
!{{flagicon|Thuringia}} [[Thuringia|TH]]
|---
! style="text-align:left" | [[New Year's Day]]
|style="text-align:left"|[[:de:Neujahr|<span lang="de">Neujahrstag</span>]]
|style="text-align:left"|1 January
| ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔
|---
! style="text-align:left" | [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany]]
| style="text-align:left;white-space:nowrap" | [[:de:Dreikönigsfest|<span lang="de">Heilige Drei Könige</span>]]
|style="text-align:left"|6 January
| ✔ || ✔ || || || || || || || || || || || || ✔ || ||
|---
! style="text-align:left" | [[International Women's Day]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.berlin.de/special/familien/5597854-2864562-frauentag-8-maerz-neuer-feiertag.html|title=Frauentag wird gesetzlicher Feiertag|date=11 February 2019| website=berlin.de| language=de| access-date=2 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210618065936/https://www.berlin.de/special/familien/5597854-2864562-frauentag-8-maerz-neuer-feiertag.html |archive-date=18 June 2021}}</ref>
|style="text-align:left"|[[:de:Internationaler Frauentag|<span lang="de">Internationaler Frauentag</span>]]
|style="text-align:left"|8 March
| || ||✔ || || || || ||✔ || || || || || || || ||
|-
! style="text-align:left"|[[Good Friday]]
|style="text-align:left"|[[:de:Karfreitag|<span lang="de">Karfreitag</span>]]
| style="text-align:left" | [[Easter Sunday]] &minus; 2d
| ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔
|-
! style="text-align:left" |[[Easter Monday]]
| style="text-align:left"|[[:de:Ostern|<span lang="de">Ostermontag</span>]]
| style="text-align:left" | [[Easter Sunday]] + 1d
| ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔
|-
! style="text-align:left" |[[Labour Day]]
|style="text-align:left"|[[:de:Erster Mai|<span lang="de">Tag der Arbeit</span>]]
|style="text-align:left"|1 May
| ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔
|-
! style="text-align:left" |[[Ascension Day]]
|style="text-align:left"|[[:de:Christi Himmelfahrt|<span lang="de">Christi Himmelfahrt</span>]]
| style="text-align:left; white-space:nowrap" | [[Easter Sunday]] + 39d (Thu)
| ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔
|-
! style="text-align:left" |[[Whit Monday]]
|style="text-align:left"|[[:de:Pfingsten|<span lang="de">Pfingstmontag</span>]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://uol.de/internationalisierung-zu-hause/termin/termin/pfingstmontag-feiertag-in-deutschland | title=Pfingstmontag: Feiertag in Deutschland }}</ref>
|style="text-align:left"|[[Easter Sunday]] + 50d
| ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔
|-
! style="text-align:left" |[[Corpus Christi (feast)|Corpus Christi]]
|style="text-align:left"|[[:de:Fronleichnam|<span lang="de">Fronleichnam</span>]]
|style="text-align:left"| [[Easter Sunday]] + 60d (Thu)
| ✔ || ✔ || || || || || ✔ || || || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || {{efn|Public holiday only in few [[Sorbs|Sorbian]] communities.}} || || || {{efn|Public holiday only in the [[Catholic]] district of [[Eichsfeld]].}}
|-
! style="text-align:left" | [[Augsburg Peace Festival|Augsburg Peace&nbsp;Festival]]
| style="text-align:left" | [[:de:Augsburger Hohes Friedensfest|<span lang="de">Augsburger Hohes Friedensfest</span>]]
| style="text-align:left" | 8 August
| || {{efn|Public holiday only in the city of [[Augsburg]].}} || || || || || || || || || || || || || ||
|-
! style="text-align:left" |[[Assumption Day]]
|style="text-align:left"|[[:de:Mariä Himmelfahrt|<span lang="de">Mariä Himmelfahrt</span>]]
|style="text-align:left"|15 August
| ||✔{{efn|Public holiday only in approx. 1700 communities with predominantly Catholic population and in the cities of [[Augsburg]] and [[Munich]].}}{{efn|name=schoolsClosed}}|| || || || || || || || || || ✔ || || || ||
|-
! style="text-align:left; white-space:nowrap" | [[World Children's Day]]
|style="text-align:left"|[[:de:Weltkindertag|<span lang="de">Weltkindertag</span>]]
|style="text-align:left"|20 September
| || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || ✔{{efn|name=from2019onwards}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thueringer-allgemeine.de/web/zgt/politik/detail/-/specific/Thueringen-bekommt-neuen-Feiertag-2070598680|title = Thüringen bekommt neuen Feiertag|date = 28 February 2019}}</ref>
|-
! style="text-align:left; white-space:nowrap" |[[German Unity Day]]
|style="text-align:left"|[[:de:Tag der Deutschen Einheit|<span lang="de">Tag der Deutschen&nbsp;Einheit</span>]]
|style="text-align:left"|3 October
| ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔
|-
! style="text-align:left" | [[Reformation Day]]{{efn|One-time public holiday in all states, including those not normally observing Reformation Day, to mark the 500th anniversary of the [[Reformation]] in 2017.}}
|style="text-align:left"|[[:de:Reformationstag|<span lang="de">Reformationstag</span>]]
|style="text-align:left"|31 October
| || || || ✔ || ✔{{efn|name=reformationDay}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Reformationstag wird Feiertag in Bremen| url=https://www.weser-kurier.de/bremen/bremen-stadt_artikel,-reformationstag-wird-feiertag-in-bremen-_arid,1741291.html|access-date=20 June 2018|last=Weser-Kurier|language=de}}</ref> || ✔{{efn|name=reformationDay}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Hamburg hat einen neuen Feiertag|url=https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/hamburg/Hamburg-hat-einen-neuen-Feiertag,feiertag232.html|date=28 February 2018|access-date=|last=NDR|language=de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190203075416/https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/hamburg/Hamburg-hat-einen-neuen-Feiertag,feiertag232.html |archive-date=3 February 2019}}</ref> || || ✔ || ✔{{efn|name=reformationDay}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Beschlossen: Reformationstag wird neuer Feiertag|url=https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/Beschlossen-Reformationstag-wird-neuer-Feiertag,feiertag258.html|date=19 June 2018|access-date=19 June 2018|last=NDR|language=de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709203801/https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/Beschlossen-Reformationstag-wird-neuer-Feiertag,feiertag258.html |archive-date=9 July 2018}}</ref> || || || || ✔ || ✔ || ✔{{efn|name=reformationDay}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Schleswig-Holstein hat einen neuen Feiertag|publisher=[[Norddeutscher Rundfunk|NDR]]|url=https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/schleswig-holstein/Schleswig-Holstein-hat-einen-neuen-Feiertag,landtag3990.html|access-date=24 February 2018|date=22 February 2018|language=de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190203072421/https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/schleswig-holstein/Schleswig-Holstein-hat-einen-neuen-Feiertag,landtag3990.html |archive-date=3 February 2019}}</ref> || ✔
|-
! style="text-align:left" | [[All Saints' Day]]
|style="text-align:left"|[[:de:Allerheiligen|<span lang="de">Allerheiligen</span>]]
|style="text-align:left"|1 November
| ✔ || ✔ || || || || || || || || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || || || ||
|---
! style="text-align:left" | [[Buß- und Bettag|Repentance and Prayer&nbsp;Day]]{{efn|Public holiday in all states until 1994. The holiday was discontinued with introduction of nursing care insurance. [[Saxony]] is the only state where employers do not have to pay for nursing care insurance (paid by employees in that state) and where the holiday is still kept.}}
|style="text-align:left"|[[:de:Buß- und Bettag|<span lang="de">Buß- und Bettag</span>]]
| style="text-align:left" | Wed before [[Totensonntag]]<br />i.e. Advent Sunday − 11d
| ||{{efn|name=schoolsClosed}}|| || || || || || || || || || || ✔ || || ||
|---
! style="text-align:left" |[[Christmas Day]]
|style="text-align:left"|[[:de:Weihnachten|<span lang="de">Weihnachtstag</span>]]
|style="text-align:left"|25 December
| ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔
|---
! style="text-align:left" | [[Second Day of Christmas]]
| style="text-align:left" | [[:de:Zweiter Weihnachtsfeiertag|<span lang="de">Zweiter Weihnachtsfeiertag</span>]]
| style="text-align:left" | 26 December
| ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔ || ✔
|--- 
|colspan="3"|Total number of holidays per state{{efn|name=predominant}}
| 12 || 13 || 10 || 10 || 10 || 10 || 10 || 11 || 10 || 11 || 11 || 12 || 11 || 11 || 10 || 11{{efn|name=from2019onwards}}
|}

{{Clear}}

=== Notes ===
✔ – Public holiday is celebrated in that state.
{{notelist|refs=
{{efn|name=schoolsClosed|Schools are closed all over the state on that day.}}
{{efn|name=from2019onwards|From 2019 onwards.}}
{{efn|name=reformationDay|Four states adopted the Reformation Day as permanent holiday starting in 2018 ([[Bremen]], [[Hamburg]], [[Lower Saxony]] and [[Schleswig-Holstein]] (see table for references)).}}
{{efn|name=predominant|For states where some holidays are not observed uniformly all over the state, such holidays are included in the state's total number of holidays if their celebration is predominant and widespread in that state:
* [[Bavaria]]: with Assumption Day, without Peace Festival.
* [[Saxony]] and [[Thuringia]]: without Corpus Christi.}}
}}

In addition, the state of [[Brandenburg]] formally declared [[Easter Sunday]] and [[Pentecost Sunday]] as public holidays. As these are Sundays anyway, they have been left out by the other states, nor counted in the table above (the state of [[Hesse]] even declared all Sundays public holidays).

== Quiet days ==
A couple of days are designated as '''stille Tage''' ("quiet days") by state legislation, which regularly means that public dancing or sport events, music at inns (if live or if not much quieter than usual) etc. are prohibited.

Some public holidays or commemorations are quiet days:
* Ash Wednesday (in Bavaria)
* Holy Thursday (in some states; in some of them beginning in the evening)
* Good Friday
* Holy Saturday (in some states)
* [[Buß- und Bettag]] (where it is a public holiday and in a couple of other states)
* [[All Saints' Day]] (where it is a public holiday)
* [[All Souls' Day]] (in Lower Saxony and the Saarland)
* [[Volkstrauertag]] 
* [[Totensonntag]] (the last Sunday of the Protestant liturgical year)
* Christmas Eve (beginning in the afternoon, in some states)

The status of quiet days is also given to festivities joyous in nature: in Hesse, the highest Christian holidays are half-quiet days (until midday) and in Rhineland-Palatinate, Easter Sunday and Christmas Day are two-thirds-quiet days (until 4 pm). For details see the German article on the ''[[:de:Tanzverbot|Tanzverbot]]'' ("dancing ban").

== Flag days ==
A yet third category that may sometimes be called "holidays" in a sense are the "flag days" (Beflaggungstage). Only the very highest institutions and the military use the national flags at every day, so the directives when flags ''are'' to be displayed mark the days in question as special.

Flags are to be shown by Federal Decree on
* Holocaust Memorial Day (27 January, half-mast)
* [[Labour Day]] (1 May)
* [[Europe Day]] (9 May)
* [[Constitution Day]] (23 May)
* [[East German uprising of 1953|Popular Uprising Day]] (17 June) This day was public holiday under the title of "German Unity Day" from 1954 until 1990 when that unity actually was achieved.
* [[20 July plot|Resistance Day]] (20 July)
* [[German Unity Day]] (3 October)
* [[Volkstrauertag|Memorial Day]] (half-mast) (two Sundays before the first Sunday of Advent)
* [[Election Day]] ([[Bundestag]], [[European Parliament]])
and by state decrees on other days, such as election days for state parliaments, state constitution days, anniversary of the election of the Federal President (in Berlin) and so forth.

Frequently flags are ordered ''ad hoc'' to be shown at half-mast in cases of national mourning.

== Unofficial holidays ==
Either [[Carnival]] Monday ("[[Rosenmontag]]") or [[Shrove Tuesday]] is a [[de facto]] holiday in some towns and cities in Catholic western and southern Germany which have a strong Carnival tradition.

Also, Christmas Eve is developing into a semi-holiday: from mid-afternoon it is practically treated as a holiday, and while shops still open in the morning, for other businesses (apart from those that work even on holidays) this is becoming increasingly unusual; schools are closed in any case.{{fact|date=May 2024}}

== Customs about holidays ==
Ascension Day (Christi Himmelfahrt) and Corpus Christi (Fronleichnam) are both always on Thursdays. By taking only one day's leave, employees can have a [[four-day weekend]].

The [[Three Kings Day]], better known as Epiphany, is 6 January, the day after the 12 days of Christmas. In parts of Germany, it has its [[Three Kings Day#National and local customs|own local customs]].

== Public holidays in the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) ==
{| border="0" style="background:#DDF;vertical-align:top" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2"
! Holiday !! Local name !! Date !! Remarks
|- style="background:#F8F8FF"
| [[New Year]] || {{Lang|de|Neujahr|italic=unset}} || 1 January ||
|- style="background:#F8F8FF"
| Good Friday || {{Lang|de|Karfreitag|italic=unset}} || Easter Sunday – 2d ||
|- style="background:#F8F8FF"
| Easter Monday || {{Lang|de|Ostermontag|italic=unset}} || Easter Sunday + 1d || until 1967 and in 1990
|- style="background:#F8F8FF"
| Labour Day || {{Lang|de|Internationaler Kampf- und Feiertag<br />der Werktätigen für Frieden und Sozialismus|italic=unset}} || 1 May ||
|- style="background:#F8F8FF"
| [[Liberation Day]] || {{Lang|de|Tag der Befreiung|italic=unset}} || 8 May || until 1967 and in 1985
|- style="background:#F8F8FF"
| [[Victory Day (9 May)|Victory Day]] || {{Lang|de|Tag des Sieges|italic=unset}} || 9 May || only in 1975
|- style="background:#F8F8FF"
| Ascension Day || {{Lang|de|Christi Himmelfahrt|italic=unset}} || Easter Sunday + 39d || until 1967 and in 1990
|- style="background:#F8F8FF"
| Whit Monday || {{Lang|de|Pfingstmontag|italic=unset}} || Easter Sunday + 50d ||
|- style="background:#F8F8FF"
| [[Republic Day (East Germany)|Day of the Republic]] || {{Lang|de|Tag der Republik|italic=unset}} || 7 October ||
|- style="background:#F8F8FF"
| Reformation Day || {{Lang|de|Reformationstag|italic=unset}} || 31 October || until 1966
|- style="background:#F8F8FF"
| Day of Repentance and Prayer || {{Lang|de|Buß- und Bettag|italic=unset}} || Wed. before 23 November || until 1966
|- style="background:#F8F8FF"
| Christmas Day || {{Lang|de|1. Weihnachtsfeiertag|italic=unset}} || 25 December ||
|- style="background:#F8F8FF"
| St Stephen's Day / Boxing Day || {{Lang|de|2. Weihnachtsfeiertag|italic=unset}} || 26 December ||
|}

== See also ==
* [[Holidays in Nazi Germany]]

== References ==
<references />

{{Public holidays in Europe}}

[[Category:Public holidays in Germany| ]]
[[Category:Lists of public holidays by country|Germany]]
[[Category:Lists of events in Germany|Holidays]]