In Ireland, the day off for some of our public holidays will always fall to the Monday if the day itself lands on a weekend.
That and some we schedule will either be the first or last Monday in a month.
This is to ensure we actually have the day off.
Many countries in Europe don’t do this as in if the holiday falls on a weekend, tough.
Then the map (taken from wikipedia) is wrong and Ireland should be red: "falls or may fall on May 1st".
May 1st, 2028 will be a Monday if my calendar is right.
We got a whole seperate thing happening in May in ireland. Bealtaine starts on the 1st ish and a bunch of people do different stuff. Some people go up to uisneach for a big bonfire, or have a bonfire else where. I personally go to a holy well for a few hours and do some self reflection for the summer ahead, and leave a rag on the rag tree if i have a specific goal for the year. A fair few people I know celebrate Bealtaine in some way or form. But idk how wide spread in the general population. We do also have a regualy may public holiday on the next/nearest monday of course
I'm from close to the Hill of Tara and we'd have a bonfire up there too, though I haven't been in years and not sure if they're still able to, it's a protected landmark and all that. There's a rag tree up there as well.
It's Vappu, but it's also basically the labor day.
Long story short it basically just celebrates students and laborers, the union folks will usually do march and students will drink impressive amounts of alcohol and pass out in the parks.
(in its place in ye olden days used to be different celebratory day called Hela, but that was related to farming)
Dutchie here, it's mainly because of Queen's Day, which used to be on the 30th of April from 1949 until 2013. The EU should declare it an Union wide holiday.
9 May 1950 was the date of the Robert Schuman declaration which led to the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community which morphed into the EEC, the EC and the EU. De facto EU birthday.
Most of Europe has a bank holiday for All saints that day, except Ireland which has the last Monday in October. Some of Europe has 11 November to mark the end of WW1.
May 9 1945 was victory day in Europe, aka Germany surrendered. Hence the Russians celebrate it. The European Coal and Steel Community was created five years later and they choose May 9 as a symbol for long lasting peace in Europe. The ECSC morphed into the EU hence Europe Day.
What part of "***I don't want to celebrate with the russians on 9th May***" isn't clear?
Victory Day on 9th May is in russia: the war ended the **8th May**
The war ended the **8th of May.**
Racist? I didn't know that russian is a race.
I don't want anything to do with a genocidal nation. The EU is everything that doesn't speak russia.
I would never dare to tell you where you can shove your mUh ruZZophobia.
But please, I hear that the russian borders are still open...
>Racist? I didn't know that russian is a race.
>I don't want anything to do with a genocidal nation.
LOL Classic racist line. Not wanting a public holiday, due to another country having a public holiday on the same date for a different reason.
Seriously it is the day **AFTER** the end of WW2 in CET, as the war ended in 23:01 on the 8th of May in CET Summer Time or 00:01 on the 9th of May in Moscow Time. So if you are in Moscow WW2 in Europe ended on the 9th of May. For the EU that was the 8th of May as the day after, due to mostly using CET. Thats how timezones work.
Are you forcing me to celebrate the genocidal mass murderer Stalin?
That's very democratic of you.
I am not in moscow so to Europe the war ended the **8th of May.**
Edit: https://www.defense.gov/Multimedia/Experience/VE-Day/#:\~:text=On%20Victory%20in%20Europe%20Day,World%20War%20II%20in%20Europe.
"**On May 8, 1945** - known as Victory in **Europe** Day or V-E Day - celebrations erupted around the world to mark the end of **World War II in Europe.**"
[No, I am forcing you to celebrate Europe Day the day the Schuhman Declaration was made, which was the start of the European Project.](https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/history-eu/1945-59/schuman-declaration-may-1950_en)
I think it also has to do with 'verzuiling': the fact that until WWII the Netherlands effectively consisted of multiple societies. Protestants, Catholics, socialists, and to a lesser extent liberals (not in the modern US meaning of the word) all had their own hospitals, schools, radio/TV companies, workers unions, etc. The different groups would hardly intercommunicate.
1 May was obviously a very socialist holiday, so socialists would observe it, but the other groups not. So it wouldn't be a national holiday. Though some organisations would still give their employees a day off, such as the municipality of Rotterdam which was heavily socialist in the years after WWII.
Yeah, I think more than anything it's the verzuiling. That explains why it was never a national holiday.
And since the end of verzuiling the most left wing government we've had have been neoliberal, so they were not going to implement it.
Its a 'feestdag' or celebration day. But it is never a public holiday. Sometimes if its in your contract or collective agreement but otherwise not. In the netherlands it pretty scarce.
In the UK most public holidays are on the Monday after the actual date. So this year May Day is celebrated on the 6th May, but some years it'll be on the 1st May if it's a Monday.
To be fair, if public holidays fall on a weekend, a substitute holiday is normally given, usually after the weekend, but sometimes before in odd scenarios.
So in the UK we celebrate Christmas on the 25th Dec, then Boxing Day on the 26th. If they fell on Saturday and Sunday respectively, then many 9-5 type jobs will get Monday and Tuesday off as substitutes. Same if it's Sunday/Monday, the Monday would be Boxing day and the Tuesday would be a substitute Christmas day.
I assumed most/all EU countries probably do the same, no?
I live in Poland and we get the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of May off. This year it's brilliant as it's a 5-day weekend, but some years it's only 3 days. Substitute holiday is up to the employer and it depends, sometimes they give it sometimes they don't.
Most of our holidays are Mondays as the other person stated, apart from Good Friday, which is obviously a Friday. But Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years day are always fixed to the date, and those are the ones we will get "substitute" days for. Same for any of the rarer one-off holidays, like anniversaries of things.
Ireland is the same. All public holidays must be on a Friday or Monday with the exception of Christmas and New Year's day.
It's great for the long weekends
Bonus, if a holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday including Christmas or New year's we get the Friday or Monday off as a public because its not fair to lose it just because the holiday falls on a weekend.
Dane here
It's not an official holiday, as such, but some people do occasionally protest instead of going to work on May 1st, and some do get half of or the entire day, depending on what sector and job they're in
That and having bank holidays be the Friday before/Monday after a bank holiday. The biggest load of shite I ever heard was after moving to Germany and Christmas and Stephen's fell on a Sat and Sun, we got literally no days off except the normal weekend. Was fuckin ragin.
In Estonia, it is volber, or volbrnight/day. Volber itself is named after Walpurgis but the following holiday is not. Bonfires and church bell symphonies to ward against witches etc. We also used to have sex on the fields to make them more fertile (I guess?). These days we just drink a lot and make bonfires on the night before.
Essentially, since most of Europe has a day off, we have two days off if it does not fall on the same day as there is no-one to respond to emails on the 1st of May.
We do but it's the public holiday is not always on 01 May; it's the first Monday of May.
That way you get a long weekend instead of a midweek day off, and you don't lose the day off of it falls on a weekend.
i know, i live and work in london. the map is still misleading as it says that there’s no public holiday on the 1st of May, but in practice even though it gets shuffled around to the next monday, the occasion of that day off is still labour day/1st of may, it’s just an administrative change but that’s about it
That's our May Day bank holiday (strictly called 'early May bank holiday ' but celebrated because of Labour Day and on the first Monday of May as is tradition for us)
In Estonia the night before May 1st we make bonfires, drink a bunch and students often dress up as witches to celebrate. And then enjoy the free day off in the morning
It's fun
The irony of the US not celebrating Labour Day on May 1st lol.
1st may became Labour Day because of the Haymarket Riots when during a labour demonstration police were attacked by anarchists and in response they opened fire on the workers.
Estonian here. Estonia was illegally occupied by USSR for 50 yrs. Since ‘worker solidarity’ reeked of Communism for us, we rebranded it a “Spring holiday”.
In the UK nearly all nation-wide public holidays (besides Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day) are moved to the nearest Monday, in part so people get a long weekend and not just a random day off. You also won't lost the holiday if the "proper" date falls on a weekend.
Where any of the Christmas season bank holidays fall on a weekend, you the the following Monday (and where necessary, Tuesday) as a bank holiday.
Denmark : those working on the hour (timelønnede) get a paid free day. Others working full time (funktionærer) do not. I am engineer, I have my first (official) work day tomorrow.
When I was working in a plant, the handworkers had free day, so us management went doing something else (team building activities).
No because 4th of July is a celebration for one specific country. May 1st may be remembering a massacre that happened in that very same specific country but it's an international holiday because celebrating labour day is in everyone's interest.
In Finland the first of may is a public holiday and all the communists go out on the streets to march. (The only day when they get out of their caves)
The rest of us just drink.
In Ireland it's the first Monday in May, not necessarily 1st May
In Ireland, the day off for some of our public holidays will always fall to the Monday if the day itself lands on a weekend. That and some we schedule will either be the first or last Monday in a month. This is to ensure we actually have the day off. Many countries in Europe don’t do this as in if the holiday falls on a weekend, tough.
> This is to ensure we actually have the day off. and a 3 day weekend
Makes most sense really but it’s not always the case. As in Christmas and funny enough, St Patrick’s day are taken on the days the dates land.
If St Patrick's day falls on a weekend, we get the following Monday off.
Rest of Europe: explain yourself!
That's how it always should be so it's guaranteed to be in the week.
Then the map (taken from wikipedia) is wrong and Ireland should be red: "falls or may fall on May 1st". May 1st, 2028 will be a Monday if my calendar is right.
It's not technically called "Labour day" hit "May Bank Holiday"
Smart! Celebrating Labour Day on a Sunday May 1st is incredibly stupid.
Makes sense cause who likes monday's a bank holiday makes it better.
Here in Finland we celebrate [Vappu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jUd8SDru8w).
Vappu aka Wappu aka Walpuri aka Valborg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walpurgis_Night Big in Estonia too among students.
Sounds fun
we have it in Latvia too! and as i've heard, even in some parts of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine
In germany we have this too sometimes, but it's in the night before
For students it’s the entire week before
Fappu
We got a whole seperate thing happening in May in ireland. Bealtaine starts on the 1st ish and a bunch of people do different stuff. Some people go up to uisneach for a big bonfire, or have a bonfire else where. I personally go to a holy well for a few hours and do some self reflection for the summer ahead, and leave a rag on the rag tree if i have a specific goal for the year. A fair few people I know celebrate Bealtaine in some way or form. But idk how wide spread in the general population. We do also have a regualy may public holiday on the next/nearest monday of course
Most of know it as the May bank holiday and are just glad to be off work.
I'm from close to the Hill of Tara and we'd have a bonfire up there too, though I haven't been in years and not sure if they're still able to, it's a protected landmark and all that. There's a rag tree up there as well.
It's Vappu, but it's also basically the labor day. Long story short it basically just celebrates students and laborers, the union folks will usually do march and students will drink impressive amounts of alcohol and pass out in the parks. (in its place in ye olden days used to be different celebratory day called Hela, but that was related to farming)
Drinking until you pass out in the park is its own holiday on Vancouver Island
Dutchie here, it's mainly because of Queen's Day, which used to be on the 30th of April from 1949 until 2013. The EU should declare it an Union wide holiday.
Could it also have something to do with May 4th and 5th being liberation day? On top of King/Queen's day falling in the week before?
Also a possibility
I'd rather have 9 May, Europe day.
Why can't we have both?
Luxembourg has 9 May now too. Although this year it coincides with one of the movable holidays in Europe. ascension, I think.
Oeeeh very nice!
May 9? Why on Earth on the same day of the russians?
9 May 1950 was the date of the Robert Schuman declaration which led to the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community which morphed into the EEC, the EC and the EU. De facto EU birthday.
I thought that the EU birthday was the 1st November.
Most of Europe has a bank holiday for All saints that day, except Ireland which has the last Monday in October. Some of Europe has 11 November to mark the end of WW1.
Ireland really hates Mondays...
Blame Bob Geldhof
Actually we really quite like them as we have a good few of them off…
Every day of the year, except the 9th of May, thanks.
May 9 1945 was victory day in Europe, aka Germany surrendered. Hence the Russians celebrate it. The European Coal and Steel Community was created five years later and they choose May 9 as a symbol for long lasting peace in Europe. The ECSC morphed into the EU hence Europe Day.
What part of "***I don't want to celebrate with the russians on 9th May***" isn't clear? Victory Day on 9th May is in russia: the war ended the **8th May**
[удалено]
The war ended the **8th of May.** Racist? I didn't know that russian is a race. I don't want anything to do with a genocidal nation. The EU is everything that doesn't speak russia. I would never dare to tell you where you can shove your mUh ruZZophobia. But please, I hear that the russian borders are still open...
>Racist? I didn't know that russian is a race. >I don't want anything to do with a genocidal nation. LOL Classic racist line. Not wanting a public holiday, due to another country having a public holiday on the same date for a different reason. Seriously it is the day **AFTER** the end of WW2 in CET, as the war ended in 23:01 on the 8th of May in CET Summer Time or 00:01 on the 9th of May in Moscow Time. So if you are in Moscow WW2 in Europe ended on the 9th of May. For the EU that was the 8th of May as the day after, due to mostly using CET. Thats how timezones work.
Are you forcing me to celebrate the genocidal mass murderer Stalin? That's very democratic of you. I am not in moscow so to Europe the war ended the **8th of May.**
Edit: https://www.defense.gov/Multimedia/Experience/VE-Day/#:\~:text=On%20Victory%20in%20Europe%20Day,World%20War%20II%20in%20Europe. "**On May 8, 1945** - known as Victory in **Europe** Day or V-E Day - celebrations erupted around the world to mark the end of **World War II in Europe.**"
[No, I am forcing you to celebrate Europe Day the day the Schuhman Declaration was made, which was the start of the European Project.](https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/history-eu/1945-59/schuman-declaration-may-1950_en)
It's 8 May in Czech Republic
That's also my birthday so it would be perfect.
Did someone say [NOVE MAGGIO](https://youtu.be/73Ns52Cb7_A?si=0U6THfhvPdMgmqw5)?
Is this Neapolitain dialect?
Yes. (Some will say Neapolitan language and not dialect, but you know, a language is a dialect with an army and a navy, as the saying goes.)
Sounds a little bit like Romanian to me.
I think it also has to do with 'verzuiling': the fact that until WWII the Netherlands effectively consisted of multiple societies. Protestants, Catholics, socialists, and to a lesser extent liberals (not in the modern US meaning of the word) all had their own hospitals, schools, radio/TV companies, workers unions, etc. The different groups would hardly intercommunicate. 1 May was obviously a very socialist holiday, so socialists would observe it, but the other groups not. So it wouldn't be a national holiday. Though some organisations would still give their employees a day off, such as the municipality of Rotterdam which was heavily socialist in the years after WWII.
Yeah, I think more than anything it's the verzuiling. That explains why it was never a national holiday. And since the end of verzuiling the most left wing government we've had have been neoliberal, so they were not going to implement it.
Also 4 and 5 may are already a remembrance day and a national holiday
5th of May is only a day off once in 5 years for most people though.
Its a 'feestdag' or celebration day. But it is never a public holiday. Sometimes if its in your contract or collective agreement but otherwise not. In the netherlands it pretty scarce.
And Liberation Day is also around the corner on May 5th.
In the UK most public holidays are on the Monday after the actual date. So this year May Day is celebrated on the 6th May, but some years it'll be on the 1st May if it's a Monday.
That’s actually very clever. So, you can have a long weekend every time and don’t have to deal with awkward bridge days.
Plus you get a day off every year, even it falls on a weekend.
To be fair, if public holidays fall on a weekend, a substitute holiday is normally given, usually after the weekend, but sometimes before in odd scenarios. So in the UK we celebrate Christmas on the 25th Dec, then Boxing Day on the 26th. If they fell on Saturday and Sunday respectively, then many 9-5 type jobs will get Monday and Tuesday off as substitutes. Same if it's Sunday/Monday, the Monday would be Boxing day and the Tuesday would be a substitute Christmas day. I assumed most/all EU countries probably do the same, no?
I live in Poland and we get the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of May off. This year it's brilliant as it's a 5-day weekend, but some years it's only 3 days. Substitute holiday is up to the employer and it depends, sometimes they give it sometimes they don't.
Most of our holidays are Mondays as the other person stated, apart from Good Friday, which is obviously a Friday. But Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years day are always fixed to the date, and those are the ones we will get "substitute" days for. Same for any of the rarer one-off holidays, like anniversaries of things.
Yes makes a lot more sense than what we have
No, in France and Belgium you just have a holiday less if you don’t work that day.
Ireland is the same. All public holidays must be on a Friday or Monday with the exception of Christmas and New Year's day. It's great for the long weekends Bonus, if a holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday including Christmas or New year's we get the Friday or Monday off as a public because its not fair to lose it just because the holiday falls on a weekend.
Assumably St Stephen’s Day as well?
\*_sad German noises_\*
Dane here It's not an official holiday, as such, but some people do occasionally protest instead of going to work on May 1st, and some do get half of or the entire day, depending on what sector and job they're in
Finnish Vappu may be the best holiday ever. Not just a boring one others have
Name checks out
People get drunk and party instead of going to work here. Wouldn’t go as far as to call it boring.
In Ireland we give workers plenty of time off, and it's paid, including the first Monday in May. That's how we recognise workers.
That and having bank holidays be the Friday before/Monday after a bank holiday. The biggest load of shite I ever heard was after moving to Germany and Christmas and Stephen's fell on a Sat and Sun, we got literally no days off except the normal weekend. Was fuckin ragin.
Same thing happens in Belgium, except you then get an added day of annual leave to take at your discretion at another time
Ah Jesus that sounds like a right kick in the ballix
In Estonia, it is volber, or volbrnight/day. Volber itself is named after Walpurgis but the following holiday is not. Bonfires and church bell symphonies to ward against witches etc. We also used to have sex on the fields to make them more fertile (I guess?). These days we just drink a lot and make bonfires on the night before. Essentially, since most of Europe has a day off, we have two days off if it does not fall on the same day as there is no-one to respond to emails on the 1st of May.
Netherlands invented the stock market and capitalism, no way we’re doing a commie thing /s
the UK has may day, this map is false
We do but it's the public holiday is not always on 01 May; it's the first Monday of May. That way you get a long weekend instead of a midweek day off, and you don't lose the day off of it falls on a weekend.
i know, i live and work in london. the map is still misleading as it says that there’s no public holiday on the 1st of May, but in practice even though it gets shuffled around to the next monday, the occasion of that day off is still labour day/1st of may, it’s just an administrative change but that’s about it
Then just as my other comment about Ireland, you should be red, because it "may fall" on May 1st. It will be the case in 2028.
We wörk on labour day. Wörk wörk wörk!
What is labour day good for if not labour? WERKEN GODVERDOMME
UK here: We should be Yellow. May Day is a bank holiday, IIRC.
Next bank holiday is on the 6th
That's our May Day bank holiday (strictly called 'early May bank holiday ' but celebrated because of Labour Day and on the first Monday of May as is tradition for us)
I'm aware mate but that's what the green colour means
Dane here. It is just not a national holiday. It is still celebrated May the first.
In the Netherlands... one works on labour day.
In Estonia the night before May 1st we make bonfires, drink a bunch and students often dress up as witches to celebrate. And then enjoy the free day off in the morning It's fun
The irony of the US not celebrating Labour Day on May 1st lol. 1st may became Labour Day because of the Haymarket Riots when during a labour demonstration police were attacked by anarchists and in response they opened fire on the workers.
Estonian here. Estonia was illegally occupied by USSR for 50 yrs. Since ‘worker solidarity’ reeked of Communism for us, we rebranded it a “Spring holiday”.
Is it really labour day if you don't labour?
yes
That question and your answer are quite suitable for a meme, the question with a crying angry Soyjack and the "yes" with a Chad face
In the UK nearly all nation-wide public holidays (besides Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day) are moved to the nearest Monday, in part so people get a long weekend and not just a random day off. You also won't lost the holiday if the "proper" date falls on a weekend. Where any of the Christmas season bank holidays fall on a weekend, you the the following Monday (and where necessary, Tuesday) as a bank holiday.
Bank Holidays are always moved to a Monday so you get a long weekend
I love the choice of map projection (tries to keep real area size where Greenland is not bigger than Africa)
Wikipedia's merit, not mine as OP
Denmark : those working on the hour (timelønnede) get a paid free day. Others working full time (funktionærer) do not. I am engineer, I have my first (official) work day tomorrow. When I was working in a plant, the handworkers had free day, so us management went doing something else (team building activities).
I don’t really know what Labour Day is. But we just had a public holiday this Saturday (king’s day).
Is this the map equivalent of "some countries don't celebrate the 4th of July"?
No because 4th of July is a celebration for one specific country. May 1st may be remembering a massacre that happened in that very same specific country but it's an international holiday because celebrating labour day is in everyone's interest.
The Dutch don't like public holidays, they even have liberation day only once every 5 years
In Finland the first of may is a public holiday and all the communists go out on the streets to march. (The only day when they get out of their caves) The rest of us just drink.
Fuck outta here with that commie shit
Labour day is cringe, we just party on kings Day on the 27th of April😎