Pertinent Details About French National Holidays

Public holidays are called as Jours Feries in France and they are celebrated in varied ways as according to the character 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 are called as Jours Feries in France and they are celebrated in varied ways as corresponding to the character 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.

There is an interesting feature connected with the public holidays in France. The French would like to make a four day holiday package by taking a day off before weekend if a holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday.

In addition to national public holidays in France which are celebrated by the entire nation, practically every region in France has its own holidays and festivals which are celebrated regionally.

Two major public holidays are celebrated in France during the winter time; Christmas and New Years Day, which fall on the 25th December and January 1st respectively. Celebrations for Christmas and New Years Day are very similar to those held in most other countries. Boxing Day, which is on the 26th of December, is not a public holiday in France; however, it is celebrated in the Alsace region of France where most businesses stay closed.

Easter is a public holiday in France and it falls during the last week of March or in the first week of April. Many Easter related holidays are declared in the later part of the year. Good Friday is not declared a public holiday in France but it is practically so in Alsace where people tend to take a day off.

Ascension Thursday which occurs precisely 40 days after Easter is observed 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 no doubt 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 observed in all the French speaking nations with pomp and splendour and with fireworks.

All Saints Day, a Catholic-rooted day is a declared public holiday in France and it is celebrated on the 1st of November. The day on which Armistice was authorized towards the end of the First World War is celebrated as public holiday in France on 11th November.

Travel by train in France is pleasant and safe due to sufficient railway infrastructure investment. If you want to know where you can go on Public holidays in France follow the hyperlinks.