Public holidays in France

French etching from 1789 depicting the storming of the Bastille, commemorated as Bastille Day.

Public holidays in France are:

Date	English name	Local name	Remarks
1 January	New Year's Day	Premier de l'an / Jour de l' an
moveable	Good Friday	Vendredi Saint	Friday Before Easter (observed only in Alsace and Moselle)
moveable	Easter Monday	Lundi de Pâques	Monday after Easter (1 day after Easter)
1 May	May Day/Labour Day	Fête du Travail
8 May	Victory in Europe Day	Victoire 1945	End of hostilities in Europe in World War II
moveable	Ascension Day	Ascension	Thursday, 39 days after Easter
moveable	Whit Monday	Lundi de Pentecôte	Monday after Pentecost (49 days after Easter)
14 July	Bastille Day	Fête Nationale	National Day
15 August	Assumption of Mary to Heaven	Assomption
1 November	All Saints' Day	Toussaint
11 November	Veterans Day Armistice Day Remembrance Day	Armistice 1918	End of World War I
25 December	Christmas Day	Noël
26 December	St. Stephen's Day	Saint Etienne	Observed only in Alsace and Moselle

Please take a look here, to have all the dates (French Overseas Departments (DOM) added).

Note: French law impose that work should stop, but be paid, only for the Fête du Travail (May Day, May 1), except in industries where it is infeasible to stop working. The rest of the public holidays are listed in statute law, but law does not impose that work should stop; however leave of work may be granted by the employer or by convention collective (agreement between employers' and employees' unions).

Following a decision by prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Whit Monday should not be a public holiday, the decision has been overuled, instead workers need to work for a bank holiday (any bank holiday but May 1) or a compensatory leave

See also

• Public holidays in the Netherlands
• Public holidays in Belgium