Tradition
Christmas Eve and Midsummer Eve might very well be the single most important holidays during the entire year for Finns. Surprisingly they are not officially called holidays and are not so marked in calendars, but for most people, are not working days, and in practice they differ from official holidays only in that most shops are open on those days from early morning till noon. They hold this de facto status partly due to some statements in legislation but also because most employment contracts provides for these days as full holidays. A number of the less important main holidays are also preceded by de facto half days, meaning that in some (but not all) offices working hours are then shorter than normally. These are Maundy Thursday, the day before May Day and New Year's Eve.
Already before the 5 days working week was generally adopted in Finland in the late 1960s, working hours in most cases were shorter on Saturdays (4...5 h) than on other weekdays (8 h), but they were equally shorter also on all eves of public holidays, for example on the eve of Epiphany, the eve of All Saints' Day, and even including Christmas Eve and Midsummer Eve. But when Saturdays ceased to be working days, new contracts removed these shortenings from other holiday eves, except from Midsummer and Christmas Eve which also became de facto holidays.
The Finnish calendar also provides for special flag days. A day's status as a flag day has no formal link with an eventual status as an official or as a de facto holiday. However, May Day, Midsummer Day and Indepence Day have both the status of a flag day and a public holiday.
Finland has an official National Day, December 6. Some minor observances are also denoted in the Finnish calendar, though they have not been judged worthy of either holiday or flag day status.
| Date | English Name | Local Name – Finnish | Local Name – Swedish | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 January | New Year's Day | Uudenvuodenpäivä | Nyårsdagen | |
| 6 January | Epiphany | Loppiainen | Trettondedagen | |
| Moveable Friday | Good Friday | Pitkäperjantai | Långfredagen | The Friday before Easter Sunday |
| Moveable Sunday | Easter Sunday | Pääsiäispäivä | Påskdagen | |
| Moveable Monday | Easter Monday | 2. pääsiäispäivä | Andra påskdagen | The day after Easter Sunday |
| 1 May | May Day | Vappu | Valborgsmässoafton | See Walpurgis Night |
| Moveable Thursday | Ascension Day | Helatorstai | Kristi himmelfärds dag | 39 days after Easter Sunday |
| Moveable Sunday | Pentecost | Helluntaipäivä | Pingst | 49 days after Easter Sunday |
| Friday between 19 June and 25 June | Midsummer Eve | Juhannusaatto | Midsommarafton | Non official - Non-working day in the annual holiday act law 162/2005 |
| Saturday between 20 June and 26 June | Midsummer Day | Juhannuspäivä | Midsommardagen | Moved from 24 June |
| Saturday between 31 October and 6 November | All Saints' Day | Pyhäinpäivä | Alla helgons dag | Moved from 1 November |
| 6 December | Independence Day | Itsenäisyyspäivä | Självständighetsdagen | |
| 24 December | Christmas Eve | Jouluaatto | Julafton | Non official - Non-working day in the annual holiday act law 162/2005 |
| 25 December | Christmas Day | Joulupäivä | Juldagen | |
| 26 December | St Stephen's Day | 2. joulupäivä or tapaninpäivä | Andra juldagen | |
| All Sundays | Sunnuntai | Söndag | Official holidays - names follow the Liturgical year |
- Flag days in Finland
- Namesdays in Finland
- Tourism in Finland
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Read more about this topic: Public Holidays In Finland
Famous quotes containing the word tradition:
“To value the tradition of, and the discipline required for, the craft of fiction seems today pointless. The real Arcadia is a lonely, mountainous plateau, overbouldered and strewn with the skulls of sheep slain for vellum and old bitten pinions that tried to be quills. It’s forty rough miles by mule from Athens, a city where there’s a fair, a movie house, cotton candy.”
—Alexander Theroux (b. 1940)
““Where do architects and designers get their ideas?” The answer, of course, is mainly from other architects and designers, so is it mere casuistry to distinguish between tradition and plagiarism?”
—Stephen Bayley (b. 1951)
“I allude to these facts to show that, so far from the Supper being a tradition in which men are fully agreed, there has always been the widest room for difference of opinion upon this particular. Having recently given particular attention to this subject, I was led to the conclusion that Jesus did not intend to establish an institution for perpetual observance when he ate the Passover with his disciples; and further, to the opinion that it is not expedient to celebrate it as we do.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)