Why are there so many public holidays in France in May?

France has eleven public holidays (or thirteen if you happen to live in the regions of Alsace and Moselle). A mixture of civic and religious events, these are dates on which most people get to take the day off from work or school, and often celebrate, depending on the day and the traditions around it. The biggest celebrations typically fall on Christmas, Easter and Bastille Day.

There’s nearly a public holiday for each month of the year, but they aren’t spread evenly. In fact, there aren’t any in September and October, while May usually has three (and for those living in Alsace and Moselle, some years there are even four holidays in this month).

What is the reason for this? Well, it helps that May is one of the longer months, with thirty-one days. But beyond that, it’s mostly just coincidence. Labour Day falls on the feast day of St Joseph the Worker, which is 1st May, while V.E. Day occurred in late spring. And while the French do not get Good Friday off, they do get to relax on Easter Monday, which, being a ‘moveable feast’ (meaning it doesn’t fall on the same date each year), can happen in either late April or early May. Since the Ascension occurs 39 days after Easter Sunday, this will often happen in May if Easter happens in April.

The second day of Eastertide (after Easter Sunday), this is the first public holiday in France after New Year’s Day (although Alsace and Moselle also get Easter Friday off, meaning a four-day weekend, as these regions observe the German calendar from before they were incorporated into France).

Often referred to as Labour Day in English, or International Workers’ Day, this day commemorates the strike that led to the Haymarket Affair in Chicago, 1886. Of course, celebration of May Day goes back much farther in France, and can even be traced to a Celtic tradition. King Charles IX was gifted a lily of the valley (muguet in French) on May Day, and it remains a tradition to this day to gift friends and family this symbolic flower on ‘ La Fête du Muguet’.

VE Day celebrates the day the Second World War ended in Europe. This year was the 80th anniversary of VE day.

In the Biblical tradition, the Feast of the Ascension celebrates the ascent of Jesus into Heaven after his resurrection at Easter.