# Saint's Days as public/legal holidays **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 24, 2007, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835 "2007-08-24T22:04:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Captain\_Socks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a8b319/32.png) [@Captain\_Socks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Socks)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/1 "2007-08-24T22:04:02Z")
Where are Saint’s days public holidays? I know that St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday in the Republic of Ireland, and I think Newfoundland. I’ve also heard that St. Joseph’s day is a holiday in Malta. Where else are saint’s days public holidays? I’d assume mostly in majority Catholic countries. ---
**Author:** ![Bagistan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Bagistan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bagistan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/2 "2007-08-24T23:49:10Z")
St. Stephen’s Day (August 20) is a major holiday in Hungary. Additionally, December 26 is known as St. Stephen’s Day in several countries (Italy, Luxembourg) and is often a public holiday. In these cases, however, one might suspect Stephen wouldn’t have been as celebrated if his day weren’t the day after Christmas Day. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/3 "2007-08-25T00:05:35Z")
[QUOTE=Bagistan] St. Stephen’s Day (August 20) is a major holiday in Hungary. Additionally, December 26 is known as St. Stephen’s Day in several countries [/QUOTE] Different St. Stephens, btw. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/4 "2007-08-25T00:14:30Z")
As of this year, St Andrew’s Day in Scotland. (And St Patrick’s is a holiday in N Ireland as well.) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Socks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a8b319/32.png) [@Captain\_Socks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Socks)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/5 "2007-08-25T00:38:29Z")
What about St. George’s Day in England? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/6 "2007-08-25T00:44:01Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Socks] What about St. George’s Day in England? [/QUOTE] Nope, nor St David’s in Wales. The creation of the holiday in Scotland was done by the Scottish Parliament. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/7 "2007-08-25T01:39:25Z")
This [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_holidays_by_country) entry gives a list of holidays by country, any Saint’s Days being annotated as such. Obviously this isn’t as good as a list of Saint’s Days with annotations of where those days are holidays. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Socks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a8b319/32.png) [@Captain\_Socks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Socks)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/8 "2007-08-25T11:53:38Z")
St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday in some Caribbean island, I forget which one. Why? ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/9 "2007-08-25T13:58:45Z")
St. Jean-Baptiste (June 24) is THE major holiday in Quebec. A week later is the Canadian national holiday, which the Quebec tries to avoid celebrating going so far as to make it the day that all leases expire unless they have an explicit expiration date written in because they are for less than a year. This means that (nearly) everyone who is moving is moving on that day. Utterly bizarre and Quebeckers see nothing wrong with having a statutary “moving day” . ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/10 "2007-08-25T15:07:41Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Socks] St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday in some Caribbean island, I forget which one. Why? [/QUOTE] Why do you forget, or why is it a celebrated holiday? 😃 The islands are Montserrat and St. Croix. An explanation: [http://gocaribbean.about.com/od/specialinteresttravel/a/StPatricksCarib.htm](http://gocaribbean.about.com/od/specialinteresttravel/a/StPatricksCarib.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Socks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a8b319/32.png) [@Captain\_Socks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Socks)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/11 "2007-08-25T15:13:03Z")
[QUOTE=vetbridge] Why do you forget, or why is it a celebrated holiday? 😃 The islands are Montserrat and St. Croix. An explanation: [http://gocaribbean.about.com/od/specialinteresttravel/a/StPatricksCarib.htm](http://gocaribbean.about.com/od/specialinteresttravel/a/StPatricksCarib.htm) [/QUOTE] : pacing: Why did I forget? \*Why \* did I forget?!? ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/12 "2007-08-25T16:00:53Z")
[QUOTE=Hari Seldon] St. Jean-Baptiste (June 24) is THE major holiday in Quebec. [/quote] Yeah, but the statutory holiday is officially called the Fête nationale du Québec. > [@](#): > > A week later is the Canadian national holiday, which the Quebec tries to avoid celebrating It is celebrated in Quebec. > [@](#): > > This means that (nearly) everyone who is moving is moving on that day. Utterly bizarre and Quebeckers see nothing wrong with having a statutary “moving day” . Not bizarre, it makes it simpler to find a place to stay if many people move at the same time as you. (I think that here in Sherbrooke you may easily find leases starting at other times, though, because it is a student town and people often have to leave for a work term.) ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/13 "2007-08-25T20:33:16Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Socks] Where are Saint’s days public holidays? [/QUOTE] Try predominantly Catholic cities. In Buffalo, New York, at one time city employees were allowed to take their choice of St. Joseph’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day or Dyngus Day (Easter Monday) off. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Socks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a8b319/32.png) [@Captain\_Socks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Socks)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/14 "2007-08-25T22:45:20Z")
How are Saint’s Days celebrated in Catholic enclaves of the U.S., like Little Italy or South Boston? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/15 "2007-08-26T04:32:44Z")
The Spanish national holiday, October 12, is Nuestra Señora del Pilar, the patron saint of the Hispanic world, as well as the anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in the new world. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Socks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a8b319/32.png) [@Captain\_Socks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Socks)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/16 "2007-08-26T21:03:39Z")
Is St. Jean-Baptiste celebrated in French-Canadian areas of the Northern U.S., like Vermont, New Hampshire or Maine? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/17 "2007-08-26T21:11:07Z")
July 25 (St James, patron of Spain) was a National Holiday in Spain until this year. Other national holidays that were taken off the calendar by the previous bout of Socialist government include Sts Peter and Paul (June 29) and Corpus. December 8th (feast of the Annunciation) and August 15th (not sure what it’s called in English and feeling too lazy to look it up… the Ascent of Our Lady to Heaven in body and soul) are national holidays. Most regional and local holidays in Spain are saint’s days. Many are hidden under other names, for example March 19, Feast of St Joseph, Artisan, is now officially “Father’s Day” except in Valencia where they still claim that Fallas are “around St Joe’s”; but if you get a calendar pre-1976, they’re shown under the saint’s name. St John the Baptist’s Eve is a very important and not always official holiday in many locations in Spain. I’ve never seen Barcelona more dead than in a St John’s Day… you see more people around in August! ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/18 "2007-08-26T21:19:28Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] As of this year, St Andrew’s Day in Scotland. [/QUOTE] It’s only a voluntary thing though. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/19 "2007-08-26T22:42:38Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] It’s only a voluntary thing though. [/QUOTE] What do you mean by this? If you mean that it’s like other bank holidays, in that it’s not a true public holiday, then yes. But it has the same status as, say, the May Day bank holiday, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/20 "2007-08-26T22:53:17Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Socks] How are Saint’s Days celebrated in Catholic enclaves of the U.S., like Little Italy or South Boston? [/QUOTE] Boston uses “Evacuation Day” as a secular excuse to celebrate St Pattis day, as it coincides with the end of the Siege of Boston. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835.md?page=2)