# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**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, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/21 "2007-08-26T23:06:01Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] 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? [/QUOTE] It doesn’t seem to have the status of a bank holiday. From [this](http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=1346992007) article published a couple of days ago > [@](#): > > But a report published today by the Scottish Executive to mark the milestone revealed there would only be an optional half-day holiday restricted to civil servants. Admittedly, that’s a piece from a politically slanted article, but the facts chime with what I’ve heard on local radio reports. It’s posturing basically. ---
**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, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/22 "2007-08-26T23:17:16Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] It doesn’t seem to have the status of a bank holiday. From [this](http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=1346992007) article published a couple of days ago [/QUOTE] The key is in the first sentence: "_Alex Salmond was today accused of watering down a key pledge to make St Andrew’s Day a **full public holiday**."_ He didn’t do this, he pledged to make it a _‘full national holiday’_, as twenty seconds with Google confirms. A meaningless term, probably deliberatly used becaused of the common confusion between the meanings of ‘bank’ and ‘public’ holidays. The Scotsman is either feigning ignorance for a bit of socialist-bashing, or making a big mistake itself. (For reference, it’s [a bank holiday](http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/Scotland/acts2007/20070002.htm).) ---
**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 27, 2007, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/23 "2007-08-27T02:15:31Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Socks] Is St. Jean-Baptiste celebrated in French-Canadian areas of the Northern U.S., like Vermont, New Hampshire or Maine? [/QUOTE] Could be. I know that francophones all across Canada celebrate it. It’s only in Quebec that it has official status (under another name), though. ---
**Author:** ![sugar\_and\_spice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@sugar\_and\_spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugar_and_spice)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/24 "2007-08-27T03:23:09Z")
The New York City alternate side parking [holiday calendar](http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/motorist/scrintro.shtml) includes, among other Catholic holy days, All Saints Day and the Feasts\*\* of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. Not full public holidays, but having owned a car in NYC, I can tell you that a street cleaning suspension is not an insignificant event. \*\*both feasts of Mary, see Nava’s post ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/25 "2007-08-27T03:29:01Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] 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. [/QUOTE] You’re getting a bit mixed up. The feast on 8 December is the Immaculate Conception of the BVM. The Annunciation is on 25 March (nine months before Christmas). The feast on 15 August is known in English as the Assumption of the BVM. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/26 "2007-08-27T11:47:49Z")
The Orthodox LOVE Saint’s Days. People here celebrate their Name Days (the Saint’s Day for the saint you’re named after) just like birthdays. It’s a big deal. Consequently, Saint’s Days that consist of common names are festive affairs. The only Saint’s Days that are actual national holidays in Bulgaria, though, are St. George’s Day (May 6, the Day of the Bulgarian Army) and St. St. Kyril and Metodi Day (May 24, Alphabet Day). ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2007, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835/27 "2007-08-28T17:38:46Z")
[QUOTE=matt\_mcl] 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. [/QUOTE] Patron saint of the entire Hispanic world? I’ve got a few well-muscled Mexican friends with tattoos of the Virgin of Guadalupe who would like to have a few words with you, alone! 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saints-days-as-public-legal-holidays/416835.md?page=1)