Public holidays in Denmark
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of holidays in Denmark. Notice that not all of these are work holidays.
| Date | English Name | Local Name | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 1 | New Year's Day | Nytårsdag | A work holiday. | |
| Seven weeks before Easter Sunday | Fastelavn | Fastelavn | Danish version of Carnival. Children go to school dressed up in costume and go door-to-door for candy and sweets. A popular baked good associated with the day is Fastelavnsbolle (lit. Fastelavns bun), a round sweet roll usually covered with icing and filled with cream. | |
| Sunday before Easter Sunday | Palm Sunday | Palmesøndag | ||
| The Thursday before Easter Sunday | Maundy Thursday | Skærtorsdag | A work holiday. | |
| The Friday before Easter Sunday | Good Friday | Langfredag | A work holiday. | |
| March/April | Easter Sunday | Påskesøndag | Danes celebrate two days of Easter. | |
| The day after Easter Sunday | Easter Monday | 2. Påskedag | A work holiday. | |
| May 1 | Labour Day | Arbejdernes kampdag / 1. maj | Not everybody has this day off, and few people attend the political meetings, though many - especially young people - meet at the sites of the political meetings to drink beer and other alcoholic beverages. Copenhagen's Fælledparken is well known for its annual May 1 gathering. | |
| June 5 | Constitution Day | Grundlovsdag | The signing of the Danish constitution in 1849. | |
| The 4th Friday after Easter | General Prayer Day | Store Bededag | A work holiday. A collection of minor Christian holy days consolidated into one day. The name translates literally from Danish language, "Great Prayer Day". | |
| 40 days after Easter | Ascension Day | Kristi Himmelfartsdag | A work holiday. | |
| 7 weeks after Easter | Pentecost | Pinse | A work holiday. Danes celebrate two days of Pentecost. | |
| June 24 | Summer Solstice | Sankt Hans | Sankt Hans is the Danish name of St. John the Baptist. The day is celebrated with a bonfire. See the Denmark section under Midsummer | |
| November 10 | The Feast of Saint Martin | Mortensaften | Sankt Morten is the Danish name of Saint Martin of Tours. Martin was forced to become a bishop by his parisioners and tried to hide in a barn. However, the noise of the geese gave him away. As "revenge" Danes traditionally eat duck this evening, although logically it should be goose. | |
| December 13 | St. Lucia Day | Lucia Dag | ||
| December 24 | Christmas Eve | Juleaften | A work holiday. | |
| December 25 | First Day of Christmas | Juledag / 1. Juledag | A work holiday. Danes celebrate three days of Christmas. | |
| December 26 | Second Day of Christmas | 2. Juledag | A work holiday. | |
| December 31 | New Year's Eve | Nytårs aften | Mostly celebrated with friends and family. The Queen traditionally holds a televised speech at 6:00 PM. Midnight is celebrated with champagne, kransekage (lit. translated, ringcake)— an almond cake consisting of increasingly smaller and smaller rings stacked one on top of each other, creating an upside down cone form— and private displays of fireworks. |
