Holidays in 2024

01.01.New Year
 In 153 BC, the Romans, according to their calendar, moved the beginning of the year of office from 1 March to 1 January.
 
06.01.Epiphany
 The Christian tradition calls the Three Wise Men from the Orient the ·star-readers· mentioned in the Christmas story, who were led to Jesus by the star of Bethlehem.
 
08.03.International Women·s Day
 The World Women·s Day originated as an initiative of socialist organisations in the period around the First World War in the struggle for equal rights, voting rights for women and the emancipation of female workers. Since 2019 it is a public holiday in Berlin, since 2023 also in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
 
20.03.Start of Spring
 Astronomically, spring begins with the vernal equinox (also known as the equinox), which in the northern hemisphere is March 19, 20 or 21.
 
29.03.Good Friday
 Good Friday is also known as the ·High Friday·.
 
31.03.Easter Sunday
 Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon in spring.
 
31.03.Start of Daylight Saving Time
 Since 1996 summer time always starts on the last Sunday in March.
 
01.04.Easter Monday
 Last chance to look for eggs ...
 
01.05.Labor Day
 In Finland, Vappu, the day of spring, students and Finnish work is celebrated on May 1st.
 
09.05.Ascension Day / Father·s Day
 According to the German Federal Statistical Office, the number of alcohol-related traffic accidents on Ascension Day increases to three times the average for other days.
 
19.05.Pentecost Sunday
 A long weekend begins.
 
20.05.Whit Monday
 In Frankfurt am Main, even until the 1990s, the Wäldchestag, a public festival on the afternoon of Whit Tuesday, was a day off from work.
 
30.05.Corpus Christi
 The Feast of Corpus Christi or Feast of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Latin Sollemnitas Sanctissimi Corporis et Sanguinis Christi) is a high feast in the church year of the Catholic Church.
 
15.06.Veterans Day
 Veterans' Day is a day of remembrance in various countries to commemorate military veterans. In Germany, the day of remembrance is celebrated annually on 15 June; a large event is held in Berlin on the weekend before or after 15 June. The day was chosen because the veterans' medal was awarded for the first time on 15 June 2019.
 
20.06.Start of Summer
 Astronomically, summer begins with the summer solstice - the point in time when the sun is vertically above the Tropic of Cancer in one·s own hemisphere and the days are longest, in the northern hemisphere thus on June 20, 21 or 22.
 
08.08.Augsburg Peace Festival
 The high peace festival is a public holiday only in the city of Augsburg.
 
15.08.Assumption Day
 Assumption into Heaven, also known as the Assumption or Completion of Mary, is a high feast of the Roman Catholic Church.
 
20.09.World Children·s Day
 Children·s Day, also known as World Children·s Day, International Children·s Day or International Day of the Child, is a day celebrated in over 145 countries around the world to draw attention to the special needs of children and especially to children·s rights. Since 2019 it has been a public holiday in Thuringia.
 
22.09.Start of Autumn
 Astronomically, autumn begins at the autumnal equinox (also known as Equinox or the equinox), which in the northern hemisphere is 22 or 23 September.
 
03.10.Anniversary of German Reunion
 October 3rd was designated as the Day of German Unity in the 1990 Unification Treaty as a public holiday in Germany.
 
27.10.End of Daylight Saving Time
 Finally the -normal- time again ...
 
31.10.Reformation Day / Halloween
 In 1517, the monk and professor of theology, Martin Luther, proposed 95 theses on indulgences and penance at the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, thus initiating the reformation of the church. Legendary and historically impossible to prove exactly is a direct line from Halloween to the Celtic-Anglo-Saxon festival of the God of the Dead Samhain.
 
01.11.All Saints· Day
 All Saints· Day is a Christian celebration of all saints - including those who have not been canonized - and of the many saints whose holiness no one knows about but God.
 
20.11.Day of Prayer and Repentance
 After reunification, the Day of Penance and Prayer was also adopted by all the new German states and thus became a Germany-wide holiday in 1990. Since 1995, it has only been a public holiday in Saxony.
 
01.12.1st Advent
 The Advent season was originally a time of fasting.
 
06.12.Santa Claus
 The custom of filling shoes at night is based on the legend of the three virgins who received gifts from St. Nicholas at night. In Luxembourg, children in pre-school and primary school (up to the age of twelve) have no schooling.
 
08.12.2nd Advent
 The Advent wreath with its four candles points to the light that came into the world with Christ.
 
15.12.3rd Advent
 As a relic of the mining tradition of the Erzgebirge, during the Advent and Christmas season from dusk on, a candle-lit candle arch can be found in many windows.
 
21.12.Start of Winter
 Astronomically, winter begins with the winter solstice - the point in time when the sun is vertically above the Tropic of Cancer in the other half of the earth and the days are shortest, in the northern hemisphere on 21 or 22 December.
 
22.12.4th Advent
 In the Roman Church of the West there were initially between four and six Sundays in Advent, until Pope Gregory the Great first fixed their number at four.
 
24.12.Christmas Eve
 In Europe, the family Christmas celebration with presents and banquets has increasingly shifted to the evening of December 24th. In most other countries, presents are distributed on the morning of Christmas Day.
 
25.12.Christmas Day
 As an ecclesiastical holiday, 25 December has only been recorded in Rome since 336.
 
26.12.Boxing Day
 The 2nd day of Christmas is also known as Saint Stephen·s Day.