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Since you "made me" look it up, these are all holidays in the CITY of Madrid, not counting bridges for 2006:

NATIONAL:
1 Enero:  New Year´s.
14 de Abril, holy friday...Viernes Santo
1 de Mayo, Labor Day, Fiesta del Trabajo
15 de Agosto, Asumption of the virgen, Asunción de la Virgen
12 de Octubre, Nation Day,Fiesta Nacional de España
1 de Noviembre, All Saints,Todos los Santos followed by All Dead??? on Nov. 2.
6 de Diciembre, Constitution Day, Día de la Constitución Española
8 de Diciembre, Immaculate Day, La Inmaculada Concepción
25 de Diciembre, Xmas, Natividad del Señor

NOT SUBSTITUTED: Fiestas nacionales que la Comunidad
Autónoma no ha ejercido la facultad de sustitución:
6 de Enero, Epiphany, 3 WISE MEN bring gifts, Epifanía del Señor
19 March saint Joseph.
20 de Marzo, Monday following the 19th, Lunes siguiente a San José
13 de Abril, holy thursday!!!! Jueves Santo

PROVINCE HOLIDAYS: Fiesta de la Comunidad Autónoma:
2 de Mayo, Community Day, Fiesta de la Comunidad

LOCAL HOLIDAYS: Fiestas locales de la capital de la provincia: Madrid:
15 de Mayo, San Isidro???
9 de Noviembre, Our lady of, Ntra.Sra. de la Almudena

Sorry you don´t work here?

Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.

by metavision on Sat Dec 9th, 2006 at 01:54:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Italy -

National Holidays

1st January NEW YEAR'S DAY

6th January EPIPHANY

17th April  EASTER MONDAY (we go into the countryside to have picnics - kind of spring festival?.. and oddly enough, Easter Friday is NOT a holiday here.. go figure?)

25th April LIBERATION DAY (WW2)

1st May LABOUR DAY

2nd June ITALIAN REPUBLIC DAY (big military parade - but refers back to kicking out the Savoy monarchy by referendum!)

15th August  ASSUMPTION (When Mary was taken up to heaven...)

1st November ALL SAINTS

8th December IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

25th December CHRISTMAS

26th December St. STEPHEN (Boxing day)

...

Plus of course the local patron saint's day - Rome's is St. Peter and Paul, where I live it's St. Pancras Martyr (?)

So we have 11 national + 1 local = 12...

...whereas you have 9 national, 4 "not substituted" whatever that means but I presume still extant ;-) ...
plus 1 provincial and 2 local =  14...!!

(envy)

"Ignoring moralities is always undesirable, but doing so systematically is really worrisome." Mohammed Khatami

by eternalcityblues (parvati_roma aaaat libero.it) on Sat Dec 9th, 2006 at 02:27:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Actually, your sum would be 16, and you forgot about All Souls' Day (Day of the Dead), so 17! Regarding non-substituted, I am surprised myself that I could read that Spanish sentence, but it appears to mean facultative national holidays that the province has not chosen to replace with a different holiday on another day.

I never heard of local holidays before, BTW. Though, another peculiarity is in Germany, where some holidays are valid only for Protestants or Catholics (leading to the sillyness of school going on with half the class present).

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Sat Dec 9th, 2006 at 07:34:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
So 17 days total, respect!

What I found surprising is that Easter and cemetery visits get two days off, Christmas only one. Is there some special reason behind this?

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Sat Dec 9th, 2006 at 07:24:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
In Italy we get two off for Christmas - Christmas Day and Santo Stefano (boxing day) on the 26th.  But it's really 2 1/2 because everything -offices, shops etc etc -shuts down several hours early on Christmas Eve.

Plus of course half the country takes a few days' vacation leave from their annual total to make up the BIG ponte/puente from the 24th through New Year.  This year both the 24th and the 31st are Sundays, meaning that if you don't normally have to work saturdays, it will take only 3 days' vacation leave to get a straight 10-day stretch off work... not bad.    

"Ignoring moralities is always undesirable, but doing so systematically is really worrisome." Mohammed Khatami

by eternalcityblues (parvati_roma aaaat libero.it) on Sat Dec 9th, 2006 at 08:47:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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