Public holidays in Germany and what they mean

Germany has only one public holiday set by federal law: German Unity Day on 3 October (Tag der Deutschen Einheit). Every other public holiday is decided by the 16 federal states. Nine holidays still apply nationwide, most of them with a Christian background. On top of these come regional holidays – which is why people in Bavaria get more days off than people in Berlin or Hamburg. In the citizenship test, the questions focus on 3 October, on Easter and Christmas customs, and on days of remembrance such as 27 January.

3 October: German Unity Day

On 3 October, Germany celebrates the Day of German Unity (question 194). On this day in 1990, the GDR (East Germany) joined the Federal Republic and Germany was reunited. The holiday is laid down in the Unification Treaty (Article 2) and is the only one set by federal law. As the national holiday, it is also one of Germany's national symbols.

Before 1990, West Germany marked its “Day of German Unity” on 17 June (question 186), in memory of the uprising in the GDR on 17 June 1953. After the Berlin Wall fell, 9 November was also discussed as a national holiday, but it was ruled out because on that date in 1938 the Nazis destroyed synagogues and Jewish shops. The official celebration on 3 October moves around the country: each year it is hosted by the state that currently holds the presidency of the Bundesrat.

The nine nationwide public holidays

These nine holidays are protected by law in all 16 states:

Easter Sunday and Whit Sunday fall on Sundays, so they are days off anyway. Christmas Eve (24 December) and New Year's Eve (31 December) are not public holidays, although many shops close at midday. If a holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, there is no substitute day off – unlike in the UK. The Basic Law protects Sundays and public holidays as “days of rest from work and of spiritual improvement” (Article 140 of the Basic Law together with Article 139 of the Weimar Constitution).

Christian holidays and their customs

Christianity has shaped German culture, so most public holidays are Christian. Church and state are separate in Germany, though: everyone gets the day off, whatever their religion or none.

• Easter (Ostern) is the most important Christian festival. On Good Friday, Christians remember the death of Jesus; on Easter Sunday they celebrate his resurrection. Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring, so the date changes every year. The classic custom: painting eggs and hiding them for children (question 293).
• Ascension Day is always a Thursday. Many people also celebrate it as Father's Day (Vatertag), often with an outing.
• Pentecost (Pfingsten) is a Christian holiday (question 294) – not a day of remembrance or a Bavarian custom, as the wrong answers in the test suggest. Christians celebrate the Holy Spirit coming down to Jesus's disciples. The name comes from the Greek word for “fiftieth (day)”.
• Christmas (Weihnachten) celebrates the birth of Jesus. The four weeks before it are called Advent (Adventszeit). Germans decorate a fir tree, and presents are usually exchanged on Christmas Eve rather than on Christmas morning.

Regional holidays: why Bavaria gets more days off than Berlin

Because each state sets its own holidays, the differences are big. The mainly Catholic south and west have more church holidays, while the more Protestant north and east take Reformation Day off.

Reformation Day remembers Martin Luther, who published his 95 theses on 31 October 1517 – the start of the Reformation and of the Protestant churches. All Saints' Day is a Catholic holiday on which many families visit the graves of their relatives. The Day of Repentance and Prayer was a nationwide holiday until 1994; it was scrapped to help fund the new long-term care insurance. Only Saxony kept it – and in return, employees there pay a larger share of the care insurance contribution. The newest holidays are secular: Berlin introduced Women's Day in 2019, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania followed in 2023, and Thuringia has marked World Children's Day since 2019.

1 May and the other secular holidays

Not every holiday is religious. 1 May goes back to the international labour movement, which campaigned in the late 19th century for, among other things, the eight-hour day. In Germany it only became a permanent public holiday in 1933 – under the Nazis, of all people, who smashed the free trade unions the very next day. Today the unions hold rallies on 1 May. New Year's Day simply marks the start of the year and 3 October the unity of the country, while Women's Day and World Children's Day stand for the rights of women and children.

Days of remembrance and festivals that are not days off

Some dates matter even though people go to work. These are the ones the test asks about most:

• 27 January: the official day of remembrance for the victims of National Socialism, since 1996. On this day in 1945 the Auschwitz extermination camp was liberated (question 220).
• 8 May: the end of the Second World War in Europe in 1945.
• 17 June: the 1953 uprising in the GDR – a public holiday in West Germany until 1990.
• 9 November: a fateful day in German history – the republic was proclaimed in 1918, Jews were attacked in the pogroms of 1938, and the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.
• Carnival (Karneval, Fasching or Fastnacht): people wear colourful costumes and masks. The high point is Rose Monday (Rosenmontag), with big parades in cities such as Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mainz (question 264). It is not a public holiday, but in carnival strongholds many people get the day off.
• Oktoberfest: a huge folk festival in Munich, not a holiday – and a wrong answer in the test.

Jewish and Muslim festivals such as Yom Kippur or Eid al-Fitr at the end of Ramadan are not public holidays. Many states do, however, allow pupils to be excused from school on the major holidays of their religion – ask the school. For more dates, see the German history timeline; all related test questions are collected under questions on religion, culture and community and questions on history, symbols and remembrance. You can practise them in practice mode.