Public holiday

A public holiday, national holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year.

Sovereign nations and territories observe holidays based on events of significance to their history. For example, Australians celebrate Australia Day.

They vary by country and may vary by year. With 36 days a year, Nepal is the country with the most number of public holidays. India ranks second with 21 national holidays, followed by Colombia and the Philippines at 18 each. Likewise, China and Hong Kong enjoy 17 public breaks a year.

The public holidays are generally days of celebration, like the anniversary of a significant historical event, or can be a religious celebration like Christmas. Holidays can land on a specific day of the year, be tied to a certain day of the week in a certain month or follow other calendar systems like the Lunar Calendar.

Solemn ceremonies and children’s festivals take place throughout Turkey on National Sovereignty and Children’s Day, held on April 23 each year. Children take seats in the Turkish Parliament and symbolically govern the country for one day.

French Journée de solidarité envers les personnes âgées (Day of solidarity with the elderly) is a notable exception. This holiday became a mandatory working day although the French Council of State confirmed it remains a holiday.

Civic holiday

A civic holiday, civil holiday, or work holiday is a day that is legally recognized and celebrated as a holiday in a particular sovereign state or jurisdictional subdivision of such, e.g., a state or a province. It is usually a day that the legislature, parliament, congress, or sovereign has declared by statute, edict, or decree as a non-working day when the official arms of government such as the court system are closed. In federal states there may also be different holidays for the constituent states or provinces, as in the United States where holidays that were established by the federal government are called federal holidays. Such days may or may not be counted in calculating the statute of limitations in legal actions and are usually days when non-custodial parents are given alternating visitation or access to their children from a prior marriage or relationship according to a parenting schedule.

The term may also be used to distinguish between days that may be celebrated as secular holidays rather than religious holidays such as the celebration of New Year's Day on January 1 (Gregorian calendar) and January 14 (Julian Calendar) in certain eastern Orthodox Christian countries such as Russia.

See also

• Civic Holiday, a statutory holiday in some parts of Canada
• Public holidays in Canada
• Federal holidays in the United States