Public holidays in Denmark

Law regarding mandatory shop closing (Lukkelov); three additional shop closing days are mentioned in section Other special days.

Public holidays

Date	English Name	Danish Name	Notes
1 January	New Year's Day	Nytårsdag
The Thursday before Easter Sunday	Maundy Thursday	Skærtorsdag
The Friday before Easter Sunday	Good Friday	Langfredag
March/April	Easter Sunday	Påskedag
The day after Easter Sunday	Easter Monday	2. Påskedag
The 4th Friday after Easter	General Prayer Day	Store bededag	A collection of minor Christian holy days consolidated into one day. The name translates literally from Danish language, "Great Prayer Day".
39 days after Easter	Ascension Day	Kristi Himmelfartsdag
7 weeks after Easter	Pentecost	Pinsedag	This is a Sunday. Danes celebrate two days of Whitsun.
7 weeks +1 day after Easter	Whit Monday	2. Pinsedag	This is a Monday. Danes celebrate two days of Whitsun.
25 December	First Day of Christmas	Juledag / 1. juledag	Danes celebrate three days of Christmas, starting early on December 24 in the evening.
26 December	Second Day of Christmas	2. juledag

Other special days

Some of these days derive from politics, and some from Roman Catholic traditions that predate the current national church. Some are simply the Scandinavian tradition of starting the celebrations of a special day on the evening before the actual day.

Date	English Name	Danish Name	Notes
5 February	Crown Princess Mary's birthday	Kronprinsesse Marys fødselsdag	This is not celebrated a lot, yet, but one day she may become the Queen (Consort) of Denmark.
6 February	Princess Marie's birthday	Prinsesse Maries fødselsdag	Outside of the royal house there is no particular tradition for celebrating on this day.
Seven weeks before Easter Sunday	Fastelavn	Fastelavn	Diminished version of the catholic Carnival. On the following day, Fastelavnsmandag, 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
1 April	April Fools' Day	1. April	The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, enemies and neighbors, or sending them on fools' errands, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible.
9 April	Occupation of Denmark	Danmarks besættelse	Historic date. This was the day when Germany invaded Denmark in World War II. Flags on flagpoles must be at half mast until 12:00, to indicate the mourning, after that it goes to full mast to indicate that Denmark is a free country today.
16 April	Birthday of Queen Margrethe II	Dronningens fødselsdag	The Queen is usually celebrated in some places, and she will appear either on her balcony at Amalienborg Palace or outside of Marselisborg Palace depending on where she spends her birthday.
29 April	Princess Benedikte's Bday	Prinsesse Benedikte fødselsdag	Outside of the royal house there is no particular tradition for celebrating on this day.
1 May	International Workers' Day	Arbejdernes kampdag / 1. maj	Left-wing political day. Many people try to get a day off this day, and some even have it in their employment contract. Many people attend political meetings in the morning arranged by the labour unions or the labour parties, afterwards demonstrations are held all over the country, going from the place of the meeting and joining each other along the way to a joint meeting place, often a park. The demonstrations can differ in size from a few hundred to ten-thousands depending on the city and organization. The day is also known as "Arbejdernes kamp og festdag" (Workers day of struggle and celebration) referring to the celebration of the past victories of the workers movement, especially the 8-hours working day. Many, both families and young people, meet at the sites of the political meetings holding picnics and drink beer and other alcoholic beverages. Copenhagen's Fælledparken is well known for its annual May 1 celebrations, gathering an average of a hundred thousand people at the meeting of the central Labour Union "LO". This is a full holiday for blue collar workers, but not for white collar workers.
5 May	Liberation day	Danmarks befrielse	Historic date. This was the day that the German forces surrendered in Denmark under World War II. However, the island of Bornholm was not liberated on this date - instead, the occupation continued until the Red Army liberated the island. Afterwards the USSR held control of the island for a time, before it were rejoined with the rest of Denmark. The day is marked by public memorial ceremonies for fallen members of the Danish resistance, and by demonstrations of the left-wing, both in memory of the communist resistance fighters and also carrying slogans of peace and solidarity linking the struggle in the past with new ones today.
26 May	Birthday of Crown Prince Frederik	Kronprins Frederiks fødselsdag	This is not celebrated a lot, yet, but one day he will become the King of Denmark.
5 June	Constitution Day (Denmark)	Grundlovsdag	The signing of the Danish constitution in 1849. Some people attend meetings with speeches, often outdoor, where politicians or other public figures will elaborate their view on the constitution, history and the current state of the nation. This day probably is the closest equivalence to an actual national day. Elderly, middle class and right-of-centre people often regard this day more important than May 1. With few exceptions, all shops stay closed on Grundlovsdag by law.[1]
7 June	Birthday of Prince Joachim	Prins Joachims fødselsdag	This is not celebrated a lot.
11 June	Birthday of Prince Henrik	Prins Henriks fødselsdag	This is not celebrated a lot.
15 June	Day of Valdemar and Reunion day	Valdemarsdag and Genforeningsdag	Celebration of Valdemar II of Denmark's victory in a battle in Estonia in 1219, at which Denmark's national flag Dannebrog fell from the skies. It is also the date on which Danes celebrate that Sønderjylland in 1920 was reunited with the rest of Denmark after a referendum, thus held in high regard in that part of the country. Next to Grundlovsdag, an equivalence to an actual national day, but is less widely known and celebrated today than before.
23 June	Saint John's Eve	Sankt Hans aften	Pre-Christianity celebration day, celebrating summer solstice on June 24. Sankt Hans (Johannes) is the Danish name of St. John the Baptist. The day is celebrated with a bonfire on the evening before. See the Denmark section under Midsummer
31 October	Halloween	Allehelgensaften	According to superstition, the 31 October is the night when witches, ghosts and dark forces are set loose to disgrace the saints celebrated on the following Allehelgensdag.
10 November	The eve before Saint Martin's day	Mortensaften	11 November is a Catholic day. Sankt Morten is the Danish name of Saint Martin of Tours. According to legend, Martin was forced to become a bishop by his parishioners and tried to hide in a barn. However, the noise of the geese gave him away. For this reason, but probably in reality because of the goose slaughtering season, it is tradition to eat a goose dinner, although over time duck has become a more practical dish on this occasion.
13 December	Saint Lucy's Day	Sankta Lucia	Catholic day that was located on winter solstice before the European calendar reform. Revived in Sweden in 1928, and in Denmark from the 1940s.
24 December	Christmas Eve	Juleaften	The celebration of Christmas in Denmark starts in the evening, traditionally with a Christmas tree, exchanging presents and having dinner with the family. With few exceptions, all shops stay closed by law on Juleaftensdag, the day of Juleaften.[1]
31 December	New Year's Eve	Nytårsaften	Mostly celebrated with friends or family, a homemade gourmet dinner and often liberal amounts of alcohol. The Queen traditionally holds a televised speech at 6 PM. Midnight is celebrated with champagne, kransekage (an almond cake consisting of piled rings) and private displays of fireworks. With few exceptions, all shops stay closed by law from 3 PM on Nytårsaftensdag, the day of Nytårsaften.[1]

References

1. Law regarding mandatory shop closing (Lukkelov)

External links

• Official days to use the flag in Denmark