Holy Days and Holidays

Happy Easter Monday!

You are puzzled. In America, Easter Monday is a calendar holiday (its written on many a calendar with few people actually acknowledging its existence) and maybe a day off at certain Catholic institutions. Not in France. Here, Easter Monday is a holiday. Not so much a holy day, though. Semantics.

Back home, we have holidays. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving, etc. About as secular as you can get. Save for Christmas, none are all that religiously orientated (and you may be able to make an argument that Christmas is no longer a religious occasion but let’s not go there). Moral of the story: American holidays are not holy days.

The same can’t be said for France. Among their public holidays are: Easter Monday, Ascension Day, Pentecost Monday, the Assumption of Mary, and All Saints’ Day. They have their memorial and labor days, too. These are just a little something extra.

But how can such a liberal country (relatively speaking, of course) that prides itself on the separation of Church and State allow this blatant mélange of the two and practically shut down on these selected holy days? I have two answers:

1) Tradition. The French hang onto tradition like Rose hangs on to her love for Jack in “Titanic” (figuratively speaking because we all know she physically lets go and his body sinks to the bottom of the Atlantic… how romantic). Many of these holidays have been nationally celebrated for centuries, back when kings and the Catholic Church ruled France. It’s a little hard to just stop something that old (just go to any bingo hall ever and you will see how stubborn old… “traditions” can be).

2) Sloth*. The French are absolutely lazy. They don’t like to work, at all. There are laws stipulating 35 hour work weeks and retirement at 60 (in some cases, 55). These holy days provide the perfect excuse for an extra day off here and there. And who are these people kidding? It’s not like any of them actually go to Church or do anything religious on these extraordinary days. Unless, of course, you count long weekends at the vacation house in the south of France as a religious activity.

But I’m not complaining. I don’t have school today. So, Happy Easter Monday to everyone!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to try and find an open bakery for lunch. There are probably only two open in the entire city and they likely close at 1PM. Other than that, most everything else is closed. I honestly don’t know how this country gets anything done. Okay, maybe I’m complaining a little.

*This is exaggerated a tiny bit. There are quite a few people in France who don’t support the restricted work weeks and early retirement. In other words, there are some hard workers here. Nevertheless, the laws are what they are, and the work ethic is not quite compatible to America’s.