We’re planning a winter holiday at the moment. Avoiding school holidays is a good idea when you’re planning to travel. Unfortunately German holidays are complicated. Each state has its own holiday schedule:

Note to Bavaria: “September is not summer”.

While there is some agreement as to when Easter and Christmas take place, the definitions of “Summer” and “Autumn” vary wildly. Some states observe their own special holidays, just because they can (I’m looking at you, Saarland). I think the rationale behind scattering the school holidays in this way is to stop 50 million Germans all arriving at the beach simultaneously. That would be awkward.

You’ll notice a lot of religious holidays in the first half of the year. This brings us to the minefield that is German public holidays.

Wikipedia nicely summarises public holidays in Germany:

Holiday BW BY BE BB HB HH HE MV NI NW RP SL SN ST SH TH
New Year’s Day 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧
Epiphany 🟧 🟧                       🟧    
Women’s Day     🟧         🟧                
Good Friday 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩
Easter Monday 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩
Labour Day 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧
Ascension Day 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩
Whit Monday 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩
Corpus Christi 🟩 🟩         🟩     🟩 🟩 🟩        
Assumption Day   🟧                   🟧        
World Children’s Day                               🟧
German Unity Day 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧
Reformation Day       🟧 🟧 🟧   🟧 🟧       🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧
All Saints’ Day 🟧 🟧               🟧 🟧 🟧        
Repentance and Prayer Day                         🟩      
Christmas Day 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧
Boxing Day 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧 🟧
Total 12 13 10 10 10 10 10 11 10 11 11 12 11 11 10 11

Unfortunately this table is a dirty lie. If a holiday falls on a weekend in other countries, it rolls over to the next working day (as God intended). For example, the New Zealand Government explains the situation clearly:

When a public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, an employee’s public holiday might be moved to the following Monday (or in some cases Tuesday).

Not so in Germany! I picture the weekend as an umbrella, shielding us from the work that trickles down on us from above.

The weekend, doing its job.

When a public holiday floats down from the heavens and tries to squeeze into our calendar, it has the choice to work with the weekends or against them. Unfortunately the Germany public holidays aggressively stick to their gazetted date instead of happily bouncing along to the next working day.

Germany, why must you follow the rules so strictly?

That’s why there are two types of holidays in the table above; the good ones (🟩), and the fickle ones (🟧). The good holidays are based on the Catholic liturgical calendar, and always fall on weekdays. The other holidays might fall on Saturday or Sunday, leaving Monday as a regular working day. The total number of holidays in the table is only the potential maximum; some years only have a handful of true public holidays, and some states have it worse than others.

Steer clear of the lowlands.

This map shows the actual amount of holidays enjoyed by each state since reunification. Once again, most of Germany’s best things happen in the south.

The public holiday calendar follows a 5-6 year cycle, with glorious peaks and dreadful troughs.
Yet more evidence that 2020 and 2021 were bad years

Fortunately the outlook is good for the next few years!