Holidays in France

Saturday 16 May - Bread Festival in France

Tuesday 19 May - St. Yves of Kermartensky Day in Brittany, France (Ivo Helori or Ivo Bretonsky was born on October 17, 1253, died May 19, 1303. In the Roman Catholic Church, he is considered a saint, and is traditionally considered the patron saint of lawyers, notaries and lawyers)

Wednesday 20 May - International HR Day

Thursday 21 May - European Natura 2000 Day

Friday 22 May - Abolition Day in Martinique

Sunday 24 May - Pilgrimage to Sainte Marie de la Mer in France

Monday 25 May - Whit Monday (celebrated on the day after Pentecost)

Wednesday 27 May - Slavery Abolition Day (Guadeloupe, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin); National Resistance Day in France (on the occasion of the anniversary of the first meeting of the National Council of Resistance)

Saturday 30 May - Game Festival in France (designed to promote cooperative and non-violent games)

Sunday 31 May - Mother's Day in France (also Algeria, Dominican Republic. First Sunday of June, if Pentecost occurs on this day, Haiti, Mauritius, Morocco, Sweden, Tunisia; celebrated on the last Sunday in May); European Siblings' Day

Monday 1 June - World Responsible Tourism Day (Celebrated since 2012 on the first working day of June); LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Day

Tuesday 2 June - International Sex Workers Day (In 1975, on 2nd June, about 100 sex workers occupied Saint-Nizier Church in Lyon, France, to express their anger about their criminalised and exploitative living conditions. On 10th June at 5 o'clock the Church was brutally raided and cleared by police forces. This action sparked a national movement, and the day is now celebrated in Europe and around the world)

Sunday 7 June - World Naturist Day (Starts on the first Sunday of June in the northern hemisphere and on the first Sunday of December in the southern hemisphere)

Monday 8 June - National Day of Remembrance of the Fallen for France in Indochina in France (journée nationale d'hommage aux «morts pour la France» en Indochine)

Wednesday 10 June - Abolition Day (French Guiana)

Thursday 18 June - Call for Resistance in France (in honor of the call for resistance made by General de Gaulle on the radio from London in 1940)

Saturday 20 June - World Juggling Day (It will be held on the Saturday closest to June 17)

Sunday 21 June - Music Festival in France; Father's Day (Ñelebrated on the third Sunday of June øò Argentina, Aruba, Canada, Costa Rica, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Kenya, Japan, Macao, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan, Peru, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Venezuela, United Kingdom); Make Music Day (Launched in 1982 in France as the Fête de la Musique, it is now held on the same day in more than 1,000 cities in 120 countries); Summer Solstice (International Day of the Celebration of the Solstice)

Monday 22 June - National Day for Reflection on Organ Donation and Organ Transplantation in France; International Volkswagen Beetle Day

Wednesday 24 June - International Day of Women in Diplomacy

Thursday 25 June - World Anti-Bullfighting Day

Saturday 27 June - World Day against the abandonment of domestic animals (Held on the last Saturday of June)

Monday 29 June - Independence Day in French Polynesia (anniversary of the transfer of full sovereignty over all territories depending on the crown of Tahiti to France, by King Pomar V in 1880)

Wednesday 1 July - World Day of the White Band Against Poverty (as a reminder of the Millennium Goals signed in 2010)

Friday 3 July - World No Plastic Bags Day

Tuesday 7 July - International Cocoa Day

Tuesday 14 July - Portfolio Day in July; Bastille Day

Thursday 16 July - Holocaust Memorial Day in France

Saturday 18 July - St. Arnulf’s Day in France (Arnulf was the Frankish bishop of Metz and lived in about 582-640 years. Three legends are associated with him: about the ring that returned to him, about the fire that receded from him and about the beer that was given to him, to quench the thirst of pilgrims)

Saturday 1 August - Breton National Day in France

Monday 3 August - Stephen (Discovery of the relic. Christian feast day)

Saturday 15 August - Acadia National Festival; Feast day of the Assumption of Mary (Christian feast day, one of the Catholic holy days of obligation a public holiday in Austria, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Monaco, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Togo, and Vanuatu); Twins Day in Pleucadeuc (Morbihan, France. Deux et plus)

Sunday 16 August - Xicolatada (Palau-de-Cerdagne, France); World Kite Day

Thursday 20 August - Sanofi S.A. Day (We are an innovative global healthcare company, driven by one purpose: we chase the miracles of science to improve people’s lives)

Tuesday 25 August - France Liberation Day

Sunday 6 September - Apple Slipper Day in Saint Calais, France (Celebrated on the first Sunday of September)

Tuesday 8 September - A Santa di Niolu in Casamaccioli (Corsica, France)

Friday 11 September - World Day Against Terrorism

Saturday 12 September - World Headache Day (A Day of Awareness and Support)

Wednesday 16 September - European Mobility Week

Saturday 19 September - Public Transport Day in France; European Heritage Days in France

Tuesday 22 September - French Republican New Year (the first day "Grape" in the Month of Vendémiaire. The first day of Miķeļi in ancient Latvia); International Mime Day

Wednesday 23 September - Day of Combating the Non-Completion of Secondary School Children; Gastronomy Day in France; Autumnal Equinox Day

Thursday 24 September - New Caledonia Day (national holiday of the overseas territory of France, located on dozens of islands in the South Pacific)

Friday 25 September - Day of National Recognition for the Harkis in France; European Researchers' Night

Saturday 3 October - Musketeer Day in France (unofficial holiday)

Wednesday 7 October - World Day of Action for Decent Work

Tuesday 13 October - Portfolio Day in October

Thursday 15 October - Tiger Day; Memorial Day for the loss of a child during pregnancy or a newborn (noted in Ohio, USA, Canada, France, Britain and Italy)

Friday 16 October - France Reading Day

Saturday 17 October - World Day for Organ Donation and Transplantation

Wednesday 21 October - International Day of Culture for Concord and Peace (organized by Aljabart Charitable Foundation)

Thursday 22 October - National Day of Remembrance of Guy Moke and his 26 comrades in France (Guy Moke was a young French Communist. During the German occupation of France, World War II, in response to the attacks of the French Resistance against the Germans, he was taken hostage by the Nazis and executed)

Sunday 25 October - Daylight saving time (autumn)

Tuesday 27 October - World Occupational Therapy Day

Wednesday 28 October - International Day of Creole Language and Culture

Sunday 1 November - All Saints' Day a holy day of obligation (a national holiday in many historically Catholic countries. And its related observance: Day of the Innocents, The first day of Day of the Dead or El Dia de los Muertos celebration. - Mexico, Haiti)

Saturday 7 November - National Day in Northern Catalonia, France (after Treaty of the Pyrenees)

Tuesday 10 November - Saint Martin's Day in France

Wednesday 11 November - Armistice Day (New Zealand, France, Belgium and Serbia. End of World War I-related observances)

Friday 13 November - Memorial Day of Abbon from Fleury (he was a monk of the Benedictine order, an abbot of the Fleury monastery in France, a prominent church and political figure, a supporter of the Kluni reform, a scholar and encyclopedist of the X century)

Sunday 15 November - European Dystonia Day

Friday 20 November - Universal Children’s Day

Sunday 22 November - Musician's Day

Tuesday 24 November - World Red Wine Day

Wednesday 2 December - World Futures Day

Saturday 5 December - National Memorial Day in France (in memory of those killed during the war in Algeria, the battles in Morocco and Tunisia)

Monday 7 December - Baroque Pride Day

Tuesday 8 December - World Climate Day (initiated by several environmental associations of France and Belgium); Festival of Lights in Lyon, France (takes place on the night of December 8-11); Corsican National Holiday (Festa di a Nazione)

Wednesday 9 December - Laity Day in France (established on the initiative of L'Observatoire de la laïcité - French advisory committee tasked with assisting the government in upholding and promoting the principle of secularism); International Day for Secularism and Freedom of Conscience

Sunday 13 December - Acadia Memorial Day (dedicated to the tragic event during the deportation of the Acadians, the ships of the Duke of William, Ruby and Violet, sunk in 1758); Mass for the prosperity of France (conducted by Cardinal Vicar in the Basilica of St. John of Lateran)

Monday 21 December - World Orgasm Day (Celebrate the day of the winter solstice); Winter Solstice Day

Thursday 24 December - Christmas Eve

Friday 25 December - Christmas Day

Saturday 26 December - St. Stephen's Day (public holiday in Alsace, Austria, Andorra, Catalonia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland)

Monday 28 December - Innocent Saints Day

Thursday 31 December - New Year’s Eve

Friday 1 January - New Year’s Day

Thursday 7 January - Distaff Day (medieval Europe); World Postage Stamp Day or Philatelist Day

Saturday 9 January - World Corsica Day

Tuesday 12 January - Portfolio Day in January

Wednesday 13 January - National Hypersensitivity Day in France (Journée nationale de l'hypersensibilité)

Thursday 14 January - Feast of the Ass

Monday 18 January - World Snowman Day

Thursday 21 January - Memorial Day of the Death of Louis XVI (the tradition of the French royalists in memory of the king guillotined in the Place de la Revolution. Events are also held in the atonement chapel in Paris and in the Basilica of Saint-Denis); European Day of Mediation

Friday 22 January - Franco-German Day

Sunday 24 January - International Women's Sports Day (initiated by the French CSA Audiovisual High Council in 2014)

Thursday 28 January - European Data Protection Day (initiated by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe)

Saturday 6 February - World No Mobile Phone Day

Sunday 14 February - International Heart Awareness Day

Tuesday 16 February - Commemoration of the fallen gendarmerie employees in France (anniversary of the adoption of the law of 1791 - the creation of the national gendarmerie)

Friday 19 February - Savoy National Festival, France (Savoy - a department in the east of France, one of the departments of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region)

Saturday 20 February - World Pipe Day

Sunday 21 February - Commemoration Day of the foreign participants of the French Resistance who died during the war (WWII)

Monday 22 February - European Day for Equal Pay Men and Women

Thursday 25 February - International Cochlear Implant Day

Thursday 4 March - International Day Against Sexual Exploitation

Friday 5 March - Tahiti Missionary Day in French Polynesia; World Day of Prayer

Sunday 7 March - Grandmother's Day in France (La fête des grands-mères is celebrated on the first Sunday in March); BNP Paribas Day

Monday 8 March - National French Onion Soup Day; National Hearing Day in France

Thursday 11 March - European Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Terrorism (commemorating the terrorist attacks in Madrid on March 11, 2004, which killed 191 people)

Thursday 18 March - Paris Commune Day in France (celebrated since February 20, 1872); La Madunuccia in Ajaccio, Corsica, France

Friday 19 March - National Day of Remembrance of Civil and Military Victims of the War in Algeria and the fighting in Tunisia and Morocco (France)

Saturday 20 March - UN French Language Day and International Francophonie Day (Organisation internationale de la Francophonie); International Macaroon Day (macaroon is a French confectionery made from egg whites, sugar and ground almonds. Usually made in the form of cookies; put cream or jam between two layers)

Sunday 21 March - World Office Storage Day

Friday 26 March - Good Friday

Sunday 28 March - Easter

Thursday 1 April - Poisson d'avril (France, Switzerland, French Community of Belgium)

Saturday 3 April - World Party Day; International Aircraft Carrier Day

Thursday 8 April - AXA Day (AXA Group)

Tuesday 13 April - Portfolio Day in April

Saturday 17 April - Malbec World Day (Malbec is a purple grape variety used in making red wine. MWD is celebrated to commemorate the day when president Domingo Faustino Sarmiento of Argentina officially made it his mission to transform Argentina's wine industry. On that day, back in 1853, he tasked Michel Aimé Pouget, a French soil expert, to bring over new vines)

Sunday 18 April - International Jugglers' Day

Saturday 24 April - Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day; International Sculpture Day (Held on the last Saturday of April)

Friday 30 April - Holiday of the Foreign Legion in France (date in memory of the Battle of Cameron)

Saturday 1 May - Lily of the Valley Day in France; May Crownings or the Virgin Mary Month (Catholic Church tradition); International Workers’ Day (May Day)

Monday 3 May - Poetry Festival in Toulouse, France (poetry contest of the Academy of Floraly, Toulouse organizer of poetry competitions for prizes of flowers held annually in the city, starting from the XIV century)

Thursday 6 May - Ascension of Jesus

Friday 7 May - No Pants Day (It is held on the first Friday in May)

Saturday 8 May - Victory Day in Poland and Czech (Narodowy Dzień Zwycięstwa in Poland established in 2015; Liberation Day in Czech Republic); Johannian Holidays in Orleans, France (in honor of the liberation in 1429 of Joan of Arc and her army from the city besieged by the British); World Fair Trade Day (celebrated on the second Saturday of May)

Sunday 9 May - Europe Day (is the name of two annual observance days, 5 May by the Council of Europe and 9 May by the European Union, which recognize the peace and prosperity within Europe that both have achieved since their formation)

Monday 10 May - The day of the abolition of slavery in France (Abolition de l'esclavage mark according to the law of May 21, 2001); World Poultry Day

Tuesday 11 May - Mamertus, the first of the Ice Saints

Friday 14 May - Christ's Ascension (or Kristi Himmelfartsdag in Norway)