Public holidays in Poland

Holidays in Poland are regulated by the Non-working Days Act of 18 January 1951 (Ustawa z dnia 18 stycznia 1951 o dniach wolnych od pracy) — Journal of Laws, No. 4 of 1960, item No. 28. The Act, as amended in 2010, currently defines thirteen public holidays.

Public holidays

Note: The table below lists only public holidays i.e. holidays which are legally considered to be non-working days.

Date	English Name	Official Local Name (Informal Local Name)	Remarks
January 1	New Year's Day	Nowy Rok (Nowy Rok)
January 6	Epiphany	Objawienie Pańskie (Trzech Króli)
Sunday in Spring (movable)	Easter Sunday	pierwszy dzień Wielkiej Nocy (Niedziela Wielkanocna)
Monday following Easter Sunday	Easter Monday	drugi dzień Wielkiej Nocy (Poniedziałek Wielkanocny)
May 1	Labor Day	Święto Państwowe (Święto Pracy)	This holiday is not officially called Labor Day (see below), but it is commonly called that and coincides with Labor Day as celebrated internationally on May 1.
May 3	Constitution Day	Święto Narodowe Trzeciego Maja (Święto Konstytucji Trzeciego Maja)	Celebrating the May 3rd Constitution
7th Sunday after Easter	Pentecost Sunday	pierwszy dzień Zielonych Świątek (Zielone Świątki)	As this holiday always falls on a Sunday, it is not widely known that it is considered a non-working day, as all Sundays are already non-working days and holidays falling on Sunday don't give the right to another free day.
9th Thursday after Easter	Corpus Christi	dzień Bożego Ciała (Boże Ciało)	This is a Catholic Church Holiday
August 15	Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary	Wniebowzięcie Najświętszej Maryi Panny	This is also the day of the Polish army (Dzień Wojska Polskiego), celebrating the battle of Warsaw in 1920
November 1	All Saints' Day	Wszystkich Świętych
November 11	Independence Day	Narodowe Święto Niepodległości (Dzień Niepodległości)
December 25	Christmas Day	pierwszy dzień Bożego Narodzenia
December 26	Second day of Christmas	drugi dzień Bożego Narodzenia

May Holidays

Under communist rule, the 1st of May was celebrated as Labour Day with government-endorsed parades, concerts and similar events. Following the 1989 changes, the Sejm decided to keep this day a public holiday but to give it the neutral name of State Holiday. In addition, the 3rd of May was created as Constitution Day. May holidays (1st, 2nd and 3rd of May) are called in Polish "Majówka", a pun made from the May month name (it can be translated as May-day picnic^[1]).

National holidays

The followings are national holidays in Poland, although they are not non-working days:

• April 13 - World's Day of Remembrance for Victims of Katyn Massacre
• May 2 - Flag Day (formally: Flag of the Republic of Poland Day, Dzień Flagi Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), on the anniversary of Polish flag in the aftermath of the battle of Berlin, 1945
• May 3 - May 3 Constitution (1791) Day Święto Konstytucji 3 Maja, the first set of modern supreme national laws in Europe.
• May 9 - Victory Day Narodowe Święto Zwycięstwa i Wolności, 1945
• June 28 - (since 2005) Day of Remembrance of the Poznań June 1956, on the anniversary of the Poznań 1956 protests [1]
• August 15 - Polish Armed Forces Day, Święto Wojska Polskiego - set on day of Miracle at the Vistula
• August 28 - Day of Polish Airforce on the anniversary of victory of pilot Franciszek Żwirko and mechanic Stanisław Wigura in Challenge 1932. Formerly: from 1918 to 1932 the anniversary of first Polish Airforce flight, 5 November, and during communist times, 23 August - first engagement by Polish airforce in the East
• August 31 - Day of Solidarity and Freedom, on the anniversary of August Agreement from 1980
• October 14 - Day of National Education (formerly Day of the Teacher), on the anniversary of the founding of the Komisja Edukacji Narodowej (Commission of National Education)
• October 16 - Day of Pope John Paul II
• November 1 - All Saints' Day All Saints Day
• November 11 - Independence Day (Święto Niepodległości) - memory of Restoration of Poland's independence in 1918 after 123 years of partitions by Russia, Prussia, and Austria

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Former holidays

• May 1 - Labor Day
• July 22 - National Day of Rebirth of Poland on the anniversary of signing of PKWN Manifesto

Other observances

• Grandmother's Day on January 21,
• Grandfather's Day on January 22,
• Women's Day on March 8,
• Boy's Day (Dzień Chłopaka) on September 30 - on this day girls are giving presents to boys,
• Mother's Day on May 26,
• Father's Day on June 23,
• Children's Day on June 1,
• Teacher's Day on October 14,
• "Mikołajki" on December 6 - on this day Santa Claus is giving presents to children,
• Christmas Eve (Wigilia Bożego Narodzenia) on December 24,
• St. Andrew's Day (Andrzejki) on November 30 - on this day people (mainly children and teens) are making prophecy by pouring candle wax by key hole to water and guessing what does the wax shape mean,
• Ivan Kupala Day (Noc Kupały) on the night from June 21 to 22 and "Noc Świętojańska" on the night from June 22 to 23,
• Fat Thursday on the last Thursday before Lent,
• Śmigus Dyngus Day on Easter Monday (the day following Easter Sunday) is when traditionally the young (and young of heart) have water fights, in continuation of a pagan spring fertility ritual observed in many other cultures,
• September 1-Day Germany invaded Poland in 1939, triggering World War II.

See also

• Portal:Poland/Selected anniversaries
• Flag of Poland#Flag flying days

References

1. ^ Majówka translation