Public holidays in Greece

According to Greek law every Sunday of the year is a public holiday. In addition, there are nine mandatory, official public holidays: New Year's Day 1 January, Theophany 6 January, Clean Monday (moveable), Greek Independence Day and Annunciation 25 March, Orthodox Good Friday (movable), Orthodox Easter Monday (movable), 1 May, Orthodox Pentecost Monday (movable), Dormition 15 August, Oxi Day 28 October, Nativity 25 December, and Synaxis of the Theotokos 26 December.^[1] There are, however, more public holidays celebrated in Greece than are announced by the Ministry of Labour each year as mandatory. The list of these non-fixed National Holidays rarely changes and has not changed in recent decades, giving a total of twelve National Holidays each year.

A public holiday that occurs on a Sunday is not transferred to another date, with the exception of 1 May, which is regarded by the locals more as a general strike than a public holiday.

In addition to the national holidays, some public holidays that are not celebrated nationwide, but only by a specific professional group or a local community. For example, many municipalities have a patron Saint also called 'Name Day' or a Liberation Day, and at this day it is customary for schools to have a day off.