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DANISH TRADITIONS

What’s open and what’s closed in Denmark on Ascension Day?

Ascension Day, an important festival for Denmark's Lutheran Church, always falls on a Thursday, meaning many workers get to enjoy a four-day weekend. Here's what you need to know.

Published: 6 May 2024 17:13 CEST
Updated: 9 May 2024 08:42 CEST
What's open and what's closed in Denmark on Ascension Day?
Church members in Aalborg celebrating Ascension Day in 2016. Photo: Christian Roar Pedersen/Ritzau Scanpix

Kristi Himmelfart, literally “Christ’s journey to heaven day”, is the Danish word for the festival of Ascension, which Christians believe marks the day that Jesus ascended into heaven. 

It is always 40 days after Easter Sunday, and ten days before the Pentecost, which means that its exact date varies from year to year. The earliest possible date is April 30th, and the latest possible date is June 3rd.

But it always falls on a Thursday, offering the opportunity of a klemmedag, or “squeeze day“, when only one work day falls between a public holiday and a weekend, meaning if workers take one day off of holiday, they can enjoy a four-day break. 

The day falls on May 9th this year. 

Who gets a four-day weekend? 

As Ascension falls 40 days after Easter and Easter always falls on a Sunday, Ascension always falls on a Thursday, meaning many people in the country take the Friday (May 10th) off as well, 

Schools in Denmark are closed on May 10th, so many parents are effectively forced to take the day off as well. 

What’s closed?

Shops

Denmark is strict with shop opening times on public holidays, with the Lukkeloven, or closing law, requiring most shops to remain shuttered on Ascension Day. 

This includes all major supermarkets, with only smaller local grocery shops with a turnover of less than 43.4 million kroner a year allowed to stay open.

Those that can stay open are likely to include smaller convenience stores from the Dagli’Brugsen and Brugsen chains, as well branches of COOP’s discount chain 365discount, and smaller shops in the Kvickly and Superbrugsen chains.

The closing law allows the Danish Business Authority to grant some grocery stores in rural areas and holiday home areas to stay open on public holidays on a case by case basis, but if you’re travelling out to a rural area, don’t bet on anything being open.

Petrol stations are also allowed to stay open, as are shops selling bread, dairy products and newspapers, garden centres, second-hand shops and pawnbrokers, and market stalls selling food and household products.

But even smaller shops selling durable goods like clothes, shoes, or other items other than groceries must remain closed.

If you’re planning on buying a more upmarket wine or snaps, you should be aware that specialist wine merchants will also be closed.

All shops will, however, be open on Friday May 10th.  

Municipalities 

Your local borgerservice, the public-facing service desk at your local town hall, will be closed on Ascension Day itself and some, but not all municipalities also close their borgerservce on May 10th as well, to give all employees a long weekend, so if you need to pick up a new driving license, for example, leave this errand until next week.

Health

Most Danish primary care centres are closed on May 9th, and many will also be closed on May 10th. If you urgently need a doctor, you should ring the number of your local on-call doctor (lægevagt), emergency dentist or emergency psychiatrist, which you can find listed for Denmark’s regional health authorities here.

The person on the phone will then decide whether you need to come into a hospital or emergency clinic for treatment or examination.

What’s open?

Museums and galleries pretty much all remain open on Ascension Day, even those that close over the Easter period, as do restaurants, hotels and the like. 

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For members

DANISH TRADITIONS

Why do the Danes take such long summer holidays?

Summer in Denmark means workplaces emptying for weeks on end and a flood of 'out of office' replies from colleagues and clients taking lengthy vacations. But have you ever wondered exactly how summer holidays of at least three weeks became so entrenched in Danish society?

Published: 2 July 2024 16:19 CEST
Why do the Danes take such long summer holidays?

The word sommerferielukket, meaning ‘closed for summer’ is something you’ll see on signs in hair salons, cafes, shops, libraries, and other businesses throughout July and sometimes beyond.

Denmark’s long summer holidays are written into law: most employers are legally obliged to allow their workers to take three consecutive weeks off in the summer. Naturally many of them jump at the chance, particularly if they have small children, whose børnehave (kindergarten) will also be sommerferielukket.

Some large Danish companies meanwhile halt operations over summer, and small business owners often decide to do the same. Authorities like municipal offices can also shut down non-essential services.

This all adds up to a strange feeling of emptiness in the bigger cities in July in particular, as those who haven’t gone abroad will often head to their rural summer houses. And the summer closures can be frustrating to those who aren’t used to the system, especially since they coincide with the tourist season.

All the same, it’s good to be aware of the custom so you don’t get caught out when that restaurant or shop you really wanted to visit is closed for the rest of the month.

READ ALSO: Five Danish phrases you only hear in summer

History

The right to take a long summer holiday that we take for granted today, did not come to Denmark until 1938. 

During the first half of the 20th century, as the agricultural sector diminished, an increase in young people who were finishing school, moved from the countryside to larger cities to find work. The new workers formed trade unions, which, among other things, fought for reduced working hours and later for the right to a holiday.

In 1919, the trade unions succeeded in getting working hours reduced to 50.5 hours a week with Sundays off. Then in 1938 they got the first holiday law passed (ferieloven). The holiday law gave all Danes the right to two weeks’ holiday a year. 

The law progressed into the creation of the organisation, ‘People’s Holiday’ (Folkeferie), which was formed to support and provide holiday opportunities for workers, so they had somewhere to go on holiday. During the 1960s and 1970s Danes then started building their own summer houses, as the welfare state grew.

The trade unions continued to negotiate during the following decades and in 1979, there was an agreement to five weeks of holiday. A major revision of the holiday law soon followed, so that all Danes were not only given the right, but also the duty, to take five weeks’ holiday. 

A new holiday act was passed in 2018 and implemented in September 2020, around a new concept of concurrent holidays. This allows employees to earn 2.08 holiday days each month, which they have access to use immediately, as opposed to the old scheme where workers earned holiday days for the following year.

READ ALSO: What are the rules for taking annual leave in Denmark?

The Danish Holiday Act (Ferieloven)

The Danish Holiday Act covers most salaried employees for five standard weeks (normally 25 days) of paid vacation. Holiday earned during a given month can be used from the very next month, in a rule referred to as concurrent holiday (samtidighedsferie). You can check how much holiday you have accrued and are therefore entitled to take at a given time by logging in to the relevant section of the borger.dk portal.

The vacation year is broken down so that there is a “main holiday period” (hovedferie in Danish) which starts on May 1st and ends on September 30th. During this time, you are entitled to take three weeks’ consecutive vacation out of your five weeks.

A lot of people take three weeks in a row while others break it up – which is why you often hear Danish people who work full time wishing each other a “good summer holiday” as if it’s the end of the school term.

Outside of the main holiday period, the remaining 10 days of vacation, termed øvrig ferie in Danish, can be taken whenever you like. You can take up to five days together but may also use the days individually.

If your employer wants to decide when you should take any of your vacation days, they have to let you know at least three months in advance for the main holiday, or one month in advance for remaining holiday, except for exceptional circumstances.

If you have not earned paid vacation, you still have the right to take unpaid holiday. However, people whose right to work in Denmark is dependent on a sponsored visa or other form of work permit should check whether their visa allows them to take unpaid leave, since this may not be the case.

READ ALSO: Feriepenge: Denmark’s vacation pay rules explained

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