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DANISH TRADITIONS

Why is Whit Monday a public holiday in Denmark, but not in Sweden?

People in Denmark have the day off on Whit Monday, but people in Sweden still have to work. Why is this?

Published: 20 May 2024 09:45 CEST
Why is Whit Monday a public holiday in Denmark, but not in Sweden?
In the run-up to Denmark's parliamentary vote on abolishing Great Prayer Day, several people argued Whit Monday should be abolished instead. Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

Whit Monday, also known as Pentecost Monday (Anden pinsedag or pinsemandag in Danish), falls on the day after Pentecost Sunday, marking the seventh Sunday after Easter.

It is a time when Christians commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus, an event described in the Bible.

READ ALSO: Why is Maundy Thursday a holiday in Denmark and Norway but not in Sweden?

Denmark (and Norway’s) head start in axing public holidays

When they were still Catholic counties, Sweden, Denmark and Norway, had far more religious holidays than they do today, with the third and fourth days of Pentecost also holidays. 

But after Denmark’s King Christian III defeated his Roman Catholic rival in 1536, he abolished nearly twice as many public holidays in Denmark as his counterpart Gustav Vasa did in Sweden. 

“Denmark carried out a much more extensive reduction of public holidays in connection with the Reformation,” Göran Malmstedt, a history professor at Gothenburg University, told The Local in February. “In Denmark, the king decided in 1537 that only 16 of the many medieval public holidays would be preserved, while in Sweden almost twice as many public holidays were retained through the decision in the Church Order of 1571.”

So it wasn’t until 1772, that the third and fourth day of Pentecost stopped being holidays in Sweden, when the Enlightenment monarch Gustav III, abolished 20 holidays in den stora helgdöden, or “the big public holiday slaughter”, including Maundy Thursday, which remained a holiday in Denmark and Norway.

Whit Monday, however, survived in all three Scandinavian countries. 

Sweden’s government inquiry

The inquiry launched by Persson’s government also looked at May 1st, Ascension Day and Epiphany as alternative victims of the axe, but in the end settled on Whit Monday, after “all churches and faith associations in Sweden agree that Whit Monday is the least bad church holiday to remove”.

Because Whit Monday always falls on a Monday, whereas June 6th some years falls on a Saturday or Sunday, this means that Swedish workers don’t always get an extra day off for National Day. This is still a source of bitterness for many Swedes.

What next? 

The axing of Whit Monday didn’t mark the end of holiday reform in Scandinavia, however, Great Prayer Day becoming a normal work day on Apr 26th this year. In the run up to the vote in parliament on the abolition in 2023, many arguing Whit Monday should go instead. 

Jakob Brandt, the head of SMVDanmark, which represents small businesses like cafes, argued that Whit Monday had no commercial significance with Christian Friis Bach, an MP for the Social Liberal Party making the same point. 

“There are many more good experiences and traditions which for me are connected with Great Prayer Day, when my mother always baked Great Prayer day buns. On the other hand, I can’t really think of anything connected to Whit Monday,” he told the Kristelig Dagbladet newspaper. 

Some blame Persson’s decision to deprive the Swedish public of Whit Monday for his defeat in the election in 2006. Will the Danish government’s decision to scrap Store Bededag have the same effect? 

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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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