This page deals with Public Holidays in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland (the United Kingdom), and in the Republic of Ireland (British Isles Table); and their equivalents in Canada and the USA (North America Table). Tables for other places using the Gregorian Calendar can be produced by the page, from user-supplied data.
JavaScript : This page very largely requires JavaScript; the Tables are calculated on the fly for a range of years initially fixed by the present year, and the page is partially rewritten. A test of rewrite follows :-
Not rewritten.
A previous less-automated version, no longer maintained, is at EARLIER VERSION - hols-old.htm; its Tables are usable without JavaScript, for 1998-2005 and years known to match those sufficiently.
This pahe uses no include files, in order that modified versions can easily be profuced elsewhere. The CSS file is not essential, for the same reason.
For any year, most holiday dates (other than any which are Easter-linked) in January and February are solely governed by the day-of-week of January 1st; those in and after March by that of December 31st of that year. Thus, March 1998 to February 2006 should cover all secular cases; the Tables which can follow were earlier laid out correspondingly.
For years not given, use the last column of the Tables, or see the second half of set-back.txt.
There were additional holidays at the 1999-2000 transition; see for example Critical and Significant Dates.
Localities and firms may have their own special holidays.
The Tables are valid only for years for which the present rules, as known to me, apply. For details, see the code.
The Tables indicate weekdays - Monday to Friday - on which ordinary (non-retail) businesses and national/local government offices can be expected to be closed. They are not necessarily fully reliable. In some fixed-date cases, the celebration may be on the proper Saturday or Sunday, but the day off work may be a weekday.
Where the non-working day is shifted to another month, it should be marked by '*'.
Note that non-holiday festivities, at weekends, are not included; if it matters, check with some local person or reference.
If a holiday is shown as not occurring, by "-", the day should be found to be at a weekend (not used?).
A Table for a chosen place can be constructed, if data is given in the box at the foot of the page. It is presently assumed that Month and Day results can remain in English.
If it is truly important to you, always check with a local source; in particular, most North American Provincial and State holidays and variations are ignored here.
For an example, see within the box at the end of this page.
The data for each Holiday line is given in an array H, with
H[0] = Background colour string,
H[1] = String of symbols for regions,
H[2] = Name of Holiday,
H[3] = Month, 1..12,
H[4] = Day, as D, or [K,D] for K'th D-Day, or string,
H[5] = Name of the function Fn(Y, M, D, H[6]) which
returns the Table entry,
H[6] = Optional parameter for the function, often Array(7);
H is itself an element of an array of holidays for that Table.
Each of these implements a Holiday Rule, and returns a table entry.
NextMndy(Y, M, D) // if Sat/Sun, use Mon/Mon NearWkdy(Y, M, D) // if Sat/Sun, use Fri/Mon EstrSun(Y) // Easter Sunday EstrOff(Y, a, b, N) // Easter Sunday, offset N days KthDday(Y, M, [K, D]) // In Y M, Kth D-day (Mon=1.., K=1..5) Septad(Y, M, D, P) // Use P[Day-of-Week(Y, M, D)] VicDayCA(Y) // CA : Victoria Day ElectUSA(Y) // US : Election Day InaugUSA(Y) // US : Inauguration Day
Function Wryt is used, not supporting sone older browsers.
A Table can be re-drawn with a fresh year range (in AD 100 to 275759); and that for "Anywhere" also with new data.
If either year is a NaN (Not a Number), or the year-span is negative, there will be no Table. Using an excessive year range may well break something.
To use the self-calculation column, enter a year at the top or bottom, then Tab or click elsewhere.
"Black and White" and "On a Fresh Page" (non-interactive) may be useful for printing.
Knowledgeable English/Welsh, Scots, Manx, Channel Islanders, and Irish (N&S) are invited to contribute, as are those with URLs for elsewhere.
For the compositions of the British Isles and the United Kingdom, see in my Europe and Euro.
Observance of public holidays in the UK is not generally mandatory, and other days may be observed locally - particularly in Scotland. And Banks in Scotland follow English Bank Holidays.
Where in a Table a holiday occurs in more than one UK area, it may have been necessary to choose a compromise name, or to use the English one.
Some counties are beginning to fix School Holidays, with one in "in the middle two weeks of April each year".
The Isle of Man is not a part of the United Kingdom.
JA says : The Isle of Man for the most part uses the same Public Holidays as England, with the exception of Tynwald Day (our National Day - 5th July) and Senior Race Day (usually second Friday of June) at the end of T.T. Week. School Term Times are slightly different.
The Channel Islands are not parts of the United Kingdom. They are commonly considered (except by some geographers?) to be parts of the British Isles.
I understand that they have largely the same holidays as England, plus Liberation Day (Jersey & Guernsey, May 9th; Sark, May 10th; Alderney, (Homecoming Day) Dec 15th). Alderney may instead have the First Monday of August as a Holiday. Check local sources.
Tabulating holidays for the individual members of the EU is more than I care to undertake; see References above.
If I had definitive data, I could add it for the holidays which directly affect EU HQ.
There is some EU material in my Europe and Euro and Summer Time.
Knowledgeable Americans and Canadians are invited to contribute, as are those with URLs for elsewhere. I have no data for Mexico.
The TextArea below is editable, and larger data may be pasted in; it is re-evaluated at every button-press :-