Berlin Holidays

1 January	New Year`s Day
6 January	Epiphany - in Baden-WÈrttemberg, Bavaria, and Saxony-Anhalt
1 May	May Day or Labour Day
15 August	Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - in Bavaria (in predominantly Catholic Communities) and Saarland only
3 October	Day of German Unity
31 October	Reformation Day - in Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony- Anhalt and Thuringia (predominantly Evangelical communities) only.
1 November	All Saints Day - in Baden-WÈrttemberg, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhine- land Palatinate, Saarland and Thuringia (predominantly Catholic communities) only.
1st Wednesday on or after 16 November1	Repentance Day (Buss und Bettag) - Saxony only.
24 December	Christmas Eve - Government closed, half day for shops.
25 December	Christmas Day
26 December	2nd Day of Christmas
31 December	New Year`s Eve - Government closed, half day for shops.

Feast	2004
Carnivals1	19-25 Feb
Good Friday	9 Apr
Easter ò	11 Apr
Easter Monday	12 Apr
Ascension	20 May
Pentecost Sunday	30 May
Pentecost Monday	31 May
Corpus Christi2	10 Jun

¹In North Rhine-Westphalia, but also in other Catholic parts of Germany (Bavaria), during the carnival season many businesses close down. The so-called 5th season begins with the Thursday before Ash Wednesday (ie. 11 February 1999) with Weiberfastnacht (in Cologne and Dusseldorf) or Fasching (Bavaria, Baden-Wurttemberg). This day is normally only a half-working day (people party after 12 noon!). On the Monday before Ash Wednesday (ie. 15 February), so called Rosenmontag, there are festival processions in Bonn, Cologne and Dusseldorf. This day, although not an official holiday, is treated as such by most companies in the Rhineland.

²Corpus Christi is a holiday only in the states of Baden-WÈrttemberg, Bavaria, Hessen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate; it is a holiday in communities in Saxony and Thuringia which have a majority of Catholic