The proposal by Prime Minister François Bayrou to eliminate two public holidays has elicited strong reactions. It is, of course, legitimate to ask whether such a measure is socially fair, given that aid directed to businesses exceeds €200 billion and appears to have undergone little rigorous evaluation. While it is up to Parliament to decide the number of official public holidays, it would be wise to establish a citizens' convention to reflect on which days are chosen.
The head of government justified the elimination of Easter Monday by citing a reason that reveals the paradox of our secular Republic: This holiday "has no religious significance." As for May 8 (which marks the defeat of Nazism), the justification was purely pragmatic: The month of May is already "full of long weekends."
These blunt arguments cut short a question that has historically carried great symbolic weight for the nation, as the selection of official public holidays is, in fact, part of the country's identity. Do these holidays still reflect France in 2025?
Under the Ancien Régime, in addition to Sundays, there were dozens of public holidays scattered across a calendar that was shaped by Catholicism. Seeking rationalization and secularization, the Revolution replaced the week with the décade (a 10-day period with fewer Sundays) and eliminated the existing holidays, instituting festivals that celebrated the new order, such as the Festival of Reason, the Festival of the Supreme Being, the Festival of the Harvest, and so on. Napoleon Bonaparte restored major Catholic holidays, which culminated on August 15: Assumption Day and Saint Napoleon's Day.
The 'civil religion' of France
The Third Republic established, in 1886, a list of eight public holidays (January 1, Easter Monday, Ascension, Pentecost Monday, July 14, Assumption, All Saints' Day and Christmas). Despite an anti-clerical policy, five of these days had Catholic connotations. During debates on the 1905 law [on the separation of Church and State], MPs refused to secularize these holidays; they instead sought to achieve the ideal of the Revolution (separation) without revolutionary breaks. France thus became secular while still acknowledging its religious past. This effort to keep the peace, while necessary, would later create ambiguities. And today, while most French people attach little importance to these holidays, some young people see them as a sign of a more "flexible" form of secularism.
You have 43.83% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.