Good Friday and Easter Monday are two holidays that are celebrated in some Swiss cantons over the Easter weekend, but not in others. And one canton has no public holidays at all.
Easter is here and many people living in Switzerland will enjoy an extended weekend. In Switzerland – with the exception of the national holiday on August 1st – the public holidays that do not fall on a Sunday are determined by the cantons.
If a public holiday happens to fall on a weekend, it’s tough luck – it will not be moved to a working day (unlike, for instance, in the UK).
But where in Switzerland do you get both Good Friday and Easter Monday off work during Easter, and which canton does not grant you any free time at all to partake in festivities? And there’s one canton in Switzerland where workers enjoy a 5 day break because they also get the Maundy Thursday off too.
Five day break?
Workers in the small German-speaking canton of Glarus are the luckiest in Switzerland when it comes Easter. They can take a 5-day break because they are the only canton where the Thursday before Easter is also a public holiday.
Good Friday, April 3rd
Almost all Swiss cantons recognise Good Friday as a public holiday apart from Ticino and Valais.
So workers in the following cantons get Good Friday off: Argau, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Basel-Country, Basel-City, Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Glarus, Grisons, Jura, Lucerne, Neuchatel, Nidwalden, Obwalden, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Thurgau, Uri, Vaud, Zug and Zurich.
There is also hope for some workers of certain companies based in Ticino and Valais given that most stores and banks will remain closed – despite Good Friday not being recognised as a public holiday.
Ticino is after all a majority Catholic canton (around 70 percent of its population is of the Catholic faith) and for devout Catholics, Good Friday – while a strict day of fasting and abstinence – is not considered a holiday.
READ ALSO: Why is Ticino Switzerland’s favourite Easter destination?
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Easter Monday, April 6th
Easter Monday is officially a day off across Switzerland apart from in the cantons of Valais, Neuchatel, Solothurn and Zug.
However companies in these cantons may still give their workers the day off.
If you live in Valais…too bad!
The canton of Valais is in fact the only of Switzerland’s 26 cantons to not give its workforce any time off during Easter — at least by law. Different companies may of course decide to give them a day off anyway.
But that isn’t to say that there isn’t anything Easter-related going on. From moulding chocolate bunnies to egg hunts, and markets to workshops, Valais has a packed agenda this Easter – you’ll just have to do it at the weekend.
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