Holidays in the UK

Many festivals and holidays in Britain are centuries old. Every town, village and hamlet in Britain has its own traditions, some involving months of careful planning and preparations of costumes and choreography, others requiring simply a worrying desire to make a complete and utter fool of oneself.

Holidays in the UK can be divided into four groups:

1) Bank holidays;

2) religious holidays;

3) national holidays (in four constituencies of the UK);

4) special observances with historical background.

Bank holidays are Public Holidays and have been recognized since 1871. The name Bank Holiday comes from the time when banks were shut and so no trading could take place.

Even though banks are still closed on these days many shops today now remain open. Shops, museums and other public attractions, such as historic houses and sports centers, may close on certain public holidays, particularly Christmas Day.

Traditionally many businesses close on Bank Holidays to enable the workers to have a holiday. This time is often spent with the family on mini breaks and outings. Because of this, anyone who works on Bank Holidays usually gets paid extra – “time-and-a-half” or even “double time”, negotiated for them by the Trades Unions.

There are currently a total of 8 permanent bank and public holidays in England, Wales and Scotland and 10 in Northern Ireland. These include Christmas Day and Good Friday, which in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are “ common law ” holidays (they are not specified by law as bank holidays but have become customary holidays because of common observance). Here is the list of current bank holidays in all the parts of the UK:

Religious holidays are days specified for religious observance*.

National holidays are days to honour national saints (St George – in England; St Andrew – in Scotland; St David – in Wales; St Patrick – in Northern Ireland), prominent national figures and historical events.

UK special observances are held on particular days annually and are dedicated to certain events (such as the queen’s birthday, state opening of the Parliament) or people (Mother, Father, etc.).