Public holidays in Germany

Public holidays in Germany can be declared by law either by the Federal German authorities or by the Länder for their respective jurisdictions. The constitution requires that there must be some public holidays. At present the only federal holiday is German Unity Day ; all the other holidays, even those celebrated all over Germany, are prescribed by state legislation.
By law, "the Sundays and the public holidays remain protected as days of rest from work and of spiritual elevation". Thus all Sundays are, in a manner, public holidays, but they are not usually recognised within the term "holiday".

List by state

Quiet days

A couple of days are designated as stille Tage by state legislation, which regularly means that public dancing or sport events, music at inns etc. are prohibited.
Some public holidays or commemorations are quiet days:

The status of quiet days is also given to festivities joyous in nature: in Hesse, the highest Christian holidays are half-quiet days and in Rhineland-Palatinate, Easter Sunday and Christmas Day are two-thirds-quiet days. For details, see the article Dancing ban.

Flag days

A yet third category that may sometimes be called "holidays" in a sense are the "flag days". Only the very highest institutions and the military use the national flags at every day, so the directives when flags are to be displayed mark the days in question as special.
Flags are to be shown by Federal Decree on

Holocaust Memorial Day
Labour Day
Europe Day
Constitution Day
Popular Uprising Day This day was public holiday under the title of "German Unity Day" from 1954 until 1990 when that unity actually was achieved.
Resistance Day
German Unity Day
Memorial Day
Election Day

and by state decrees on other days, such as election days for state parliaments, state constitution days, anniversary of the election of the Federal President and so forth.
Frequently flags are ordered ad hoc to be shown at half-mast in cases of national mourning.

Unofficial holidays

Either Carnival Monday or Shrove Tuesday is a de facto holiday in some towns and cities in Catholic western and southern Germany which have a strong Carnival tradition.
Christmas Eve may sometimes be treated as a holiday. Most places will be closed in the afternoon, and many businesses and most schools will be closed the entire day.
April Fools' Day, while not a holiday in the traditional sense, is celebrated in Germany.
Oktoberfest is an annual two-week festival held in Munich, Germany during late September and early October. It is the largest folk festival in the world, though not a formally recognized holiday in any way.

Customs about holidays

Ascension Day and Corpus Christi are both always on Thursdays. By taking only one day's leave, employees can have a four-day weekend.
The Three Kings Day, better known as Epiphany, is 6 January, the day after the 12 days of Christmas. In parts of Germany, it has its own local customs.