Long weekend is a term used in
WesternThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term that can have multiple meanings depending on its context...
countries to denote a weekend that is at least three days long (a
three-day weekend), due to a
holidayThe words holiday or vacation have related meanings in different English-speaking countries and continents, but usually refer to one of the following activities or events:...
falling on either the Friday or Monday. In the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland these would be termed a
bank holidayA bank holiday is a public holiday in both the United Kingdom and Ireland. There is some automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population not employed in essential services A bank holiday is a public holiday in both the United Kingdom and Ireland. There is some...
weekend.
In some cases there may also be a four-day weekend in which two days adjoining the weekend are holidays—either Thursday and Friday, Friday and Monday, or Monday and Tuesday.
Long weekend is a term used in
WesternThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term that can have multiple meanings depending on its context...
countries to denote a weekend that is at least three days long (a
three-day weekend), due to a
holidayThe words holiday or vacation have related meanings in different English-speaking countries and continents, but usually refer to one of the following activities or events:...
falling on either the Friday or Monday. In the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland these would be termed a
bank holidayA bank holiday is a public holiday in both the United Kingdom and Ireland. There is some automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population not employed in essential services A bank holiday is a public holiday in both the United Kingdom and Ireland. There is some...
weekend.
In some cases there may also be a four-day weekend in which two days adjoining the weekend are holidays—either Thursday and Friday, Friday and Monday, or Monday and Tuesday. This occurs once a year in some nations where the
EasterEaster is the most important annual religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to Christian scripture, Jesus was resurrected from the dead on the third day from his crucifixion...
weekend is celebrated, with
Easter MondayEaster Monday is the day after Easter Sunday and is celebrated as a holiday in some largely Christian cultures, especially Roman Catholic cultures. Easter Monday in the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar is the second day of the octave of Easter Week....
and
Good FridayGood Friday, also called Holy Friday, Black Friday, or Great Friday, is a holiday observed primarily by adherents to Christianity commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary...
. Countries that celebrate both Christmas Day and
Boxing DayBoxing Day is a bank holiday or a public holiday in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and countries in the Commonwealth of Nations with a mainly Christian population...
can also have a four-day weekend when these adjacent holidays fall on Thursday/Friday or Monday/Tuesday. Additionally, in some nations, where a lone holiday occurs on a Tuesday or a Thursday, the gap between that day and the weekend may also be designated as a holiday, or set to be a movable or floating holiday.
On
ThanksgivingThanksgiving may refer to:*Thanksgiving , the holiday on the fourth Thursday in November.*Thanksgiving , the holiday on the second Monday in October.*Thanksgiving...
in the United States, the fourth Thursday of November, is the traditional day of feasting, but the following Friday is also sometimes a non-working day at some businesses, in addition to the weekend. This day is known as the unofficial holiday of
Black FridayBlack Friday is a term for the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States, which is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season...
, the beginning of the traditional
ChristmasChristmas , also referred to as Christmas Day, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The day marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days. The nativity of Jesus, which is the basis for the anno Domini...
shopping season, and often, its busiest single day. Many retailers open very early (typically 5 a.m.) and offer
doorbusterA doorbuster is a very low-priced item designed to draw people into a sale, such as during Boxing Day or Black Friday. As such, items being sold at a loss to the retailer are common during doorbuster events....
deals and
loss leaderA loss leader or leader is a product sold at a low price to stimulate other, profitable sales. It is a kind of sales promotion, in other words marketing concentrating on a pricing strategy. The price can even be so low that the product is sold at a loss. A loss leader is often a popular article...
s to draw people to their stores. This is typically the only four-day weekend of the year in the United States.
Other cultures
The term for a four-day weekend in some
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
-speaking countries is
puente ("bridge") or simply "fin de semana largo". In Spain, the "bridge" becomes an "aqueduct" in some years when the anniversary of the
Spanish Constitution of 1978The Constitution of Spain is regarded as the culmination of the Spanish transition to democracy. It was enacted after a referendum on 6 December 1978 after approval by 88% of voters.-Origins:...
(December 6) and the
Blessed Virgin MaryThe Blessed Virgin Mary, sometimes shortened to the Blessed Virgin or the Virgin Mary, is a traditional title used by most Christians and most specifically used by liturgical Christians such as Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics, and some others to...
's
Immaculate ConceptionThe Immaculate Conception is, according to Roman Catholic Dogma, the conception of the Virgin Mary without any stain of original sin. Under this aspect Mary is sometimes called the Immaculata , particularly in artistic contexts...
(December 8) and a weekend plus a movable holiday form a block of five days.
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
-speaking cultures use the same "bridge" idiom:
faire le pont meaning "to take a long weekend". The Italians and Portuguese do the same with their cognates
ponte (pronounced differently).
In
SlovenianSlovene or Slovenian is a South Slavic language spoken by approximately 2.4 million speakers worldwide, the majority of whom live in Slovenia...
, the term
podaljšan vikend ("prolonged weekend") is used for a three-day weekend. Four-day weekends also happen quite frequently, because January 1 and January 2 are public holidays (both
New Year DayThe New Year is an event that happens when a culture celebrates the end of one year and the beginning of the next year. Cultures that measure yearly calendars all have New Year celebrations...
), as well as May 1 and May 2 (both
May DayMay Day occurs on May 1 and refers to several public holidays. In many countries, May Day is synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour Day, a day of political demonstrations and celebrations organised by the unions and socialist groups....
). A peculiar coincidence are Christmas Day and
Independence DayAn Independence Day is an annual celebration commemorating the anniversary of a nation's assumption of independent statehood, usually after ceasing to be a colony or part of another state, more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Most countries honor their respective independence day as...
, falling on two consecutive dates.
In
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
, a bridge-related term is also used: a holiday taken to fill the gap between a holiday Thursday and the weekend is called a
Brückentag ("bridge day") in Germany and Switzerland, and a
Fenstertag ("window day") in Austria. "bridge day" is also used in Israel ("yom gishur"/"יום גישור") and The Netherlands ("brugdag").
The term
długi weekend (
PolishPolish is a West Slavic language and the official language of Poland. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet which corresponds basically to the Latin alphabet with a few additions...
for
long weekend) is also commonly used in the
Polish languagePolish is a West Slavic language and the official language of Poland. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet which corresponds basically to the Latin alphabet with a few additions...
. In
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, such a phenomenon usually occurs several times a year. As well as the Easter weekend and the Christmas weekend, there is
Corpus ChristiCorpus Christi is a Western Catholic feast. It is also celebrated in some churches of the Anglican Communion. It honours the Eucharist, which believers consider to be the actual body and blood of Christ, and as such it does not commemorate a particular event in Jesus' life...
weekend (Corpus Christi is always on Thursday and people usually take Friday off as well) and it may occur also around other holidays. However, the best known long weekend is at the beginning of May, when there are holidays of
Labour DayLabour Day or Labor Day is an annual holiday celebrated all over the world that resulted from the labour union movement, to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers...
on 1 May and
3rd May Constitution DayThe Constitution of May 3, 1791 is generally regarded as Europe's first and the world's second modern codified national constitution, following the 1788 ratification of the United States Constitution. The May 3, 1791, Constitution was adopted as a "Government Act" on that date by the Sejm of...
. The weekend can in fact be up to 9 days long (April 28 – May 6) and, taking one to three days off work, Poles often go for small holidays then.
In
NorwegianNorwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants ...
, the term "oval weekend" is used. An ordinary weekend is conceived of as "round" (although this is not stated explicitly), and adding extra days off makes it "oval". Norwegians also refer to "inneklemte" [squashed in]days, which are between a public holiday and a weekend. This is typical for the Friday after Ascension Day, which always falls on a Thursday. It is common to work in such days so as to be able to take them off and extend the weekend to four days.
Also in
SwedishSwedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the Åland islands. It is to a considerable extent mutually intelligible with Norwegian and to a lesser extent with Danish...
, the days between a weekend and a holiday are called "klämdagar" (squashed in days).
In Argentina, some national holidays that occur on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday (sometimes even on a Saturday) are officially moved to the closest Monday in order to create a long weekend.
In Brazil, when a holiday occurs in a Tuesday or a Thursday, some sectors of the society, as government and education, turn the day between the holiday and the weekend into a holiday. The four-day or even the three-day weekends are called
feriados prolongados ("Extended holidays") or its popular form
feriadão ("big holiday").