[1] Holidays can be thematic, celebrating or commemorating particular groups, events, or ideas, or non-thematic, days of rest that do not have any particular meaning.
In Commonwealth English, the term can refer to any period of rest from work, such as vacations or school holidays.
In the United States, the word is used exclusively to refer to the nationally, religiously, or culturally observed day(s) of rest or celebration or the events themselves, whereas in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth nations, the word may refer to the period of time where leave from one's duties has been agreed upon and is used as a synonym for the US preferred vacation.
This time is usually set aside for rest, travel, or participation in recreational activities, with entire industries targeted to coincide with or enhance these experiences.
Employers and educational institutes may designate 'holidays' themselves, which may or may not overlap nationally or culturally relevant dates, which again comes under this connotation, but it is the first implication detailed that this article is concerned with.
[4] New Year's Day is the most common public holiday, observed by all countries using the Gregorian calendar except Israel.
[8][9] Recently invented holidays commemorate a range of modern social and political issues and other important topics.
The United Nations Calendar of Observances[12] dedicates decades to a specific topic, but also a complete year, month, week and days.
Holidays dedicated to an observance such as the commemoration of the ending of World War II, or the Shoah, can also be part of the reparation obligation as per UN General Assembly Resolution 60/147 Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law.
[14] The process of moving a holiday from a weekend day to the following Monday is known as Mondayisation in New Zealand.
[16] In the UK, constituent countries have official or unofficial national days associated with their patron saint.
A British national day has often been proposed, such as the date of the Acts of Union 1707 (1 May) or the King's Official Birthday, but never adopted.
Jehovah's Witnesses annually commemorate "The Memorial of Jesus Christ's Death", but do not celebrate other holidays with any religious significance such as Easter, Christmas or New Year.
Hindus, Jains and Sikhs observe several holidays, one of the largest being Diwali (Festival of Light).
Jews have two holiday seasons: the Spring Feasts of Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot (Weeks, called Pentecost in Greek); and the Fall Feasts of Rosh Hashanah (Head of the Year), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), Sukkot (Tabernacles), and Shemini Atzeret (Eighth Day of Assembly).
The Bishop of Birmingham responded to the events, saying "the secular world, which expresses respect for all, is actually embarrassed by faith.
[20] In the United States, conservative commentators have characterised the secularisation of Winter festivities as "the War on Christmas".