{"id":6595,"date":"2020-04-14T08:29:21","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T08:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/?p=6595"},"modified":"2020-04-14T11:17:46","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T11:17:46","slug":"tweede-paasdag-why-another-free-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/tweede-paasdag-why-another-free-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Tweede Paasdag – Why ANOTHER Free Day?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Easter Monday. What’s the point of this second day if we already have Pasen <\/em>(Easter) on Sunday? And why is it celebrated in the Netherlands as a public holiday? Here’s why the Dutch ask themselves this question year after year, and why it actually is a free holiday.<\/p>\n

Tweede Paasdag<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n
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Image by Thanti Nguyen at Unsplash.com<\/p><\/div>\n

In Dutch, Easter Monday is sometimes referred to as\u00a0Paasmaandag<\/em>. However, more common is its name\u00a0Tweede Paasdag\u00a0<\/em>– Second Easter Day. Similarly, Boxing Day in the Netherlands is known as\u00a0Tweede Kerstdag\u00a0<\/em>(Second Christmas Day), so it is just the Dutch nomenclature.\u00a0But calling it\u00a0Tweede Paasdag\u00a0<\/em>makes it seem less important than\u00a0Eerste Paasdag\u00a0<\/em>(or yes,\u00a0Paaszondag<\/em>). And well, it is. And yet, the\u00a0Tweede Paasdag\u00a0<\/em>is a public holiday in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

Niemand klaagt, hoor!<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Image by Sebastian Staines at Unsplash.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Now, before you think the Dutch somehow don’t like a\u00a0vrije dag\u00a0<\/em>(free day) – nobody is calling for Tweede Paasdag\u00a0<\/em>to be reconsidered as a feestdag\u00a0<\/i>(holiday). But the question why can still be raised. In many other European\u00a0landen\u00a0<\/em>(countries), Tweede Paasdag <\/i>is not a\u00a0feestdag<\/em>, even if it is known to exist. So where does this Dutch approach come from?<\/p>\n

Because the Dutch became heavily influenced by protestantism, which rejected many of the holidays that catholicism knew, the Dutch abandoned many\u00a0feestdagen<\/em>. The only ones left were feestdagen <\/em>surrounding Jesus, such as\u00a0Kerst\u00a0<\/em>(Christmas),\u00a0Hemelvaart\u00a0<\/em>(Ascension),\u00a0Pinksteren\u00a0<\/em>(Pentecoste) and, of course,\u00a0Pasen\u00a0<\/em>(Easter).<\/p>\n

To compensate for all the lost days of church attendance, many kerken\u00a0<\/em>(churches) would make these holidays much longer. There were\u00a0kerken\u00a0<\/em>that celebrated 8 days of\u00a0Pasen<\/em>. Eight!!! Of course, this differed widely by region.<\/p>\n

And over time, the call for harmonizing these differences grew. In 1815, then, the\u00a0Zondagswet\u00a0<\/em>set which Christian holidays were celebrated and how many days they would last. All\u00a0feestdagen\u00a0<\/em>should consist of two days, since it was customary to celebrate many feestdagen <\/em>over two days. Furthermore, since many of the Protestant holidays already are on Sundays, the Dutch government wanted to give people some additional free days, and so certain feestdagen<\/em>, like\u00a0Pasen<\/em>, were given an extra free day.<\/p>\n

Ik doe alles op de Tweede Paasdag wat niet op de Eerste Paas mag!<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n