Public holidays in Russia 2021-2025

Non-movable holidays

Non-statutory holidays are written in gray.

Moving Holidays in Russia

Postponement of non-working days

Another special feature is the state-regulated optimization of bridge days and maximization of non-working days: if a holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, there is a non-working day as a substitute. By shifting non-working days, the government also ensures that as many days off as possible hang together and employees have several days off in a row. To compensate for this, however, there are also 6-day weeks.

Jack Frost and a Christmas in January

As mentioned at the beginning, Russia calculates church holidays according to the Julian calendar. Although in normal life the Gregorian calendar applies throughout the country, holidays are calculated according to a centuries-old system for historical and religious reasons. Incidentally, this is also done in many other countries.

Thus, the official Russian Orthodox Christmas takes place 13 days later on January 7. During the preceding 40 days, the fasting period applies. A Christmas Eve is known in Russia only in a few regions. Also Boxing Day is almost nowhere a part of the Russian Christmas. Jack Frost is a loving old man with a beard, but he is not Santa Claus. He gives presents to the children on New Year's Eve, which is why there is no additional Boxing Day at Christmas. The Jolka celebration on New Year's Eve is often compared and confused with the actual Christmas celebration precisely because of the gifts. But the Jolka celebration has no religious background. It was introduced in 1937 to give the population a secular holiday to replace Christmas, which was banned at the time. This is also how Jack Frost came into being, who resembles Santa Claus, but in the Russian version symbolizes nothing other than the winter.