 according to greek law every sunday of the year is a public holiday. in addition, there are four obligatory, official public holidays: march 25, easter monday, august 15 and december 25. two more days, may 1 and october 28, are regulated by law as optional but it is customary for employees to be given the day off. there are, however, more public holidays celebrated in greece than are announced by the ministry of labour each year as either obligatory or optional. the list of these non-fixed national holidays rarely changes and has not changed in recent decades, giving a total of twelve national holidays each year. a public holiday that occurs on a sunday is not transferred to another date, with the exception of may 1, which is regarded by the locals more as a general strike than a public holiday. in addition to the national holidays, there are public holidays that are not celebrated nationwide, but only by a specific professional group or a local community. for example many municipalities have a patron saint also called 'name day' or a liberation day, and at this day is customary for schools to have a day off. == national holidays == {| class="wikitable" width="100%" |- | colspan="6" style="text-align:center"|national holidays |- valign="top" ! style="width:120px" |date ! english name ! greek name (transliterated) ! greek name ! remarks ! style="width:20px" | |- valign="top" | january 1 | new year's day | protochroniÃ¡ | Î ÏÏÏÎ¿ÏÏÎ¿Î½Î¹Î¬ | also celebrated ecclesiastically as the feast of st. basil the great and of the circumcision of christ. | 3 |- valign="top" | january 6 | epiphany or theophany | theophÃ¡neia | ÎÎµÎ¿ÏÎ¬Î½ÎµÎ¹Î± | | 3 |- valign="top" | moveableeaster â 41 days | clean monday or shrove monday | katharÃ¡ deutÃ©ra | ÎÎ±Î¸Î±ÏÎ¬ ÎÎµÏÏÎ­ÏÎ± | the first day of lent. next: 23 february 2015 | 3 |- valign="top" | rowspan="2" | march 25 | annunciation | evangelismÃ³s tÄs theotÃ³kou | ÎÏÎ±Î³Î³ÎµÎ»Î¹ÏÎ¼ÏÏ ÏÎ·Ï ÎÎµÎ¿ÏÏÎºÎ¿Ï | celebration of the annunciation â when the incarnation of logos was announced to the virgin mary. | rowspan="2" | 1 |- valign="top" | independence day | eikostÃ­-pÃ©mti martÃ­ou (lit. march 25) | ÎÎ¹ÎºÎ¿ÏÏÎ® Î Î­Î¼ÏÏÎ· ÎÎ±ÏÏÎ¹Î¿Ï | anniversary of the declaration of the start of greek war of independence from the ottoman empire, in 1821. |- valign="top" | moveableeaster â 2 days | good friday | megÃ¡lÄ paraskevÄ | ÎÎµÎ³Î¬Î»Î· Î Î±ÏÎ±ÏÎºÎµÏÎ® | next: 10 april 2015 | 3 |- valign="top&q
Public_holidays_by_country