One is spent, but three long weekends are ahead of us in 2024

People in Slovakia will enjoy fewer long weekends in 2024 compared to the past year when there were up to eight such long breaks. This year, they can look forward to four long weekends.

The first of these weekends is already over. January 1, the day when Slovakia was established 31 years ago, fell on Monday.The first of these weekends is already over. January 1, the day when Slovakia was established 31 years ago, fell on Monday.

The next long weekend will be during Easter, from Good Friday (March 29) until Easter Monday (April 1). July 5, which falls on Friday, will prolong the weekend at the start of the summer. Slovakia then celebrates Ss. Cyril and Methodius.

People will have to wait for the fourth long weekend until November. November 1 then falls on Friday. It is expected that people in Slovakia will travel around the country to light up candles in cemeteries.

How to make a weekend longer

There are 14 public and church holidays when people in Slovakia have time off work, but most of them fall on the weekend or week days other than Monday and Friday this year.

For example, Epiphany Day (January 6) falls on Saturday and Slovak National Uprising Day (August 29) falls on Thursday in 2024. But if an employee is willing to take a day off on Friday, August 30, they can shorten their work week.

Christmas Eve falls on Tuesday, followed by two more holidays. If an employee will take December 23 (Monday) and December 27 (Friday) off, they will not have to think about work all week long.

Constitution Day

Constitution Day, September 1, remains a public holiday, but people will have to work on this day following a change introduced by the Fico IV government in an attempt to bring tens of millions of euros into the state budget. The school year will also start on this day and shops can be open on this public holiday.

Yet, September 1 in 2024 falls on a Sunday.

It is not clear why the government decided to make people work on September 1. For example, Labour Day (May 1), falls on Wednesday this year. The government, which sees itself as left-wing, could have obtained more money in 2024 had it made Labour Day a work day.

Regardless, Slovakia belongs among EU member states with the highest number of public and church holidays, alongside Portugal, Sweden, Croatia and Spain.

Many like a lot of holidays

Of 14 holidays when most people do not have to work, ten are church holidays. Why the government didn’t cancel one of these is a mystery. One of the reasons may be a need to discuss such a change with the Holy See as these holidays are protected by a Vatican treaty.

In October 2023, the AKO polling agency asked people if they would be willing to sacrifice any holiday. A third said no, followed by more than 15 percent of respondents saying that they would cancel September 15 (Our Lady of Sorrows Day) as a holiday. Less than 9 percent said that they would give up Constitution Day.

In 2012, the then Fico cabinet planned to cancel Constitution Day and Our Lady of Sorrows Day as holidays. But almost 130,000 people signed a petition to preserve September 15 as a holiday. Neither of the two days was cancelled in the end.