Public holidays of the Russian Federation: history.

Holidays are a phenomenon that people usually wait with ardent impatience. In the special "Calendar of Events" more than 200 days are recorded, which are tabbed. According to this calendar all holidays can be qualified as follows:

• Public holidays are legally non-working days. This is especially favorite days for Russians. They are fixed in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. These include the May holidays of Victory, Spring and Labor; New Year's holidays; 8 March and 23 February; Days of Russia and National Unity, celebrated, respectively, in June and November. About the origin of these holidays, we'll talk a little later.

• One official non-working day, fixed in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, but not belonging to the category referred to in the TC "public holidays". This is Christmas, which is celebrated in our country at 7.01.

• Days dedicated to employees of various industries, holidays of artists, science, etc. These official holidays in Russia are working days.

Public holidays, or rather the history of their consolidation in the RF TC is ambiguous.

For example, the Spring and Labor Festival was first celebrated in Warsaw in 1890. The next year he was celebrated in our capital, and later the traditional Day of May Day was the favorite spring event of the whole country. The name of the holiday changed several times, but this did not affect the general love of Russians to it. Regardless of the name, position in the country, number of non-working days, it always remained a symbol of spring, universal unity. May Day always caused a special emotional upsurge.

Some public holidays in Russia are closely related to the history of Christianity. It is, of course, about the New Year holidays. As you know, the beginning of the new year in Russia was the day of Christ Sunday, which falls in the spring. John the third decided that it would be more convenient to celebrate the beginning of the year 01.09, and in 1492 issued the relevant decree. Until 1700 the years were counted from the moment in which God created the world, and the first day of the year was September 1. Given the difference in the Russian and European calendars, such a chronology greatly hampered the conduct of all international affairs. Therefore, Peter 1 by his Decree ordered solemnly and cheerfully celebrate the New Year, like all of Europe, on January 1. Today it is difficult to imagine that the favorite Christmas tree and New Year's feasts had a hard time getting accustomed to in our country. However, over time, the holiday became so popular that it even got into the Labor Code and became an official non-working day. True, for a long time the New Year holidays did not exist: on January 2 people had to go to work. Today we are talking about the reduction of the New Year holidays and the extension of May holidays at their expense.

Day of Concord and Reconciliation was adopted in 2005 and replaced the holiday on November 7, which was officially called the Day of the Great October Socialist Revolution. Probably, it was not by chance that it coincided that on November 4 the Day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God is celebrated.

The Day of Russia, which has been non-working since 2002, marks the moment of adoption of the Declaration on the Sovereignty of New Russia, and the day of the coming of the first President of our country to power. The history of the adoption of the holiday is long, but today all the people with pleasure celebrate the day of true national unity, freedom, responsibility for a better future.

February 23 became a non-working day only from 2006. Before that, it was considered a holiday, but a working day. Changing the name in connection with the change in the political status of the state, today is celebrated on February 23 not so much as Defender of the Fatherland Day, as it is officially called in the Labor Code, as a holiday for all men.

The story of the Day of March 8 is interesting. International Women's Day is celebrated since 1911 only in Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Austria. Since 1913, it is celebrated in our Petersburg. Only since 1975 the 8th of March became a state official holiday. It should also be noted that, despite its pompous name "International", the holiday is still celebrated by a narrow circle of countries.