Day 3224 (Monday) 6th April 2026

This is the Orthodox church in Nice

and this is Port Vauban in Antibes.

 

It was another lovely sunny day and we went to Saint – Jean Cap-Ferrat for lunch. It was really quite packed and we struggled to find a parking space but we got one down by the beach where there were lots of French people enjoying picnics.

We went to the same restaurant as last week and shared a huge quiche Lorraine and thoroughly enjoyed the view.

I’m guessing that these are a part of the egg hunts.

We saw these trees in nice last week and my App tells me they are called Judas trees, seems rather appropriate today.

What’s happening in France this week

France's wing Joanna Grisez celebrates after scoringduring the 2025 Women's Six Nations international between Italy and France. (Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP)

A public holiday, a debate about another public holiday, tax season begins, new EU border rules fully kick in, and the Women’s Six Nations starts.

Monday

Public holiday — Easter Monday is a public holiday in France, so schools and offices will be closed, while public transport is likely to be limited. It is also expected to be busier than normal on the roads.

Strike — Cabin crew at the budget airline easyJet have filed a strike notice for Monday, April 6th. There may also be knock-on disruption on Tuesday.

Wednesday

Another strike — Operators of France's private ambulances, which are mostly used for patient transport and non-emergency trips, are set to strike in a long-running dispute over fees.

Thursday

Tax season — Tax declaration season opens on April 9th this year. The deadline for declarations is May or June, depending on where you live, with bills arriving in July or August.

Passover — The Jewish festival of Passover ends.

Court — The trial of a former ETA militant leader gets under way in Paris.

Visit — French President Emmanuel Macron will meet Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican.

Space — The European Space Agency’s Smile mission to study solar winds launches from Kourou, French Guiana.

Friday 

Borders — The EU’s new entry-exit border check system is due to take 'full effect' on April 10th, after a six-month phasing in period. The European Commission is sticking to its guns about the full implementation of EES, but given that airports are complaining about increasing waiting times while terminals in the UK including Saint Pancras station have barely even begun using it, it would not be a surprise to see the deadline pushed back.

Schools — Children attending schools in Zone B, which includes Aix-Marseille, Nice, and Strasbourg, break up for the Spring holidays after classes.  They will head back to school on April 27th. Those in Zone A, which includes both Lyon and Bordeaux, have been off for a week already, and will return on April 20th. Meanwhile, children attending schools in Zone C, which includes Paris, Toulouse and Montpellier, have another week of classes to go.

Sport — Rugby’s Champions and Challenge Cup competitions have reached the quarter-final stage.

Politics — MPs debate a bill that would allow certain establishments and businesses to operate as normal on May 1st, the Labour Day public holiday.

Saturday 

Sport II — The Women’s Six Nations kicks off. France, under new coach Francois Ratier, begin their bid for the title against Italy at Grenoble’s Stade des Alpes. 

Sunday

Sport III — Thousands of runners gather in Paris for the Paris marathon.

Why does secular France have so many Catholic holidays?

Photo by Valery HACHE / AFP

You might not have thought about it too much as you enjoyed an extra day off work, but it is perhaps unexpected that France - proudly secular since 1905 - has so many public holidays based around Catholic festivals.

Reader question: Why does France have Catholic holidays like Ascension, Assumption and Toussaint? I thought it was supposed to be a secular republic?
The French Republic is very proud of its secular principles but yet as some readers observed, many public holidays are linked to Catholic celebrations, a reminder of its religious history.
Roughly half of the public holidays in France represent Catholic events: Easter, Ascension, Assumption (August 15th), Pentecost (for some people), All Saints’ day (November 1st) and of course Christmas.

If you live in Alsace-Moselle (formerly Alsace-Lorraine) you get two extra holidays, both religious ones - Good Friday (the Friday before Easter) and St Stephen's Day (December 26th) - more on why that is later.

France's secular stance takes its roots in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 but was formally codified into law in 1905. 

France does not recognise, pay or subsidise any religion. So French local and national governments are not allowed to finance churches, mosques, synagogues or temples, and religious symbolism is not allowed in State buildings or for representatives of the State.

It is these rules that mean that, for example, French primary schools don't perform nativity plays at Christmas and French female police officers are not permitted to wear the Muslim headscarf while on duty.

The flip side of this is that freedom of worship is also protected in the 1905 law, and everyone is allowed to practice whatever religion they choose in their private life.

The only exception to the secular rules are the three departments of Alsace-Moselle. When the 1905 law was passed the region was part of Germany and only became French again at the end of World War I. As part of the compromise agreed, today bishops, priests, rabbis and pastors have the status of civil servants and the state pays for the maintenance of religious buildings. Religious education in public schools is also preserved.

So all that seems to pretty strongly suggest that Catholic festivals should play no part in France's holiday calendar and only the secular events - such as the Fête nationale on July 14th or VE Day on May 8th - should remain.

However, by the time secularism was formally codified into law in 1905 there was already a fairly fixed calendar of holidays and festivals - although this had already been slimmed down under the Napoleonic government in 1802 - and suddenly axing popular festivals was likely to go down pretty badly with the population at large.

Essentially then, this was a pragmatic compromise between tradition and secularism and over the years politicians have been understandably reluctant to tell the French they must lose their holidays.

But it's noticeable that all the religious festivals in the calendar are Christian ones, and while this may reflect France's history it's not so representative of the current demographics, where an estimated 10 percent of the population either practice the Muslim faith or have a Muslim family background.

So could we see a scenario when we knock Ascension on the head but make Eid a public holiday?

It's theoretically possible - in 2015 the French parliament voted through an amendment that would allow the départments of France's Overseas Territories (Martinique, Gaudeloupe, Mayotte, Réunion and French Guiana) to switch a Catholic bank holiday for another religious celebration to suit different faiths in the local population.

However none of the overseas départements has yet made that move. 
A fresh amendment would be required to make the same move in mainland France, and there appears to be little political appetite for that at present.

What are France's public holidays? 

January 1st: New Year’s Day

Good Friday (the Friday before Easter Monday, only a holiday in Alsace-Lorraine)

Easter Monday (movable date)

May 1st : May Day

May 8th: VE Day

Ascension (movable date)

Pentecost (movable date and no longer an official holiday)

July 14th – Bastille Day

August 15th – Assumption

November 1st – All Saints

November 11th – Armistice Day

December 25th – Christmas

December 26th - St Stephen's Day (only a holiday in Alsace-Lorraine)

I’m sure this is made up but I think it’s cute.