Alsace-Moselle Public Holidays: 13 Jours Fériés

The two extra holidays

• Good Friday (Vendredi Saint) — the Friday before Easter Sunday. As a moveable date, it shifts every year along with Easter.
• St Stephen's Day (Saint Étienne / Deuxième jour de Noël) — 26 December, the day after Christmas, a fixed date.

Why this local law exists

Alsace and the Moselle department were annexed by Germany between 1871 and 1918. When they returned to France, a body of local law (the droit local d'Alsace-Moselle) was preserved, including the German-era public holidays. The general French law on the separation of Church and State (1905) was never extended there, which is also why some Christian holidays survive locally that disappeared elsewhere.

Who is covered?

The two extra holidays apply to employees whose workplace is located in the three departments, regardless of the company's head-office location. A worker based in Strasbourg benefits from them even if the company is headquartered in Paris. Conversely, an Alsatian employee posted to work elsewhere in France follows the rules of their actual place of work.

Good Friday has a nuance: it is a holiday only in towns that have a Protestant or mixed church. In practice the vast majority of the region observes it, and most employers apply it across the board.

The full list in Alsace-Moselle

The 11 national holidays plus Good Friday and St Stephen's Day: New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Labour Day, Victory Day, Ascension, Whit Monday, Bastille Day, Assumption, All Saints' Day, Armistice Day, Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day.

Frequently asked questions