In the UK we have several public holidays a year, also known as Bank Holidays.
Scotland has different public holidays to England and Wales, as does Northern Ireland. The Republic of Ireland is a separate country and has its own public holidays.
In England and Wales there are 8 public holidays a year. In Northern Ireland there are 10. Some of them are on fixed DATES each year, where as others are on a particular DAY.
If a public holiday at Christmas falls on a weekend there will be a day in lieu, i.e Christmas Day last year (2005)was a Sunday so we had Tuesday off as a bank holiday to make up for it.
2006 holidays in England and Wales are:
2nd Jan - New Years Day (in lieu of 1st)
17th March - St Patricks Day IRELAND ONLY
14th April - Good Friday
17th April - Easter Monday
1st May - May Bank Holiday or Whitsunday
29th May - Spring Bank Holiday
12th July - Orangemans Day IRELAND ONLY
28th August - Summer Bank Holiday or August Bank Holiday
25th December - Christmas
26th December - Boxing Day
For a full list of England and Wales, and Northern Ireland see the DTI website:
http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/bankhol.htm
For Scotland see the Scottish Government site:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/01/bankholidays