欧洲国家圣诞假日概况
文章来源:未知 文章作者:enread 发布时间:2014-12-28 05:01 字体: [ ]  进入论坛
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Europe is a varied1 continent with plenty of different Christmas traditions. For example, some in the west of the continent may not have heard of the Krampus - St Nicholas' demonic assistant who beats bad children with a stick. 

在欧洲,不同的地区有许多不同的圣诞传统。譬如,欧洲西部的人们可能从来没有听说过坎卜斯——圣人尼古拉斯(圣诞老人的原型)的助手。传说顽皮的孩子会被他用棍子敲打。
 
However, one thing that everyone gets - and the Krampus can't take away - is holiday. Every single country in Europe has at least one statutory day off in the period between 15 December and 15 January. This includes the majority Islamic countries such as Turkey.
 
Who gets the most though?
 
The majority of countries in Europe are Christian2, whether that is Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox and bearing that in mind there are four key dates to look for:
 
25 December - Catholic/Protestant Christmas Day, which is the purported3 anniversary of the birth of Christ
 
New Year's Day - in terms of the Gregorian calendar, which every single country gets as a holiday
 
6 January - Epiphany, when Jesus was supposed to have appeared to the Magi (or three wise men)
 
7 January - Russian Orthodox Christmas Day
 
Around that there are several eves and and saints' days but those four are the bedrock of the holiday season. There are secular4 days too, usually related to revolutions or new declarations of statehood that happened to fall in this time of year.
 
Russia, the home of the eastern Orthodox church, has the most days off over the Christmas period of any European country. Every day between New Year and the day after Russian Orthodox Christmas is a holiday, giving them eight off in total.
 
Closely following the Russians with seven are Armenia and Liechtenstein. The latter country gets Christmas Eve through to Boxing Day off as well as the two days either side of the New Year. For good measure, they also get Epiphany off - let's call this the total Christmas holiday package.
 
Most western European countries get a similar settlement - Christmas Day, Boxing Day (or St. Stephen's Day) and New Year's Day with the overtly5 Catholic ones getting Epiphany too.
 
However, the number of days off sometimes varies by the region you are in. For example, in Germany only Bavaria, Badem-Wittenburg and Saxony-Anhalt get Epiphany as a holiday. Similar arrangements exist in Spain, France and Switzerland.
 
It is also the case in the UK, where Scotland gets an extra day off on 2 January, which is considerably6 more kind to the hungover.
 
Looking at the worldwide picture then the US and Canada fare pretty badly, with only two national statutory holidays apiece. This is the same number of days as Japan, which does not have Christmas as a day off but does for some reason celebrate the day by eating fried chicken.


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1 varied giIw9     
adj.多样的,多变化的
参考例句:
  • The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
  • The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。
2 Christian KVByl     
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒
参考例句:
  • They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
  • His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。
3 purported 31d1b921ac500fde8e1c5f9c5ed88fe1     
adj.传说的,谣传的v.声称是…,(装得)像是…的样子( purport的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • the scene of the purported crime 传闻中的罪案发生地点
  • The film purported to represent the lives of ordinary people. 这部影片声称旨在表现普通人的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 secular GZmxM     
n.牧师,凡人;adj.世俗的,现世的,不朽的
参考例句:
  • We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
  • Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。
5 overtly pmlz1K     
ad.公开地
参考例句:
  • There were some overtly erotic scenes in the film. 影片中有一些公开色情场面。
  • Nietzsche rejected God's law and wrote some overtly blasphemous things. 尼采拒绝上帝的律法,并且写了一些渎神的作品。
6 considerably 0YWyQ     
adv.极大地;相当大地;在很大程度上
参考例句:
  • The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
  • The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。
TAG标签: holiday Christmas Europe
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