聖誕節哪個國家放假時間最長？

Europe is a varied 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.

在歐洲，不同的地區有許多不同的聖誕傳統。譬如，歐洲西部的人們可能從來沒有聽說過坎卜斯（Krampus）——聖人尼古拉斯（聖誕老人的原型）的助手。傳說頑皮的孩子會被他用棍子敲打。

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.

但是，有一個傳統坎卜斯奪不走並且每個人都能得到，那就是節假日。歐洲的每個國家在12月25日和1月15日之間至少有一個法定節假日。這個傳統也涵蓋了土耳其在內的大多數伊斯蘭國家。

Who gets the most though?

那麼哪個國家放假最長？

The majority of countries in Europe are Christian, whether that is Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox and bearing that in mind there are four key dates to look for:

絕大多數歐洲人都是基督徒，不管他們是天主教，新教還是東正教。他們把以下重要的四天牢記心中。

25 December - Catholic/Protestant Christmas Day, which is the purported anniversary of the birth of Christ

1.12月25日——天主教/新教的聖誕節。聖誕節是所謂基督誕生的週年紀念日。

New Year’s Day - in terms of the Gregorian calendar, which every single country gets as a holiday

2.新年——羅馬教皇格利高裏日曆（羅馬公曆）。每一個國家都在這一天放假。

6 January - Epiphany, when Jesus was supposed to have appeared to the Magi (or three wise men)

3.1月6日——主顯節。在這一天，三賢人（Magi）在耶穌生時從東方前來朝聖送禮。

7 January - Russian Orthodox Christmas Day

4.1月7日——俄羅斯東正教聖誕節

Around that there are several eves and and saints’ days but those four are the bedrock of the holiday season. There are secular days too, usually related to revolutions or new declarations of statehood that happened to fall in this time of year.

在這些主要的節日前後，還有一些其他的宗教節日，但是這四個節日是整個假日季的重中之重。當然也有非宗教的節日，它們通常與革命或者國家宣佈獨立的日子有關。

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.

俄羅斯是東正教教會的發源地。在聖誕節期間，它是歐洲國家中擁有休假日最多的國家。從新年到俄羅斯東正教聖誕節一共八天，每一天都是節假日。

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.

休假日天數僅次於俄羅斯的國家是亞美尼亞（Armenia）和列支敦士登（Liechtenstein），各爲7天。後者從平安夜到節禮日及新年前後兩天作爲放假日。另外，他們還有主顯節放假日——我們可以把這些假日統稱爲聖誕節假期。

Most western European countries get a similar settlement - Christmas Day, Boxing Day (or St. Stephen’s Day) and New Year’s Day with the overtly Catholic ones getting Epiphany too.

大多數的西歐國家都有相同的放假節日——聖誕節、節禮日（聖史蒂芬日）、新年。信仰天主教的國家還會多一個主顯節。

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.

當然，放假天數有時也會隨所在地區的不同而變化。例如，只有德國的巴伐利亞州（Bavaria）、巴德姆-威登堡州（Badem-Wittenburg）、薩克森-安哈爾特州（Saxony-Anhalt）以及西班牙、法國、瑞士把主顯節作爲放假日。

It is also the case in the UK, where Scotland gets an extra day off on 2 January, which is considerably more kind to the hungover.

同樣的情況也存在於英國。英國的蘇格蘭地區在1月2日有額外一天的放假，這種安排照顧到了那些因節日狂歡宿醉的人們。

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.

橫觀世界各國，美國和加拿大兩國的聖誕節放假天數少得可憐，兩個國家都只有兩天的國家法定節假日。此外，日本也同樣只放兩天假。雖然日本在聖誕節當天不放假，但是卻有在這一天吃炸雞以示慶祝的傳統。