Public holidays in Switzerland, 1953

How Switzerland public holidays work in 1953

Switzerland has only one federal public holiday under article 110 of the Federal Constitution: Swiss National Day on 1 August. Every other public holiday is cantonal and varies across the 26 cantons, with some recognising as many as fifteen days and others as few as seven. Catholic cantons observe Epiphany, Saints Peter and Paul, Assumption, All Saints' and Immaculate Conception; Protestant cantons typically do not. Geneva uniquely observes the Jeûne Genevois on the Thursday after the first Sunday of September. The Federal Act on Work in Industry sets New Year's Day, Christmas Day, Ascension and Swiss National Day as equivalent to a Sunday for industrial labour-law purposes everywhere in Switzerland.

Working days in Switzerland

Article 18 of the Federal Act on Work (Arbeitsgesetz) prohibits work on Sundays except by permit. The standard private-sector week is Monday to Friday with banks operating Monday to Friday. The Code of Civil Procedure article 142 rolls procedural deadlines falling on a Saturday, Sunday or a cantonally recognised public holiday at the place of the court to the next working day. Settlement of Swiss franc transactions runs on the Swiss Interbank Clearing system operated by SIX Interbank Clearing, which observes a nationally agreed banking calendar narrower than any cantonal list because banks operate across cantonal boundaries.