Today I was back at work after enjoying a four and a half day weekend for Easter. In the US, I did not even get Good Friday off, so you can only imagine how happy I am to get a long holiday for Easter.

It’s all part of the red day set-up. In Sweden, a public holiday is typically referred to as a red day or röd dag as the day is printed in red on calendars. Even better, it’s common for businesses to close at noon the day before certain holidays. And if a holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, Swedes will commonly take off the squeeze day (klämdag) that falls between the red day and the weekend. Thus you get even more bang for your holiday buck, so to speak.

What all this means for Easter is that Thursday was a half day and Friday and Monday were holidays. The next red dag is Första maj or the International Workers Day. I’m already thinking about what I want to do with it. I think I am beginning to lose my American work ethic.

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