Portugal (Azores) : public and bank holidays, closure of banks, stock exchanges, school vacations

School holidays :

Banks only : Commemorates the Last Supper when Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist (Lord's Supper) celebrates and His washing of the disciples' feet Maundy Thursday is not an official public holiday. But since it is the day before long Friday, many people has their workday shortened, and banks are closed in the afternoon.

Catholic or protestant : The First Council of Nicaea (a gathering of bishops in the early days of Christianity) wanted to find a day to commemorate the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. This commemoration had to be linked to Jewish holiday traditions, since the last supper of Christ was believed to be a Jewish Passover meal. But the Jewish calendar is based on lunar and solar cycles, so the Easter celebration had to follow the same calendar.

Catholic or protestant : Paid holiday

School holidays :

Secular holiday : carnations military revolution in 1974 which overthrew the Salazar regime

Secular holiday : Chicago, Saturday May 1st, 1886: 350,000 workers go on strike to call for an 8-hour working day. Industries are paralyzed nationwide. On Monday, as demonstrations go on, the police open fire. On Tuesday, Chicago is again on strike. Following a bomb launched against them, the police shoot again. 12 dead, of which 7 policemen. 8 anarchists will be condemned and executed. In 1889, the Socialist International Movement met in Paris and declared this day international workers' day . The Soviets will follow suit, just as the Nazis. In France, under the Vichy regime (1940-1944), the celebration is renamed Labour Day .

Secular holiday : To commemorate the Azorean political autonomy established in the Portuguese constitution, following the Carnation Revolution

School holidays : 9.º,11.º e 12.º

Catholic : Commemorates the Last supper. Pope Urban IV ordered the observance of such a feast in 1264, and in the following century it became universal in the Western Church. For six hundred years that feast was observed on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, but in 1970 the new Roman Missal, while retaining that day for some countries, provided that in others the feast be observed on the Sunday after Trinity. the actual celebration is moved to the nearest weekend.

Secular holiday : Commemorates Luis de Camoes, Portugal's greatest poet, who died in 1580. Paid holiday when falling on Saturday or Sunday

School holidays : 5.º, 6.º, 7.º, 8.º e 10.º

School holidays : 1.º, 2.º, 3.º e 4.º

Culture : Lasts 10 days - in Terceira Island please check dates: http://www.azores.com/azores/terceira.php

Catholic : Dogma defined by the Catholic Church on November 1, 1950, when Pope Pius XII declared that at the end of her life, Mary's body and soul were assumed into Heaven.

School holidays :