The following are public

holiday A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work including school, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate an event or t ...

s in

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. Only 5 of these holidays (January 1, May 1, July 18, August 25 and December 25) imply a mandatory paid leave for workers. Most of the other days are only observed by schools and some public sector offices.

Moveable holidays

According to Uruguayan Law 16,805 with modifications of Law 17,414, ''the holidays declared by law, subject to the commemoration of them, follow the following scheme'' (whose commemoration as “moveable holidays”): * If coincide on Saturday, Sunday or Monday will be observed in those days. * If occur on Tuesday or Wednesday, will be observed on Monday immediately preceding. * If occur on Thursday or Friday shall be observed on the Monday immediately following This will not occur with ''Carnival and Tourism Week, and corresponding to January 1 and 6, May 1, June 19, July 18, August 25, November 2 and December 25, which will continue watching on the day of the week that may occur, whatever the same''.

Independence Day

Historian Leonardo Borges argues that Independence Day, celebrated on August 25, does not reflect the actual birth of the nation. When the independence of the

Brazilian Empire The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and (until 1828) Uruguay. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom ...

and the

United Provinces of the Río de la Plata The United Provinces of the Río de la Plata ( es, link=no, Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata), earlier known as the United Provinces of South America ( es, link=no, Provincias Unidas de Sudamérica), was a name adopted in 1816 by the Co ...

was signed on August 25, 1825, Uruguay remained part of Argentina, the

Banda Oriental Banda Oriental, or more fully Banda Oriental del Uruguay (Eastern Bank), was the name of the South American territories east of the Uruguay River and north of Río de la Plata that comprise the modern nation of Uruguay; the modern state of Rio Gra ...

. Borges says that " seems like nonsense" to establish August 25 as Independence Day. Ana Ribeiro, Undersecretary of Education and Culture, argues that all such dates are arbitrary, and points out that

Bastille Day Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. In French, it is formally called the (; "French National Celebration"); legally it is known as (; "t ...

does not celebrate the determining date of the French Revolution. The Treaty of Montevideo, signed on August 27, 1828, and ratified on October 4 of the same year, after the

Cisplatine War The Cisplatine War (), also known as the Argentine-Brazilian War () or, in Argentine and Uruguayan historiography, as the Brazil War (''Guerra del Brasil''), the War against the Empire of Brazil (''Guerra contra el Imperio del Brasil'') or t ...

, granted independence to Banda Oriental, which became Uruguay.

References

External links

Holidays A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work including school, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate an event or t ...

Uruguayan culture Events in Uruguay {{Uruguay-stub