January 6 and 7 officially made legal holidays in Romania
Romanian president Klaus Iohannis signed into law the amendment declaring January 6, the Feast of the Theophany, and January 7, the Synaxis of St. John the Baptist, as legal holidays in which work is not permitted. Thus, these two extra days off will be added starting in 2024.
The law was initiated by the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Marcel Ciolacu, and the leader of the PSD deputies, Alfred Simonis. They noted that there are 16.3 million citizens, or 86.45% of the total population, registered as Orthodox Christians in the 2011 census in Romania.
"The Feast of the Theophany celebrated annually on January 6, is also celebrated by Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, and Pentecostal believers, who, according to the same census, make up 7.34% of Romania's population. It is unique in that on this day, most Orthodox believers attend church to receive the Great Blessing of Waters in the Orthodox tradition," according to the text accompanying the bill cited by News.ro.
January 6 is a legal holiday in several European states, Orthodox or Catholic, such as Austria, Cyprus, Croatia, Finland, Greece, Italy, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, and Sweden, the Social Democrats said.
The Social Democrats also argued, in the explanatory statement, that the celebration of St. John the Baptist, who performed the Baptism of the Lord on January 7, is closely related to the day before it.
"For Orthodox Christians who use the uncorrected calendar, January 7 is important because it is the date of the Nativity of the Lord. For this reason, several European countries, such as Belarus, Greece, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, and Cyprus, have made January 7 a legal holiday in which work is not permitted. In this context, given the religious importance of January 7, we consider it necessary to declare it a legal holiday in which work is not permitted," according to the source cited.
In 2023, the next legal days off will be April 14 (Friday) - Good Friday and April 16-17 (Sunday and Monday) - the first and second days of Orthodox Easter.
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