Bank Holidays in the UK
Public holidays in the UK are commonly referred to as bank holidays. As the UK is a country made up of four more or less independent regions, official holidays vary depending on whether you live in England, Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland.
There are eight bank holidays in England and Wales.
| Holidays | Time of the Year |
| New Year’s Day (substitute day) | 1 January (3 January, 2022) |
| Good Friday | 15 April, 2022 |
| Easter Monday | 18 April, 2022 |
| Early May | 2 May, 2022 |
| Spring Bank Holiday | 2 June, 2022 |
| Summer Bank Holiday | 29 August, 2022 |
| Christmas Day (substitute day) | 25 December (26 December 2022) |
| Boxing Day (substitute day) | 26 December (27 December 2022) |
When bank holidays fall on a weekend, the following Monday is usually a “substitute” holiday. For instance, 25 December 2022 is Sunday, so there will be a national substitute holiday for Christmas Day on Monday, 26 December 2022.
In Scotland, the summer bank holiday is earlier in August. Moreover, Scots celebrate St. Andrew’s Day on 30 November and 2 January is also a bank holiday, but Easter Monday is not. All in all, there are nine bank holidays in Scotland.
In Northern Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day on 17 March is a bank holiday, and so is Orangemen’s Day on 12 July in memory of the Battle of Boyne. There are a total of ten bank holidays in Northern Ireland, making it the region with the most holidays in the UK.
The UK does not have a national day, making it only one of two countries in the world without one (the other is Denmark). There’s an old joke about this, that the United Kingdom, once called “the empire on which the sun never sets”, doesn’t need its own national day because it’s indirectly responsible for so many other countries’ national independence days.
【小题1】Substitute holidays ______.| A．are required to be set around New Year | B．can take up weekdays for more rests |
| C．are arranged based on cultural differences | D．can bring more chances to work home |
| A．Good Friday and Easter Monday. | B．Easter Monday and St. Andrew’s Day. |
| C．St. Andrew’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day. | D．St. Patrick’s Day and Orangemen’s Day. |
| A．Denmark shared its history with the UK. |
| B．The UK’s culture influenced many countries. |
| C．Many countries celebrated independence from the UK. |
| D．The UK helped many countries set their independence days. |
