AUGUST 15, 2022. The next public holiday in France will be Monday, August 15, 2022. Why don’t we work on this date? And what does this feast of the Assumption represent for Christians?
[Mis à jour le 11 août 2022 à 15h49] Monday August 15, 2022 is a public holiday due to the Assumption. If this holiday, which falls in the middle of summer, suits the workers, it is also a religious holiday, which is important for Christians. They indeed celebrate the assumption or elevation to heaven of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. Find the meaning of this holiday and the reason why this day has become a holiday. In our article, also discover the events and ceremonies organized on the occasion of August 15th.
August 15 was celebrated by the Church of Rome in the first centuries after Christ. But it’s with the king Louis XIII, very much a believer, that the great processions celebrating the Virgin Mary are given pride of place. In 1638, this same king decided to make August 15 a public holiday. On this occasion, he places France under the protection of the Virgin Mary to whom he attributes the birth of his son, the future Louis XIV. Indeed, after 23 years of childless marriage, the birth of this son is seen as a miracle, and he wishes to thank the Virgin for having “answered his prayers”. Today, processions still take place to celebrate August 15th.
Even though August 15 is a holiday, you can do many things on Monday. Most shops and museums remain open on this day off, but their hours may vary. Tourists and vacationers, many at this time of year in France, should be able to occupy themselves without too much difficulty, by strolling in the Louvre for example. Others will still be able to plan a few races on this holiday. To be sure not to find door closed, consult our list of supermarkets, brands or open stores Monday August 15, 2022.
Many events are organized, mostly religious. In Paris, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre hosts an anticipated Mass of the Assumption the evening before D-Day. The following day, on the day of the Assumption, a “solemn” mass is traditionally held. Vespers also follow. Other Assumption Masses are scheduled throughout the day. Also in Paris, a procession has been taking place for several years on a boat on the Seine. The Virgin Mary is taken out there as a silver statue, usually kept at Notre-Dame. Processions followed by festivities are also organized throughout France (Biarritz, Chartres…). As for the sanctuary of Lourdes, it is on August 15 that it sees the most visitors.
In the sense that we are interested in it in this dossier, “Assumption”, not to be confused with “Ascent“, designates a very particular Christian holiday. The latter celebrates an “abduction”, and not just any one: that of the Virgin Mary. Thus, the term “assumption”, derived from the Latin “assumere”, means “to take, remove”. In the case of the “Assumption”, it refers to the “rapture into heaven” of Mary. In other words, to the transfer into the heavens of his body as well as his soul. Each August 15, the Assumption celebrates the death and resurrection of the mother of Jesus Christ, but also her entry into paradise and her coronation. A religious dogma based on theological writings dating from antiquity, legends and apocrypha (writings of unestablished authenticity), but not on writings specific to the Gospel.
Have you ever stumbled on “Ascension” and said “Assumption”, and vice versa? Or, quite simply, to confuse the two events? If the two terms are similar and both point to the same action, they designate two different “events” for Christians.
When the Ascension represents the rise of Jesus into heaven, the term Assumption (the word was coined by Christians themselves), refers to the rise of Mary, mother of Jesus, into heaven. For believers, it took place after her earthly life and prevented the degradation of Mary’s body in a tomb to offer her a new, heavenly life. Date of celebration? August 15th. In 1950, the Church officially proclaimed the existence of this reality in the Catholic faith, further anchoring the “dogma” of the Assumption in Christianity. The Assumption gives rise to many Catholic processions. Protestants do not celebrate this event. To retain this distinction, you can use a mnemonic device: in “Assumption”, there is an “m”, as in Marie.
The date of the Assumption gives rise to a public holiday each year, which therefore falls on Monday, August 15, 2022. This public holiday of the Assumption is one of the 11 days legally defined as such by the Labor Code in most of France. 11 days including religious holidays (Easter Monday, Ascension Thursday, Pentecost Monday, Toussaint, Christmas) as well as civil (New Year’s Day, Labor Day, Victory Day of May 8, 1945, July 14 and November 11). The feast of Saint Mary (just short) also falls on January 1st. Note that unlike the date of the Ascension, which varies from one year to the next, but is each time 40 days after Easter Sunday, that of the Assumption does not change. It falls on August 15 every year.
The fixed religious feast of the Assumption has been celebrated on August 15 since the 6th century., with the establishment by the Byzantine Emperor Maurice, in his empire, of a feast of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary on this date. The purpose, it seems, at the time was to commemorate the inauguration of the Sepulcher of Mary, a church erected especially for the Virgin ascended to heaven. Since having become a liturgical feast in the Catholic Church, the Assumption is the occasion for numerous processions in the parishes of this confession. In France, since the consecration of France to the Blessed Virgin by Louis XIII on February 10, 1638, processions have traditionally been followed by festivities.
The monarch would have first consecrated his person and his Kingdom to the Virgin Mary “in the secrecy of his heart”, before imploring her to give him an heir, then expected for 22 years. A pregnancy does not take long to follow for Anne of Austria, after the “appearance” of Mary and the performance of novenas (prayers focused on a wish and repeated nine days in a row), but also processions organized in the parishes on August 15. As soon as the pregnancy was confirmed, Louis XIII published the Official Edict which this time solemnly consecrated France to Marie*. Louis XIV will be born the following year. Consult the biography of Louis XIV.