EASTER MONDAY. Celebrated in France for several centuries, Easter Monday celebrated on April 18 is a popular festival, both Christian and cultural. Even if it is a public holiday, the majority of major stores will be open on Monday and many outings are to be expected.
[Mis à jour le 14 avril 2022 à 19h03] Easter Monday is celebrated the day after Easter Sunday, which is why it has a movable date. This year 2022, it takes place on monday april 18. Easter Monday is a public holiday that takes place during the week following Resurrection Sunday, called “Octave of Easter”, which was once entirely a public holiday.
In France, since the Concordat, only Monday is a public holiday, and not the whole week. A true symbol of the Christian religion for more than 2,000 years, Easter Monday is associated with the Easter holiday which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus and brings together thousands of faithful from all continents each year. But it is not necessary to be a Christian to feel concerned by the stories of Easter, which evoke the victory of life over chaos.
Celebrated as a holiday with a religious connotation, Easter Monday is for many people the opportunity to extend the weekend. Draw from our file below, ideas for outings for the Easter weekend (it should be noted that many egg hunts are organized on Mondays):
The Easter Monday holiday is a gesture of Napoleon after the concordat. The future emperor chose to end the long Easter period during which the majority of French people were unemployed. From now on, the week following Easter Sunday will no longer be a holiday, only the first Monday will remain, as a sign of compensation and compromise vis-à-vis the Church. Napoleon Bonaparte’s arbitrary decision to keep the second day of the Octave of Easter as a public holiday was followed by many European countries, and gradually spread. Easter Monday is thus a public holiday in all European countries, except in Portugal.
Another relic of history, three days before Easter Monday, Good Friday is a public holiday in three departments in eastern France: in Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin and in Moselle. Why ? Because in 1892, this part of France, annexed in 1871 by the German Empire, established a Good Friday holiday for all of its territory. This day of rest is not just a tradition, it is now a right enshrined in the Labor Code, in article L3134-13.
Napoleon and the Church: A Conflictual Relationship
Napoleon 1st always maintained conflicting relations with the Church and the papacy. To strengthen his power and seeing the clergy as a threat, Bonaparte will try to submit the religious to the civil power. It is from this will that the concordat was born, supposed to find a balance between the monarchy of divine rights and the anticlericalism which prevailed during the revolution. But the popes who will succeed during his reign will take a very dim view of this attempt to submit the Church of France to the State., while she has orders to receive only from Rome. The conflict (and the blockade) with Great Britain and the wars with neighboring monarchies will be other reasons for disagreement.
But what will really break Napoleon’s relations with the papacy remains his attempt to instrumentalize the Church. Napoleon Bonaparte will first negotiate with Pope Pius VII, often presented as a moderate. He even managed to bring him to Paris in 1804, for his imperial coronation, against the advice of the Curia. During the coronation, Napoleon himself will place the crown on his head, refusing that it is Pius VII who crowns him. Historians also say that Napoleon and his wife Josephine, already married civilly, had married religiously only a few hours earlier, having not seen fit to do so so far. The coronation of Napoleon will be considered a humiliation by the Roman Curia.
Despite several attempts at conciliation from 1804, the two parties moved away from 1806. Many subjects made Napoleon and the Pope irreconcilable, in particular the fact that Rome did not respect the blockade imposed by Napoleon on his enemies. Rome is occupied by the emperor, who was also king of Italy, in 1808. Papal provinces are annexed. Pius VII ends up excommunicating the emperor then will be kidnapped by Lieutenant Radet. The sovereign pontiff becomes a prisoner of Bonaparte. Pius VII, put under house arrest for 6 years, will only be released and rehabilitated in 1814, after Napoleon’s defeat. Several historians believe that this conflict with the church hastened his downfall.
Every year, most major retailers are open on Easter Monday, even if it is a public holiday. In Paris, the main shopping centers and department stores are open. Here are the exceptional opening hours of all these stores:
- Spring Haussmann : from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (to be verified)
- BHV Marais : from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. / BHV The Man : from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (to be confirmed)
- The Forum des Halles : from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (to be confirmed)
- Bercy Village : from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (to be confirmed)
- Beaugrenelle Center : shops from 10 a.m. to 8.30 p.m., restaurants from 10 a.m. to midnight, but Fnac is closed on Easter Monday. (to check)
- Galeries Lafayette : from 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. (to be confirmed)
- Center Italy 2 : from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (to be confirmed)
- The Carousel of the Louvre : from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (to be confirmed)
- Intermarché : from the site intermarche.comsearch for a store using your zip code, and you’ll get their opening hours.
- Leclerc : HAS this pagefind your store in the list, click on “Enter this store” and the exceptional opening hours will be indicated!
- Kora : from the home page, click on “Change store” at the very top, select yours and you will get its schedule from the home page of the store in question.
- Giant Casino : find out at this page all stores open with their hours.
- Ikea : to this pagechoose your store by clicking on it, then discover its opening hours.
This pagan festival is not only an opportunity to eat chocolate! To know the reasons for this Christian fervor, but also popular, we must go back a little. The explanation is to be found in the Catholic tradition which has encouraged the French, since the Middle Ages, to celebrate the “Octave of Easter”. It is concretely a period of eight days, beginning on Easter Sunday and ending on Sunday “in albis”, during which the faithful were invited to go to Mass every day to hear the same prayer, that of the Resurrection of Christ. The repetitive nature of this tradition had a very specific meaning, since it solemnized the Catholic liturgy and reminded everyone that the return of Christ extends beyond the Easter feast. This week was also an opportunity for all those who wished to go to Rome for one of the most important pilgrimages of the year. But after the Revolution, the increasingly pronounced administration of the French State, as well as the demands of the economy, gradually challenged this practice. In 1801, Napoleon decides to legislate on this tradition when establishing the Concordat. The organization of religious practices in France is placed under the authority of the First Consul, the privileges of the Catholic clergy are abolished, Napoleon puts an end to the authority of Rome over the French episcopate.
This key date of the Easter period changes every year and according to the country. In France, this holiday is also called “the eighth day” among believers. The opportunity, whatever the edition, to enjoy a day off, and why not sunny. Associated with the religious holiday of Easter, which it follows by one day, Easter Monday represents one of the 6 public holidays associated with a religious holiday in France, like the days ofascentof the Pentecost or even the Toussaint. It is therefore synonymous each year with a long weekend to enjoy the spring. Easter Monday is celebrated on April 18, 2022.