Christmas Eve and Midsummer Eve might very well be the single most important holidays during the entire year for Finns. Surprisingly they are not officially called holidays and are not so marked in calendars, but for most people, are not working days, and in practice they differ from official holidays only in that most
shops are open on those days from early morning till noon. They hold this
de facto status partly due to some statements in legislation but also because most employment contracts provides for these days as full holidays. A number of the less important main holidays are also preceded by
de facto half days, meaning that in some (but not all) offices working hours are then shorter than normally. These are
Maundy Thursday, the day before May Day and
New Year's Eve. Already before the 5 days working week was generally adopted in Finland in the late 1960s, working hours in most cases were shorter on Saturdays (4...5 h) than on other weekdays (8 h), but they were equally shorter also on all eves of public holidays, for example on the eve of Epiphany, the eve of All Saints' Day, and even including Christmas Eve and Midsummer Eve. But when Saturdays ceased to be working days, new contracts removed these shortenings from other holiday eves, except from Midsummer and Christmas Eve which also became
de facto holidays. The Finnish calendar also provides for special
flag flying days. A day's status as a flag flying day has no formal link with an eventual status as an official or as a
de facto holiday. However, May Day, Midsummer Day and Independence Day have the status of both a flag flying day and a public holiday. Midsummer Day is also Flag Day. Finland has an official
National Day, 6 December. Some minor
observances are also denoted in the Finnish calendar, though they have not been judged worthy of either holiday or flag flying day status. ==List of holidays==