Totensonntag, the Sunday of the Dead, is the Protestant day of remembrance for the dead. Under the holiday laws it is a stiller Feiertag, a silent holiday, everywhere except Hamburg. The Protestant churches ask that Christmas markets open only after this day. The Bavarian Protestant church said in 2017: Darum plädieren wir dafür, die Weihnachtsmärkte erst nach dem Totensonntag zu beginnen. That is why we argue that the Christmas markets should begin only after Totensonntag. That year, however, markets in Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen, Munich, Lindau and Hamburg opened earlier. A church spokesperson in the Rhineland called this ein Ärgernis, an annoyance.