In Bavaria, Good Friday is one of the stille Tage, the silent days, under the state holiday law. On Good Friday, sports events are banned, and so is music of any kind in places that serve drinks. In 2007 the freethinkers’ association Bund für Geistesfreiheit planned a Heidenspaß-Party, a heathens’ fun party, in a Munich theater on Good Friday. The city banned it. The case went to the Federal Constitutional Court. In a decision of 27 October 2016, published in November, the court found the protection of the silent days constitutional in principle. The protection, it said, creates lediglich einen äußeren Ruherahmen, only an outer frame of quiet. The law must, however, allow exceptions for events protected by freedom of belief or assembly.
Free Sundays by Law
Where Sunday work is allowed in Germany, the law still protects a minimum. Under Section 11 of the Working Hours Act, at least 15 Sundays a year must remain free of work. An employee who works on a Sunday must get a replacement day of rest within two weeks. For young workers the rule is stricter. The Youth Employment Protection Act says: An Sonntagen dürfen Jugendliche nicht beschäftigt werden. Young people may not be employed on Sundays. Where exceptions apply, at least two Sundays a month must stay free. The act also says: Am 24. und 31. Dezember nach 14 Uhr und an gesetzlichen Feiertagen dürfen Jugendliche nicht beschäftigt werden. On 24 and 31 December after 2 p.m. and on public holidays, young people may not be employed.
No Trucks on Sunday
On Sundays and public holidays, from midnight to 10 p.m., trucks over 7.5 tonnes may not be driven in Germany to carry goods commercially. The ban also covers empty runs, and trailers behind trucks. It is set in Section 30 of the Road Traffic Regulations. Some holidays count only in the states that observe them. Corpus Christi, for example, counts only in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland.
No Lawn Mowing on Sunday
A federal noise regulation, the Geräte- und Maschinenlärmschutzverordnung, sets quiet times for machines used outdoors. In residential areas, the machines it lists may not be run at all on Sundays and public holidays, and not between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. on weekdays. The list includes lawn mowers and leaf blowers. It also includes bottle banks, so the glass containers in residential areas may not be used on Sundays. Some of the loudest garden machines, such as leaf blowers, are also restricted on weekday mornings, at midday and in the early evening, unless they carry the EU eco-label. The midday rest, the Mittagsruhe, is not set in federal or state law. It is set, if at all, in leases, house rules or local bylaws.
Summer Holidays Fixed Years Ahead
On 13 December 2021, the conference of education ministers fixed the start and end of the summer holidays in all 16 states for the years 2025 to 2030. Five groups of states rotate, so that the holidays are staggered across the country. The reasons given included Planungssicherheit, planning certainty, for schools, families and tourism. In this system, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg come last, because of their Pentecost holidays. By August 2026, negotiations on the dates from 2031 were under way. Several states want to end the special position of the two southern states. Bavaria’s premier Markus Söder replied: Auf keinen Fall. Wir ändern die Ferien nicht. (No way. We are not changing the holidays.)
Saturdays Daddy Belongs to Me
In 1955, the German Trade Union Confederation, the DGB, called for a five-day week of eight-hour days, a 40-hour week, with full pay. Its slogan for May Day 1955 was 40 Stunden sind genug – 5 Tage sind genug, 40 hours are enough, five days are enough. For May Day 1956, the DGB printed a poster with the line Samstags gehört Vati mir. On Saturdays, Daddy belongs to me. The five-day week then came industry by industry, in coal mining in 1959 and in banking in 1961. The 40-hour week was agreed in printing in 1965 and in the metal industry in 1967.
Here I Am Human
In the scene Vor dem Tor (Outside the Town Gate) in Goethe’s Faust, the people of the town walk out into the countryside on Easter Sunday. Faust watches them come aus Handwerks- und Gewerbesbanden, out of the bonds of craft and trade, and aus dem Druck von Giebeln und Dächern, out of the pressure of gables and roofs. Faust, the learned doctor, says: Hier ist des Volkes wahrer Himmel, / Zufrieden jauchzet groß und klein: / Hier bin ich Mensch, hier darf ich’s sein! Here is the people’s true heaven. High and low cheer, content. Here I am human, here I may be.
Days of Rest and Spiritual Uplift
Article 139 of the Weimar Constitution of 11 August 1919 says: Der Sonntag und die staatlich anerkannten Feiertage bleiben als Tage der Arbeitsruhe und der seelischen Erhebung gesetzlich geschützt. Sundays and the public holidays recognized by the state remain protected by law as days of rest from work and of spiritual uplift. Through its Article 140, the Basic Law made this article part of today’s constitution.
The company shutdown
Betriebsferien. Many German companies close entirely for a fixed period, commonly in summer or between Christmas and New Year, with the works council agreeing the dates. Nobody is covering. Nobody is on call. The building is shut.
The shop closing law
German shop opening hours were governed by federal law from 1956, and Sunday closing remains the rule across the country. Shops are shut. Not quiet — shut. A Sunday in a German town is a different kind of day, enforced by statute.