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There are lots of ways that life in America is different than what I’m used to back home. In France and America, the holidays are very different. Because of wars, death of people, religion or other things, some days are off for almost everyone. In France we have around 11 days off.

To know more about those days, in France even if the Republic is secular, it was decided that we keep the days off thanks to the Christian religion, which was the official one, a few centuries ago. November 1st for the “Toussaint”, (the feast of all the saints), Christmas on December 25th, the “Lundi de Pentecote”, the “Assomption” on August 15th, the “Ascension” and Easter are all days which are off thanks to Christianism.

On May 8th and November 11th we have a day off in order to commemorate the soldiers who died in World War I and World War II. It is also to remember what happened and to make sure that it will never happen again because it was horrible for the people who lived at that time

July 14th, is for commemorating the Storming of the Bastille, every year the French military forces parade down the Champs Elysees in order to show the power of France and also to remember and thank the people who fought in 1789 and made France a democracy and a republic.

Finally, the last day off is January 1st, no one works on this day. Those days are very important to us and have a lot of meaning. They are here to remind us what happened and also to commemorate the people France lost. I think it is very important to have days off because it is useful to next generation to remember what happened years or centuries go and who made France as what it is today

In addition to these days off, everyone has 5 weeks of holidays except the students and teachers who have other holidays, such as two weeks in October usually around Halloween, two weeks around Christmas and New Year, two weeks in February, two weeks in April and around seven or eight weeks for summer break.