Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Eastern Rite Easter is usually 1 or 2
weeks after Catholic/Protestant Easter.
The day has taken on greater signifi-
cance in Russia since the collapse of
Soviet atheism. The
International Fes-
tival of Ghosts and Phantoms
mate-
rializes in Bojnice, Slovakia, at the end
of April. On
National Resistance Day
Slovenia stops to remember the move-
ment that stood up to occupying forces
during World War II.
May
Labor Day.
May 1 is a workers' holi-
day throughout Eastern Europe.
National Days.
Poland's Constitution
Day is May 3; Bulgaria has Bulgarian
Army Day on May 6; the Czech Repub-
lic and Slovakia celebrate Liberation
Day on May 8; Hungary commemo-
rates Emancipation Day on May 24;
and Croatia celebrates Statehood Day
on May 30.
June
Pentecost Sunday.
Another movable
church feast, Pentecost is celebrated 40
days after Easter throughout Eastern
Europe. Pentecost, aka Whit Monday,
is also a civic holiday.
Corpus Christi Day.
This Catholic
holy day also merits some civic closures
in Croatia, Poland, Slovakia, and
Slovenia. It usually falls in June but can
be in late May when Easter falls early
in the season.
Summer Festivals.
June is the tradi-
tional start of the summer festival sea-
son in Eastern Europe, which kicks off
with dance festivals in Zagreb, Croatia
(June 1) and Prague, Czech Republic
(June 2).
National Days.
Croatia stops every-
thing for
Antifascist Struggle Day
on
June 22, and closes down again 3 days
later on June 25 for
Statehood Day,
a
date it shares with Slovenia's
National
Day
holiday. In late June or early July
St. Petersburg hosts
White Nights,
a
series of concerts, film festivals, all-
night boat tours, and other events.
July & August
These 2 months equate with Eastern
Europe's high tourism season and the
summer festival season all over the
region. Choose from
Dubrovnik's
(Croatia) Summer Festival,
a 50-year-
old theater and music marathon that
goes from the second week of July
through the third week of August to
Formula I racing
in Budapest (Hun-
gary) at the beginning of August. The
Maiden Festival
in Romania is a ves-
tige of Targu de Fete, a day that guys
picked out their brides. Today it is
more of a folk festival. Look for single-
day or weekend celebrations in specific
towns in every country and you can
eat, drink, sing, and dance your way
across Eastern Europe for 2 months.
Split's Summer Festival
showcases
open-air opera, theater, and dance per-
formances and Pore
c
is the venue for a
series of
jazz concerts.
August 15 is
the
Feast of the Assumption,
which is
a holy day for the world's Catholics,
including Eastern Europe's Catholic
countries (Croatia, Poland, Slovakia,
and Slovenia). See specific country chap-
ters for detailed festival information.
September
The festival season winds down and
kids in Eastern Europe go back to
school in September. You still can take
in a concert or two at the
Prague
(Czech Republic) Autumn Music
Festival
from mid-September to Octo-
ber or watch a
Marco Polo naval bat-
tle reenactment
off Kor
c
ula (Croatia)
in early September. The
Apollonia
Festival of the Arts
takes place in Bul-
garia in September and it is followed
by the
Golden Rose International
Film Festival
at the end of the month.
October
Lots of civic commemorations across
Eastern Europe mean plenty of days
