Europe is a varied continent with plenty of different Christmas traditions. For example, some in the west of the continent may not have heard of the Krampus - St Nicholas’ demonic assistant who beats bad children with a stick.

在歐洲，不同的地區(qū)有許多不同的圣誕傳統(tǒng)。譬如，歐洲西部的人們可能從來(lái)沒(méi)有聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)坎卜斯（Krampus）——圣人尼古拉斯（圣誕老人的原型）的助手。傳說(shuō)頑皮的孩子會(huì)被他用棍子敲打。

However, one thing that everyone gets - and the Krampus can’t take away - is holiday. Every single country in Europe has at least one statutory day off in the period between 15 December and 15 January. This includes the majority Islamic countries such as Turkey.

但是，有一個(gè)傳統(tǒng)坎卜斯奪不走并且每個(gè)人都能得到，那就是節(jié)假日。歐洲的每個(gè)國(guó)家在12月25日和1月15日之間至少有一個(gè)法定節(jié)假日。這個(gè)傳統(tǒng)也涵蓋了土耳其在內(nèi)的大多數(shù)伊斯蘭國(guó)家。

Who gets the most though?

那么哪個(gè)國(guó)家放假最長(zhǎng)？

The majority of countries in Europe are Christian, whether that is Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox and bearing that in mind there are four key dates to look for:

絕大多數(shù)歐洲人都是基督徒，不管他們是天主教，新教還是東正教。他們把以下重要的四天牢記心中。

25 December - Catholic/Protestant Christmas Day, which is the purported anniversary of the birth of Christ

1.12月25日——天主教/新教的圣誕節(jié)。圣誕節(jié)是所謂基督誕生的周年紀(jì)念日。

New Year’s Day - in terms of the Gregorian calendar, which every single country gets as a holiday

2.新年——羅馬教皇格利高里日歷（羅馬公歷）。每一個(gè)國(guó)家都在這一天放假。

6 January - Epiphany, when Jesus was supposed to have appeared to the Magi (or three wise men)

3.1月6日——主顯節(jié)。在這一天，三賢人（Magi）在耶穌生時(shí)從東方前來(lái)朝圣送禮。

7 January - Russian Orthodox Christmas Day

4.1月7日——俄羅斯東正教圣誕節(jié)

Around that there are several eves and and saints’ days but those four are the bedrock of the holiday season. There are secular days too, usually related to revolutions or new declarations of statehood that happened to fall in this time of year.

在這些主要的節(jié)日前后，還有一些其他的宗教節(jié)日，但是這四個(gè)節(jié)日是整個(gè)假日季的重中之重。當(dāng)然也有非宗教的節(jié)日，它們通常與革命或者國(guó)家宣布獨(dú)立的日子有關(guān)。

Russia, the home of the eastern Orthodox church, has the most days off over the Christmas period of any European country. Every day between New Year and the day after Russian Orthodox Christmas is a holiday, giving them eight off in total.

俄羅斯是東正教教會(huì)的發(fā)源地。在圣誕節(jié)期間，它是歐洲國(guó)家中擁有休假日最多的國(guó)家。從新年到俄羅斯東正教圣誕節(jié)一共八天，每一天都是節(jié)假日。

Closely following the Russians with seven are Armenia and Liechtenstein. The latter country gets Christmas Eve through to Boxing Day off as well as the two days either side of the New Year. For good measure, they also get Epiphany off - let’s call this the total Christmas holiday package.

休假日天數(shù)僅次于俄羅斯的國(guó)家是亞美尼亞（Armenia）和列支敦士登（Liechtenstein），各為7天。后者從平安夜到節(jié)禮日及新年前后兩天作為放假日。另外，他們還有主顯節(jié)放假日——我們可以把這些假日統(tǒng)稱為圣誕節(jié)假期。

Most western European countries get a similar settlement - Christmas Day, Boxing Day (or St. Stephen’s Day) and New Year’s Day with the overtly Catholic ones getting Epiphany too.

大多數(shù)的西歐國(guó)家都有相同的放假節(jié)日——圣誕節(jié)、節(jié)禮日（圣史蒂芬日）、新年。信仰天主教的國(guó)家還會(huì)多一個(gè)主顯節(jié)。

However, the number of days off sometimes varies by the region you are in. For example, in Germany only Bavaria, Badem-Wittenburg and Saxony-Anhalt get Epiphany as a holiday. Similar arrangements exist in Spain, France and Switzerland.

當(dāng)然，放假天數(shù)有時(shí)也會(huì)隨所在地區(qū)的不同而變化。例如，只有德國(guó)的巴伐利亞州（Bavaria）、巴德姆-威登堡州（Badem-Wittenburg）、薩克森-安哈爾特州（Saxony-Anhalt）以及西班牙、法國(guó)、瑞士把主顯節(jié)作為放假日。

It is also the case in the UK, where Scotland gets an extra day off on 2 January, which is considerably more kind to the hungover.

同樣的情況也存在于英國(guó)。英國(guó)的蘇格蘭地區(qū)在1月2日有額外一天的放假，這種安排照顧到了那些因節(jié)日狂歡宿醉的人們。

Looking at the worldwide picture then the US and Canada fare pretty badly, with only two national statutory holidays apiece. This is the same number of days as Japan, which does not have Christmas as a day off but does for some reason celebrate the day by eating fried chicken.

橫觀世界各國(guó)，美國(guó)和加拿大兩國(guó)的圣誕節(jié)放假天數(shù)少得可憐，兩個(gè)國(guó)家都只有兩天的國(guó)家法定節(jié)假日。此外，日本也同樣只放兩天假。雖然日本在圣誕節(jié)當(dāng)天不放假，但是卻有在這一天吃炸雞以示慶祝的傳統(tǒng)。

（翻譯：旋轉(zhuǎn)木馬0930 編輯：陳丹妮）