Sandus is known throughout the micronational world for its copious amount of holidays, often leading many micronationalists to ask just how many Sandum holidays there are. No one has ever gone through the Sandum calendar to count up how many holidays there are in the year, until now.
Sandum holidays come in three categories. The most important holidays are known as “State holidays” because they are important national holidays, often reflecting some date of national historical importance — though not always. Then, there are cultural holidays, known as “Sancta holidays,” and political or activist holidays, known as “days of recognition.”
There are only 9 State holidays: the Day of Secession, the Day of Foundation, Revolutionaries’ Day, May Day, Remembrance Day, the Day of Creation (Sandum Independence Day), LGBTQ+ Pride Week, the National Day of Socialism and the Day of the Ways & Means of Revolution.
There are 18 days of recognition: First Policy Projection Anniversary; Women’s Day; Transgender Day of Visibility; Enya’s Birthday; International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia; Überstadt Socilivanço Day; Kumano Socilivanço Day; One World Orgasm Day; the Day of Mourning for Hawai’ian Annexation; the Day against Imperialism and Terrorism; Celebrate Bisexuality Day; the Day of the Americas; Indigenous Peoples’ Day; the National Day of Truth; the National Day of Harmony; Transgender Day of Remembrance; Enfranchisement of the Party Anniversary; and, the Majesties.
There are 127 Sancta holidays, making the list entirely too long to post here. However, you can find them all here. Nearly all of these are derived from Ancient Greek or Roman holidays, though an effort is on-going to include even more cultural holidays into the Sancta calendar.
There are a total of 154 Sandum holidays, of all three categories. This means that a majority of days in the year are one form of holiday or another, for a total of 197 of 365 days in a year are holidays, or 54% of the year.
But don’t expect to get all those days off from work. Of the 127 Sancta holidays, almost all of them are of little importance. Each month, as well, contains at least 3 cultural holidays in the Sancta calendar: the Kalends, the Nones, and the Idus. A few important Sancta holidays include the festivals of Peace in January, the Parentalia, the Regifugia, the Matronalia, the Quinquatria and the Minervalia, the Veneralia, the Festival of Demeter and the Cerealia, the two Vinalia, the Lemuria, the Lucaria, the Neptunalia and the Furrinalia, the Nemoralia, the two Consualia and the two festivals dedicated to Ops (Opiconsivia and Opalia), the Festival of Fides, the Festival of Felicitas (in October), the Fontinalia, the Armilustrium and Athena’s Day especially, and the Saturnalia and the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti. That’s 29 festivals alone which are of some significance.
17 days are left out of the list of holidays, too. The solstices and equinoctes are considered to be ‘administrative holidays’ in Sandus, primarily because they are very important to governmental business: they mark the beginning of new administrative quarters. And 12-13 days are ‘administrative holidays’ for the Council specifically: the full moons mark the beginning of a new legislative session.
And don’t think that just by adding 29 February would lower the average: on leap years, the intercalary day is lumped with the Sancta holiday of the Regifugia making for a three-day long Sancta New Years!
Number of days taken by holidays per month:
January: 12
February: 14 (15 on leap years)
March: 17
April: 27
May: 22
June: 19
July: 12
August: 15
September: 5
October: 15
November: 11
December: 28
The most recent addition to the Sandum calendar is the day of recognition known as “One World Orgasm Day.” It is a sex-positive day focused on the role of sex and stress as a factor in peace and interdependence. More holidays may and will be added in the future!
sandus.org 