In one of her archived columns, Sue Spano mentioned that Memorial Day (May 30) was "also celebrated in Paris but for a different reason". I've never seen May 30 listed as a French holiday and I'm arriving there for two weeks on May 30. Can anybody advise me if this is indeed a holiday? Thanks.

Here's a link giving all the French holidays, secular and religious. Doesn't seem to be a May 30th this year, although in some years Pentecost has fallen on that date.

http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/DF_holidays.shtml

Underhill, ummmmm, there's a May 30th every year...

You should be clear of the holidays by May 30; they are earlier in the month because of Easter being so early this year.

This sort of reminds me of the nearly famous post asking "Do they have a Fourth of July in Paris?" Answer: "no, they go from July 3rd to July 5th."

It seems there's always a UK bank holiday the same weekend as US memorial day, but I'm unaware of a similar holiday in France.

Who is Sue Spano? May 30th per se isn't a French holiday, except when one of the moveable religious holidays happens to fall on that date. Last year, it was Whit Sunday (pentecost), so it was probably written specifically for last year.

Thanks, all. Christina, Sue Spano writes a column about Paris for the LA Times which you can read on line. Just search her name for more details if you're interested. Yes, the column I read was from 6/8/04 so she must have meant Pentecost.

Yes, last year Pentecost fell on May 31. This year it is May 15.

Actually, May 8 (VE-day) seems to be pretty much a Veterans Day/Memorial Day. When I was there last year, there were many flowers on soldiers', hospital workers' monuments.

I think the closest they have to Memorial Day for non-military is All Saints' Day, November 1.