Even though Great Prayer Day is no longer an official holiday, traditions and certain freedoms for employees and students continue around the country. Several companies and municipalities have chosen to keep the day as a day off, despite the government’s decision to abolish it as a public holiday. Paw Kristensen, the owner of the logistics company 3P Logistics in Kolding, is one of the business owners who has chosen to give his employees the day off. “I felt a responsibility to compensate my employees when the government took a day off from them,” explains Kristensen, who has given half of his employees the day off this Friday, while the other half will have a day off at another time. This initiative costs the company around 100,000 Danish kroner.
In the school sector, 11 out of Denmark’s 98 municipalities have also chosen to keep schools closed on Great Prayer Day. Henrik Madsen, the children and family chief in Sorø Municipality, explains that it is about balancing the number of school days: “We would have had to find another day off anyway if we had kept the school open on Great Prayer Day. We assessed that the current distribution of school and off days was the most optimal for this school year.” The tradition of eating warm wheat buns also continues, even though the day is no longer a public holiday. Kohberg Bakery reports sales of around three million wheat buns this year, showing that the traditions around Great Prayer Day are still upheld among the Danes.
Even in the absence of the official holiday status, it seems that Great Prayer Day still holds a special place in many Danes’ hearts and calendars.