Long weekend ahead on the Romanian Unification Day

Hardly had the Christmas holiday ended when a new mini-vacation lies ahead on the occasion of a national public holiday.

The pubic employees will have two days off early next week and therefore a long weekend to mark the January 24 non-working day celebrating the Romanian Unification Day.

As January 24 is on a Tuesday this year, the Government decided today to also declare Monday, January 23 a day off to link the weekend to January 24.

According to PM Sorin Grindeanu, all employees in the public system, including schools, will have January 23 and January 24 days off. The activity is resumed on Wednesday, January 25.

This public holiday is always celebrated on 24 January. In Romanian, it is known as ‘Ziua Unirii’ and may also be known as ‘Little Union Day’. It celebrates the Union of the Romanian Principalities in 1859.

Since the 14th century, Moldavia and Wallachia had been separate principalities in Eastern Europe. In 1859, Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected as ruler in both principalities, creating the Union of the Romanian Principalities.

The offical name of the country after the union was The Romanian United Principalities. In 1866, it was renamed Romania and then the Kingdom of Romania in 1881.

This unification is seen as a key event in the formation of the Romanian national state. On 1 December 1918, Transylvania, Banat, Crisana and Maramures joined Romania. This second union event is commemorated by Grand Union Day, the National holiday of Romania.

January 24 became a public holiday in 2015, when he Parliament declared it non-working day.