Holidays:
1 January (New Year's Day), 6 January (Epiphany), Easter Monday, 1 May (Labour Day), Ascension Day, Whitmonday, Corpus Christi, 15 August (Assumption), 26 Ocotober (National Holiday), 1 November (All-Saints), 8 December (Immaculate Conception), 25/26 December (Christmas).
Events:
January: New Year's Concert by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
February: on the last Thursday of the month, Wiener Opernball at the Staatsoper. The most important social event of the year.
May: celebration on 1 May of the opening of the Prater. Vienna Spring Marathon.
Half-May till June: during the Wiener Festwochen, the city lends profile to its achievements as a European art- and music city.
June: the huge Sommernachtsfest (Summer Solstice Feast) on the Donau-insel is a mixture of fancy fair, music and entertainment (theatre, cabaret); a free-of-charge open-air festival. During the Wiener Musiksommer (Viennese Music Summer) classical concerts take place, for instance in churches and parks.
July/August: Musikfilmfestival. Musical films are shown on a huge screen on Rathausplatz.
November/December: international equestrian- and jumping tournament in the Wiener Stadthalle.
December: Christmas markets on Rathausplatz, on Freyung, at the Spittelberg, in the Heiligenkreuzer Hof and in front of Schloss Schonbrunn. Silvesterfeiern (New Year's Eve celebration) on Stephansplatz, with stalls selling beverages. Podia and dance tents. In the cathedral, the giant bell 'Pummerin' is rung at midnight.
