# spring break



## Encolpius

I was really surprised when I first heard that word in English. I thought *spring break* at schools is something special for central Europe. In Hungary schoolchildren aged 6-18 (not university students) have spring break around February, March. My question is if you know that term and what word you use. Thanks a lot. 

Hungarian: tavaszi szünet

Czech: jarní prázdniny


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## kusurija

In Lithuanian:
Pavasario atostogos


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## Setwale_Charm

Russian: весенние каникулы


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## Outsider

Can someone please explain what is a spring break?


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## Setwale_Charm

Outsider said:


> Can someone please explain what is a spring break?


 
Poor Portuguese  You must be to hard-working


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## Juri

Italian:Vacanze scolastiche di primavera, vacanze di Pasqua.


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## Encolpius

Outsider said:


> Can someone please explain what is a spring break?


 

Well, well. It seems Portuguese pupils don't have spring break. 
Spring break in central Europe is a kind of spring vacation/holiday usually 1 week long for primary and secondary school children.


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## xqby

Juri said:


> Italian: ... vacanze di Pasqua.


 
We actually used to have "Easter Break" and "Christmas Vacation" here too, but that's no longer considered politically correct. "Spring Break" is usually the week before or after Easter, I can't remember, and "Winter Break" is the two weeks before New Years Day. Pretty much all students get to take the time off; the vacations apply from kindergarten all the way up to undergraduates in college.


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## Encolpius

In Central Europe kids have both spring break and Easter break.


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## Outsider

Encolpius said:


> in central Europe kids have both spring break and Easter break


I wonder if English speakers have both, too.

In Portugal, there is only _férias da Páscoa_, the Easter holidays (one week in higher education; used to be two weeks in the lower levels, but it may have been changed to one in recent years).


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## xqby

Outsider said:


> I wonder if English speakers have both, too.


 
Possibly Britain, in the States it would be considered somewhat gauche to say that, for example, Buddhist students get an Easter break. 

This isn't a comprehensive list but here we have:
*Spring Break* - Typically in April to coincide with Easter, but not always. I know that my cousin in New York gets a week off in March instead.
*Winter Recess* - Mine was two weeks, starting on something like the 12th of December and ending the Monday after Christmas.
*Summer Vacation* - Mid June to Mid August at my alma mater, 2 to 3 months off in most schools. Some programs elect to have a shorter one in exchange for more time off in Spring/Winter.

There are also smaller groups of days off, usually set up so that we get long weekends. The three that come to mind are Independence Day, Thanksgiving (usually both Thursday and Friday off, I think), and Memorial Day.


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## Outsider

xqby said:


> Possibly Britain, in the States it would be considered somewhat gauche to say that, for example, Buddhist students get an Easter break.


I meant the occasion, not the name. It seems (according to *Encolpius*) that in central Europe there are two different sets of school vacations during spring, the Easter holidays and the spring break. In other words, it seems that in central Europe Easter holidays and spring break are two different things that happen at different times in the year.


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## xqby

Outsider said:


> I meant the occasion, not the name.


 
Yeah sorry, my response wasn't very clear. We usually have a week-long break in spring at some point, mid-March, coinciding with Passover, coinciding with Easter, et cetera. But I've never heard of school with more than one. 

Memorial Day weekend works _kind _of like a second holiday week because people will often take off a couple of days before or after in order to visit relatives or something, but that's not really sanctioned by the school systems.


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## Outsider

And in Portugal there are also vacations during Carnival/Mardi Gras, at the start of spring, but this is just a weekend and three days.


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## Encolpius

And here the Easter holiday is only about 4-5 days, but spring break lasts 7 days.


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## Frank06

Hi,
In *Dutch* (Flanders) it would be 'krokusvakantie', though sometimes the words 'carnavalvakantie' and 'voorjaarsvakantie' are used too.

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Outsider

Encolpius said:


> And here the Easter holiday is only about 4-5 days, but spring break lasts 7 days.


Can you tell us in which months each of the two vacations takes place?


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## Encolpius

Frank06 said:


> Hi,
> In *Dutch* (Flanders) it would be 'krokusvakantie', though sometimes the words 'carnavalvakantie' and 'voorjaarsvakantie' are used too.
> 
> Groetjes,
> 
> Frank


 

krokusvakantie is a very interesting name. Who knows why they call it krokus? 
Germans may call it *Frühlingsferien* but I don't know if they really have it.


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## Encolpius

Outsider said:


> Can you tell us in which months each of the two vacations takes place?


 
In the Czech Republic spring break for primary and secondary school children can be in the whole February. The schools in the country are divided into regions and each region has 1 week break at different time in February. Then kids have another break (Friday-Monday) at Easter.


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## Outsider

Well, in Portuguese universities there is a break in the classes between the first and the second semesters which falls round about that time, though it doesn't last as long, because most of it is for exams.

In secondary education, I'd say the closest thing we have is the Carnival holidays (Monday-Wednesday).


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## Nizo

*Esperanto* uses the general term *printempa ferio*, or the plural, *printempaj ferioj*.  Because Esperanto isn't spoken in any fixed location, various translations may be used that more specifically describe the period in a given location:  _paskaj ferioj, karnavaloj ferioj_, etc.


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## sokol

Encolpius said:


> In Central Europe kids have both spring break and Easter break.


Spring break and Easter break are two different things. 

In Austria (German) we have:
- a "spring" break = Semesterferien = literally "break-between-semesters" (first and second half of the school year) = one week in february; it is not exactly spring that time, they are more like _winter breaks_
- an Easter break = Osterferien = one week plus Easter Monday + Tuesday (that is, one week and almost a half one)

In Germany there is also an Easter break (different for each _Bundesland_), but no spring (or winter) breaks; Switzerland has instead of what we call "Semesterferien" the so-called "Sportferien" = winter break (between january and march) and later in the year instead of Easter spring breaks "Frühlingsferien" (independent from the date when there is actually easter).
Source: Wiki


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## Encolpius

Hello, new answers?


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## Pretty_Gaella

Encolpius said:


> Hello, new answers?



Hello Encolpius! 
We don't really have a Spring Break here in the Philippines. But we have *Christmas & New Year Vacation.* Usually starts on the 3rd week of December and will last until the first week of January. 
Then we have *Summer Vacation, *starts on the last week of March until last week of May. And Easter would be around that time. That's applicable to all school levels (primary, elementary and college. And classes resumes on the first week of June. 
By the way we call Easter "Pasko ng Pagkabuhay" 
Have a great day


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## apmoy70

No Spring break in Greece, only a two-week Paschal/Easter break:
«Πασχαλινές διακοπές» [pasxali'nes ði.a.ko'pes] (fem. nom. pl.) lit. "Easter vacations"
Note that vacation in Greece is described by the noun in plural: «Διακοπή» [ði.a.ko'pi] (fem. nom. sing.) --> _intermission, interruption_, «διακοπές» [ði.a.ko'pes] (fem. nom. pl.) --> _vacation(s)_


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## DearPrudence

In *France*, we don't have the concept of spring break where students go wild and party.
In high school and below, we have 
holidays in February: *les vacances de février* (literally: _February holiday_)
 and then around April/Easter: *les vacances de Pâques *(literally: _Easter holiday_)
They don't take place at the same time depeding on where you live (they are 3 different zones)

At university, there is usually a one-week break after the first semester around January/February but I don't recall it has any special name.
At my university, there was a carnival at the beginning of February (*le carnaval étudiant*), where some people dressed up (but not all, none in my class! )


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## Halfdan

In Canada it's called *March Break*, and lasts for a week. Which week in March depends on the province.


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## mataripis

In Pilipino, it is Bakasyon(from Spanish   Vacacion ) but in Tagalog, break (in any month) is "Pahinga" literally  "Rest days".


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## Grefsen

Pretty_Gaella said:


> We don't really have a Spring Break here in the Philippines. But we have *Christmas & New Year Vacation.* Usually starts on the 3rd week of December and will last until the first week of January.
> Then we have *Summer Vacation, *starts on the last week of March until last week of May. And Easter would be around that time. That's applicable to all school levels (primary, elementary and college. And classes resumes on the first week of June.


Thanks for sharing this interesting information about the Philippines.  I'm guessing that this is called *Summer Vacation *instead of of *Spring Vacation* because this is when you have your warmest weather.


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## Grefsen

Here in Southern California, spring break for public school children is usually scheduled according to the school's academic calendar.  One of the local public high schools close to where I live is having their spring break right now. However, spring break for a local private Catholic high school started on Holy Thursday and the students were off from school the entire week after Easter.  If spring break at a public school happens to be at same time as the Easter vacation that most European school children have, it is usually by coincidence.


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## AutumnOwl

In Sweden we have _sportlov_ (sporting break) in February or March (depending on where in Sweden you live), sometimes called _februarilov_ (February break) if it's in February, as well as a Easter break. During the _sportlov_ there are usually different kinds of activities arranged for the children to do, sometimes some sport events, the museums have different events to do, and so on. Sometimes the whole family take time off and goes to the mountains in Sweden, Norway or the Alps for a skiing holiday.


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## Grefsen

AutumnOwl said:


> In Sweden we have _sportlov_ (sporting break) in February or March (depending on where in Sweden you live), sometimes called _februarilov_ (February break) if it's in February, as well as a Easter break. During the _sportlov_ there are usually different kinds of activities arranged for the children to do, sometimes some sport events, the museums have different events to do, and so on. Sometimes the whole family take time off and goes to the mountains in Sweden, Norway or the Alps for a skiing holiday.


In Norway instead of _sportlov_ there's _vinterferie_ (winter vacation) for school children.  Just like in Sweden this break is during a different week in February or March depending on where in Norway you live.


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## arielipi

Hebrew: summer break: 
חופשת קיץ khufshat kayitz.


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