"Celebration" or "holidays"

[Rachel Adams]

Can I use "celebration" and "holiday" in my sentence?
I am not sure about "we have" and "we celebrate". And whether "a day off"should be called "a holiday."

"My country has many celebrations/holidays such as/like Christmas, Old New Year, (as it is called in Russian), Men's Day, and Women's Day. In the spring we have/celebrate Women's Day on 8th March. People have holidays in May. 1st May is a holiday/a day off. 9th May is victory day.

 

[PeterCW]

The two words are not synonyms. You can celebrate without taking a holiday from work and you can have a day off work without celebrating anything.

The celebration is what people do, the holiday is the time off work.

 

[Rachel Adams]

The two words are not synonyms. You can celebrate without taking a holiday from work and you can have a day off work without celebrating anything.

The celebration is what people do, the holiday is the time off work.

Then in the context I am talking about it's "holidays" because it's also a day off. Should "victory day" be capitalized?

 

[emsr2d2]

Then in the context I am talking about it's "holidays" because it's also a day off. Should "victory day" be capitalized?

I think you might be talking about public holidays. These are days on which everyone in the country (or the state or town, depending on the country) is entitled to the day off work. Needless to say, these days, not everyone gets a day off! Many companies, particularly in retail and hospitality, choose to open on public holidays and the staff are required to work. Some companies offer enhanced pay on such days, but not all do.

Yes, "Victory Day" should be capitalised because it's the official name of the celebratory day.

 

[Rachel Adams]

I think you might be talking about public holidays. These are days on which everyone in the country (or the state or town, depending on the country) is entitled to the day off work. Needless to say, these days, not everyone gets a day off! Many companies, particularly in retail and hospitality, choose to open on public holidays and the staff are required to work. Some companies offer enhanced pay on such days, but not all do.

Yes, "Victory Day" should be capitalised because it's the official name of the celebratory day.

Thus, all of these are correct:

"My country has many public holidays such as/like New Year, Christmas, Men's Day, and Woman's Day, etc". "We have or celebrate Woman's Day." "1st May is a holiday or a day off." 9th May is Victory Day."

"People have holidays in May." I mean public holidays.

 

[emsr2d2]

Thus, all of these are correct:

1. "My country has many public holidays, such as/like New Year, Christmas, Men's Day, and Women's Day." [STRIKE]etc".[/STRIKE]
2. "We have/celebrate Women's Day."
3. "1st May is a holiday/ [STRIKE]or a[/STRIKE] day off."
4. 9th May is [STRIKE]a[/STRIKE] Victory Day." (In case it's not clear, there should be no article before "Victory Day".)
5. "People have holidays in May." I mean public holidays.

Note my changes above.

With my corrections, sentences 1-4 are OK. Sentence 5 doesn't mean what you want it to. In the UK, that would mean that a lot of people go on holiday (go on vacation) in May. You need something like "There are a lot of public holidays in May [in my country]".

 

[Rachel Adams]

Note my changes above.

With my corrections, sentences 1-4 are OK. Sentence 5 doesn't mean what you want it to. In the UK, that would mean that a lot of people go on holiday (go on vacation) in May. You need something like "There are a lot of public holidays in May [in my country]".

Thank you very much. Everything is clear now.