media/caldata/SwedishHolidays.ics: Restore public holidays, remove non-public observances, and add Swedish names for all observances

[davidhedlund]

Note: Use updated calendars

Choose one of the following:

commenthol/date-holidays

Working as expected, all days are correct in both calendars:

• https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Calendar/blob/main/app/src/main/assets/holidays/SE/other.ics
• https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Calendar/blob/main/app/src/main/assets/holidays/SE/public.ics

vacanza/holidays

Using vacanza/holidays, this python recipe for the updated Swedish vacanza/holidays file can be used to solve this issue:

from holidays.countries.sweden import SE
from holidays.ical import ICalExporter

def generate():
    language = "sv"
    years = range(2021, 2031)

    for category in SE.supported_categories:
        holidays = SE(include_sundays=False, years=years, categories=category, language=language)
        file_path = f"SE_COMMON_{language.upper()}_{category.upper()}.ics"
        ICalExporter(holidays).save_ics(file_path)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    generate()

Todo

If you don't use vacanza/holidays, you need to fix stuff manually.

Restore public holidays

The old https://www.mozilla.org/media/caldata/SwedishHolidays.ics (and now obsolete) calendar file correctly contains these public holidays:

• Trettondag jul (Epiphany)
• Annandag påsk (Easter Monday)
• Första maj (International Workers' Day)
• Pingstdagen (Pentecost Sunday)
• Annandag jul (Second Day of Christmas)

However, none of them are included in the current ICS file https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-website/blob/master/media/caldata/autogen/SwedishHolidays.ics that is hosted at https://www.thunderbird.net/media/caldata/autogen/SwedishHolidays.ics which is listed at https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/calendar/holidays/

Remove non-public observances

Remove "CLASS:public" (or change the class value) for entries that are NOT public holidays:

BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Påskmåndag 
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250421
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250422
DTSTAMP:20250430T135956Z
UID:4847dc56e24e593cf9a7cd69f249dbec-2025-all
CATEGORIES:Holidays
CLASS:public
DESCRIPTION:Public Holiday -  Påskmåndag är dagen efter påsksöndagen.
LAST-MODIFIED:20250430T135956Z
TRANSP:TRANSPARENT
END:VEVENT

BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Många kristna över hela världen firar årligen pingst\, även k
 änd som Whitsunday eller Whit Sunday.
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250608
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250609
DTSTAMP:20250430T135956Z
UID:6436e129b6e4f5a6fcc7a363ee5f7ada-2025-all
CATEGORIES:Holidays
CLASS:public
DESCRIPTION:Public Holiday - Many Christians all over the world annually o
 bserve Pentecost\, also known as Whitsunday or Whit Sunday.
LAST-MODIFIED:20250430T135956Z
TRANSP:TRANSPARENT
END:VEVENT

BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Juldagen 
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251225
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251226
DTSTAMP:20250430T135956Z
UID:dbb97aeb4aada310b6936a314249f4ff-2025-all
CATEGORIES:Holidays
CLASS:public
DESCRIPTION:Public Holiday -  Juldagen är en av de största kristna firan
 det och faller den 25 december i den gregorianska kalendern.
LAST-MODIFIED:20250430T135956Z
TRANSP:TRANSPARENT
END:VEVENT

Rename

These entries in https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-website/blob/master/media/caldata/autogen/SwedishHolidays.ics should be renamed:

• Rename "Boxing Day" to "Annandag jul"
• Rename "Epiphany" to "Trettondag jul"

Notes

• See use free software to generate public calendars #753 for automatically generated calendar dates. For reference, all swedish public holidays (except one) have been included in https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Calendar/blob/main/app/src/main/assets/holidays/SE/public.ics that is generated from https://github.com/commenthol/date-holidays/
• I updated the title after initially reviewing the old ICS file from https://www.mozilla.org/media/caldata/SwedishHolidays.ics that was lacking the public holiday Långfredagen. Later, I found the newer file at https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-website/blob/master/media/caldata/SwedishHolidays.ics, which includes Långfredagen but lacks several of the public holidays referenced in the updated title.

References

1. Förordning (1989:253) om allmänna helgdagar

• This is a legal document, so the source is highly reliable. As a native Swedish citizen, I can personally confirm that Påskdagen is recognized as a public holiday.
• See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_in_Sweden, and https://rödadagar.com/ for overview of these public holidays

[davidhedlund]

@Sancus Hello again!

There are 13 public holidays in Sweden, and 5 of them are currently not included in https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-website/blob/master/media/caldata/SwedishHolidays.ics, which renders the calendar file largely unusable.

Can you or anyone else please help me add them or guide me how I can add them?

Best

[janbrasna]

If you're comfortable running this project, it would be great help to try to take a look at the outputs of a PoC replacement: #829 and check if the data for the regions you're familiar with look good.

(If you're not able to build it, I can try looking for the artifacts to see if I can upload them for review…)

However, what needs most help, is understanding the different holidays, and the expectations around them. For example, this list: https://commenthol.github.io/date-holidays/#-/2025/SE

… would you be able to explain a little more about how do the differences between "observance", "optional", "bank" and "public" feel like for your locale? They may have different significance and sentiments around the globe for different cultures and regions, so we're currently not exactly sure what "verbosity" would be the best to expose — say, in case we won't be able to label them as such, as they are labelled here in the table. Would a smallest set be more meaningful, than, say, the most expansive list?

[janbrasna]

Actually, I do have the ics from that concept PR generated, SWE here: https://github.com/janbrasna/thunderbird-website/blob/fe68215/media/caldata/autogen/SwedishHolidays.ics

[janbrasna]

(Also, in the OP, there are some paths mixed up — https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-website/blob/master/media/caldata/SwedishHolidays.ics is not the one provided, it's https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-website/blob/master/media/caldata/autogen/SwedishHolidays.ics [NB: "/autogen/"] but that's not the point, the data is bad and needs to change one way or another.)

[davidhedlund]

(Also, in the OP, there are some paths mixed up — https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-website/blob/master/media/caldata/SwedishHolidays.ics is not the one provided, it's https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-website/blob/master/media/caldata/autogen/SwedishHolidays.ics [NB: "/autogen/"] but that's not the point, the data is bad and needs to change one way or another.)

I’ve replaced https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-website/blob/master/media/caldata/SwedishHolidays.ics with https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-website/blob/master/media/caldata/autogen/SwedishHolidays.ics in the main post. I had thought the link originally included the "/autogen/" segment, so thank you for pointing that out and reminding me to correct it. Also, none of the public holidays mentioned in the title of this issue are currently included in https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-website/blob/master/media/caldata/autogen/SwedishHolidays.ics, and they should be added.

[davidhedlund]

Actually, I do have the ics from that concept PR generated, SWE here: https://github.com/janbrasna/thunderbird-website/blob/fe68215/media/caldata/autogen/SwedishHolidays.ics

Your Swedish calendar file includes all public holidays that are requested in the title of this issue and the remaining public holidays, so it contains all 13 public holidays!

So https://github.com/janbrasna/thunderbird-website/blob/fe68215/media/caldata/autogen/SwedishHolidays.ics should be merged to https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-website/blob/master/media/caldata/autogen/SwedishHolidays.ics -- do you agree with me, and is that your goal?

[davidhedlund]

Would a smallest set be more meaningful, than, say, the most expansive list?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_in_Sweden#List_of_public_holidays_in_Sweden lists these sub-sections:

• List of public holidays in Sweden
• Public holidays always on Sunday
• De facto full holidays and half holidays
  • De facto full holidays
  • De facto half holidays
  • Eves always on Saturdays
  • Klämdag (squeeze day)
  • Christmas week and the first days of January

I'm a native Swede, and only the section linked above (List of public holidays in Sweden) is directly relevant (to avoid extra work for non‑mandatory public holidays since we may switch to software generated calendars in a soon future) — it covers the legally mandated public holidays when everyone is allowed to leave work (source: Förordning (1989:253) om allmänna helgdagar). This is why it’s important to resolve this issue and ensure that the missing public holidays are properly included!

[janbrasna]

Calendars are no longer managed manually. They come from automation for some time, and the other tickets you mentioned are to track a replacement of the data provider for a better one.

This above helps to inform the decision if any other data source would be applicable without running into similar issues in the next locale…

[davidhedlund]

Calendars are no longer managed manually. They come from automation for some time, and the other tickets you mentioned are to track a replacement of the data provider for a better one.

This above helps to inform the decision if any other data source would be applicable without running into similar issues in the next locale…

Could you help me identify the upstream repository or repositories for the Swedish holiday calendar file distributed via https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-website/blob/master/media/caldata/autogen/SwedishHolidays.ics, so I can submit this issue to the appropriate source?

[janbrasna]

Your Swedish calendar file includes all public holidays that are requested in the title of this issue and the remaining public holidays, so it contains all 13 public holidays!

Well the issue is it seems to list 14–15 events for 2025 (this comes from vacanza).

And the commenthol package https://commenthol.github.io/date-holidays/#-/2025/SE if I only look at "public" shows 12… not 13 you mention.

So given I can't assess the sentiments about applicability of those days off, I see a discrepancy between what you're referring to, and the data we would be consuming.

(Do I get it right that only those categorized as "public" are relevant to be listed in the calendar?)

[janbrasna]

Calendars are no longer managed manually.

Could you help me identify the upstream repository

Not really. The API is listed in the linked issue #753 (comment) — but given the main issue of that thread is moving off this provider for exactly these reasons, IIUC the data is not open.

[davidhedlund]

(Do I get it right that only those categorized as "public" are relevant to be listed in the calendar?)

I have never used other calendar files other than the Swedish one. Ideally all observance are listed but in differenct calendar files, so you can choose to use only public holidays and skip the rest, because only the public holidays are mandatory per law.

Fossify Calendar did this in an elegant way:

• https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Calendar/blob/main/app/src/main/assets/holidays/SE/public.ics
  • Contains mandatory public holidays: List of public holidays in Sweden
• https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Calendar/blob/main/app/src/main/assets/holidays/SE/other.ics
  • Contains the non‑mandatory public holidays, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_in_Sweden#List_of_public_holidays_in_Sweden:
    • Public holidays always on Sunday
    • De facto full holidays and half holidays
    • De facto full holidays
    • De facto half holidays
    • Eves always on Saturdays
    • Klämdag (squeeze day)
    • Christmas week and the first days of January

Fossify Calendar is avalible on F-Droid, and Play Store.

How to only list mandatory public holidays in Fossify Calendar:

• Open Fossify Calendar
• Click on Menu -> Add holidays
  • Check "Sverige"
    • Check "Public holidays" (https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Calendar/blob/main/app/src/main/assets/holidays/SE/public.ics)
    • Do not check "Other holidays and observances" (https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Calendar/blob/main/app/src/main/assets/holidays/SE/other.ics)

It would be beneficial if the non‑mandatory public holidays included in the Thunderbird.net ICS files were separated into distinct calendar files. For example, the file https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-website/blob/master/media/caldata/autogen/SwedishHolidays.ics could contain only the official public holidays, while a new file such as https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-website/blob/master/media/caldata/autogen/SwedishOther.ics could consolidate the non‑mandatory or observance‑type holidays.

[janbrasna]

Yes, Swedish. In case it is not opening for you, image follows:

Citing:

"As a native Swedish citizen, I can personally confirm that Påskdagen is recognized as a public holiday."

This shows that commenthol package only lists it as observance. E.g. we have a disparity here we'd be unable to resolve etc.

Looking at my export, it's shown as public there — meaning the current PoC with vacanza is actually a better fit for us regarding default data sets.