Quinze août is a French public holiday or a non-working day
but it is firstly a religious (Catholic) holiday. It is the feast of the Assumption of
Mary, that is, her ascension to heaven.
It was Louis XIII who popularized the feast of August 15 in France
in 1638. As he had no heir, he asks his
subjects to organize processions in honour of the Virgin Mary to ask for help.
Miraculously (?) this results in an heir, the future Louis XIV, the year after.
So the August 15 processions became a tradition and the date a public holiday.
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