Holidays. The best time of the year.

Holidays at last – the best time of the year. Most people look forward to having time off when they can simply relax without having to do any­thing. What we take for granted was unthinkable two hundred years ago – alt­hough the (cul­tural) history of holidays began in ancient times, it has been retold again and again over the cen­turies.

The forerunners of holidays

Even in Greek and Roman cul­tures, there were forerunners of the holiday, time to take part in public cele­bra­tions or reli­gious cere­monies. In the Middle Ages, ‘urloup’ (in Middle High German, equi­valent to ‘exemption from duty’ or ‘per­mission’) meant an aut­ho­rised absence from work or other obli­ga­tions – a pri­vilege reserved for a few (male) members of society. However, this leave of absence had nothing to do with holidays as we under­stand them today. Due to the feudal social struc­tures and the resulting rela­ti­onships of depen­dency, it was impos­sible to be exempted from work for private matters. The trade journeys or pil­grimages that were common at the time were not for pleasure – and were also extremely arduous and often life-threa­tening.

From edu­ca­tional trips to recrea­tional holidays

The era of tra­velling began in the 16th and 17th cen­turies with research and edu­ca­tional journeys – but these also served a purpose and were not seen as leisure time. In the 18th century, it became fashionable for European aris­to­crats and wealthy com­moners to send their sons on a ‘Grand Tour’: The young men tra­velled to Rome, Venice, Flo­rence, Nice, Paris or Vienna by coach and with their tra­velling trunk in order to educate them­selves cul­tu­rally. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who advo­cated tra­velling for the sake of tra­velling, was at the fore­front: ‘One does not travel in order to arrive, but in order to travel.’ Even in those days, many wealthy aris­to­crats spent the summer months at spas or tra­velling on their own estates. Civil ser­vants and senior employees were given unpaid holidays and schools, uni­ver­sities and courts were also closed in the summer. Everyone else – whether farmers, craftsmen or simple labourers – could neither treat them­selves to a break nor did they have the necessary means to afford a trip.

Wan­derlust, Thomas Cook and the right to a holiday

In the 19th century, the importance of travel changed – and with the advent of indus­tria­li­sation, so did the under­standing of (recrea­tional) holidays. In the Romantic era, many people dis­co­vered their love of nature: Hiking took on a new signi­fi­cance, the Alps were dis­co­vered as a holiday desti­nation, skiing was ‘invented’ and the term ‘wan­derlust’ was coined. The Eng­lishman Thomas Cook, a Baptist mis­sionary who ori­gi­nally offered rail journeys for fol­lowers of the tem­pe­rance movement, orga­nised the first package tours, the desti­na­tions of which became incre­asingly unusual over time. Whether by Orient Express to Istanbul or by steamship to Egypt: People wanted to expe­rience some­thing, tra­velling was now for pleasure – and thus for the first time comes closer to our current under­standing of holiday travel. For the general popu­lation, however, holidays and travel initially remained a distant dream. It was not until 1903 that the Central Asso­ciation of German Brewery Workers was able to push through a paid holiday entit­lement – giving them three days off per year. Another twenty years later, the trade unions were able to enforce an entit­lement to holiday with con­tinued payment of wages. But even then, for most people it was no more than a Sunday Kaf­fee­fahrt [pro­mo­tional trip where pas­sengers are served coffee and are offered goods to buy] or a visit to the fair. Many trade unions and edu­ca­tional orga­ni­sa­tions orga­nised cheap trips to the Rhine or to the seaside resorts on the North Sea or Baltic Sea that were popular with the wealthy middle classes.

From summer holidays to mass tourism

Finally, in the 1920s, tra­velling abroad was affordable even for well-paid employees – until the Great Depression put an end to this brief period. During the war years, holidays in Germany were designed to serve ideology through the ‘Kraft durch Freude’ [Strength through Joy’] tours. After that, Germans’ desti­na­tions tended to be in the low mountain ranges – not until the fol­lowing years did holidays become more and more syn­onymous with travel, whether to nearby recrea­tional areas for a summer retreat or to neigh­bouring countries. In the 1950s, tourism incre­asingly deve­loped into a signi­ficant eco­nomic sector: The emer­gence of mass tourism meant that travel was now affordable for almost everyone – even if many could initially only afford a camping holiday. Italy soon became the most popular holiday desti­nation for Germans – until the Balearic island of Majorca, still an insider tip in the 1960s, expe­ri­enced a real travel boom. At that time, most people could not yet imagine tra­velling far away. One exception was the so-called ‘hippie trail’: a journey, mainly by hitch­hiking and pre­ferably as far as Asia, to gather spi­ritual expe­ri­ences. In the decades that fol­lowed, air travel became incre­asingly cheaper and the­r­efore more popular. The world seemed to become smaller, and the desti­na­tions had to be as exotic and pres­ti­gious as pos­sible.

Holidays today: Ever­y­thing is pos­sible, nothing is a must.

Today, holidays are pri­marily a time of (active) rela­xation. There are countless options: from package holidays to active or even extreme trips to wellness and cul­tural holidays or even a break at home. Holiday time, which is still limited in many countries, is now asso­ciated with so many expec­ta­tions that one trip a year is often not enough. In addition to aspects of envi­ron­mental and social com­pa­ti­bility, the focus is then on oppor­tu­nities to gain new and authentic expe­ri­ences in other cul­tures or to (re)discover oneself. For some years now, work­ation has also enjoyed great popu­larity thanks to mobile working methods.

So almost any­thing is pos­sible on holiday these days – ever­y­thing can be, nothing has to be done.

Text: Tina Barankay, May 2024

Photo: Bir­mingham Museums Trust / Uns­plash