Overview
- All 16 states enforce a Good Friday dance ban under their holiday laws, though the length and scope of restrictions vary widely by state.
- Bavaria applies one of the toughest regimes over Easter with about 70 hours without dancing starting on Maundy Thursday, and violations can draw fines reported up to €10,000.
- Activist groups and industry voices push back, with the Bund für Geistesfreiheit in Munich staging dozens of worldview‑framed events and cinema operators criticizing film screening limits on “silent holidays.”
- The Federal Constitutional Court in September 2025 found the Good Friday restrictions compatible with basic rights, building on earlier case law that allows events with an explicit ideological message.
- Hesse’s government plans a broader rewrite of its 1971 holiday law and the FDP has tabled a draft to relax rules, even as figures like Brandenburg’s culture minister defend quiet days as a public good for reflection.