--- title: "Holidays and observances for the year" description: "Build next year's calendar of holiday greetings and observance notes in about 45 minutes: public holidays from the catalogue, your own observances as one campaign, and a manager note for the days that need one." sidebar: order: 1 area: flows feature: campaign-templates appPath: /flows/home lastVerified: 2026-10-22 version: "2026-10-16" audience: admin video: flows-campaign-templates-tutorial-holidays related: - flows/campaign-templates/add-a-campaign-template - flows/campaign-templates/enroll-employees-in-a-campaign - flows/campaign-templates/create-a-campaign - directory/employee-groups intercom: - id: "6024190" title: Pyn Holidays and Observances content (Pyn 1) url: https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/6024190-pyn-holidays-and-observances-content-pyn-1 note: "Pyn 1 article, kept for reference" - id: "6825617" title: HR Calendar url: https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/6825617-hr-calendar note: "Pyn 1 article, kept for reference" --- **Goal:** every public holiday gets a short note the working day before, and the observances your company marks get a message on the day, all set up once in December and left to run. **Time:** about 45 minutes, plus whatever you spend on wording. **You will end up with:** - the public holidays for each country you operate in, enrolled from the catalogue to the right regional group; - one campaign of your own, "Observances", holding a step per date you mark; - a manager note before the observances where managers are asked to do something. ## Before you start - You are an Admin. - Groups exist for each region, for example **US employees**, **UK employees**, **Australia employees**, and one for **People managers**. See [Employee Groups](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/employee-groups/). - An email sender exists, or Slack is connected if you want these in Slack. - A list of the observances your company marks. The one below is a starting point; dates that move each year are marked. [Video: From the catalogue to the calendar: add a holidays template, enrol a group, and see each holiday as a campaign.](https://support.pynhq.com/media/flows/campaign-templates/flows-campaign-templates-tutorial-holidays.mp4) ## 1. Add the public holidays for each country 1. In Pyn, open **Flows** in the left navigation, select **Automations**, then the arrow next to **Create New** and **Add from Template**. 2. Pick the category that holds the holiday templates and select the one for your largest country, for example **2026 US Holidays**. It opens on its calendar. 3. Read the milestones on the left. Expand one, for example **Memorial Day**, to see its steps: a note to everyone and, on some holidays, a short note for managers. Untick any holiday you do not observe. 4. Select **Use this**. Turn **Verify Mode** on, search for the regional group (**US employees**) and select it, then **Next** and **Confirm**. 5. Select **Enroll more employees** if the same holidays apply to another group; otherwise **Close** and **Exit**. 6. Repeat from step 1 for each other country, enrolling each template to its own regional group. Each milestone is now a paused campaign on **Activity**, **Campaigns**, with its message held as **Manual**. ## 2. Edit the wording and release them 1. Open **Activity**, select **Campaigns**, and select a month to open it. Select the first holiday campaign in the sidebar and expand it. 2. Select its step. On **Configure**, read the message with **Preview** for someone in the group. Make the greeting yours: name the office, say whether the office is closed, and who to call if something breaks. Keep it to three or four sentences. 3. Check **Scheduled date**: the catalogue sends on the holiday itself. For a "the office is closed on Monday" note, move it to the working day before, at 09:00 in the **Recipient Time Zone**. 4. Select the state button, then **Automated**. 5. Repeat for each campaign. Most take under a minute once the first is right. > **Tip:** A note to managers belongs with a holiday that has a manager's job attached, such as approving early finishes before a long weekend. Where a template has one, it is a second step on the milestone; delete the ones you do not need from the step's menu. ## 3. Create an Observances campaign Observances are not days off, so they need a different voice: why the day matters, what the company is doing, where to learn more. Put them in one campaign with a step per date. 1. On **Activity**, **Campaigns**, select **Create new**. Title it `Observances 2027`, set the **Date** to 1 January, pick a colour and an emoji, and select **Create**. 2. Under the campaign in the sidebar, select **Add Step**, then **Send Email to Employee**. 3. Set **Scheduled date** to the first date on your list, **at** 09:00, **in** the **Recipient Time Zone**. Under **From**, choose the sender. Under **To**, select **Everyone**, or the regional group the day applies to. 4. Write it. For International Women's Day, for example: > **Subject:** International Women's Day > > Today is International Women's Day. This year's theme is on the IWD site, and our women's network is hosting a lunch at 12:30 in the Seattle kitchen and on the usual video link. Everyone is welcome. > > If you manage a team, make the time easy to take. 5. Select **Preview**, then **Send a test to yourself**. Set the step to **Automated**. 6. Add the next date: open the step's menu, select **Duplicate**, set the new **Scheduled date**, keep the recipients, and select **Duplicate**. Rewrite the subject and body for that day. Repeat down your list. A starting list, with the dates that are fixed. Dates marked "moves" change each year; check them when you build the campaign. | Date | Observance | Note | | --- | --- | --- | | 1 Jan | New Year's Day | A public holiday almost everywhere; usually covered by the country templates. | | 26 Jan | Australia Day | Australia. Some companies offer a swap day; say so. | | Feb | Black History Month | US. One note at the start of the month. | | moves (Jan/Feb) | Lunar New Year | Worldwide; in the **holidays and events celebrated worldwide** template. | | moves (Feb/Mar) | Ramadan begins | Worldwide; a note to managers about fasting colleagues helps most. | | 8 Mar | International Women's Day | Worldwide. | | 21 Mar | Harmony Day | Australia. | | moves (Mar/Apr) | Easter, Passover | In the worldwide template. | | 25 Apr | Anzac Day | Australia and New Zealand. | | May | Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Jewish American Heritage Month | US. | | Jun | Pride Month | Worldwide; a manager note on inclusive language is worth adding. | | 19 Jun | Juneteenth | US; a public holiday in the US template. | | moves (Jul) | NAIDOC Week | Australia. | | 15 Sep to 15 Oct | Hispanic Heritage Month | US. | | Oct | Disability Employment Awareness Month | US; a manager note on adjustments. | | 11 Oct | National Coming Out Day | US. | | moves (Oct/Nov) | Diwali | Worldwide. | | Nov | Native American Heritage Month | US. | | moves (Nov) | Transgender Awareness Week | US; a manager note. | | 10 Dec | Human Rights Day | Worldwide. | | moves (Dec) | Hanukkah | Worldwide. | | 26 Dec to 1 Jan | Kwanzaa | US. | ## 4. Add the manager notes 1. For an observance that asks something of managers, open its step, select the menu, then **Duplicate**, and set the **Scheduled date** two working days earlier. 2. In the copy, change **To** to **People managers** and rewrite it as a request. For Ramadan: > **Subject:** Ramadan starts this week > > Some of your team will be fasting from dawn to sunset for the next month. Two things help: ask before booking lunch meetings, and be relaxed about earlier starts and finishes. If someone needs a quiet room for prayer, the booking link is on the intranet. 3. Set it to **Automated**. ## What you should see On **Activity**, **Campaigns**, the year view shows a coloured date for every holiday campaign and a dot for every step; the **Observances 2027** campaign shows one date with dots spread across the year. As each date arrives, the step's deliveries appear under **All Messages** as **Delivered**. Next December, duplicate the **Observances** campaign with **Recalculate Step Dates** on and a reference date of 1 January, then fix the dates that move. ## Next steps - [Duplicate a campaign](https://support.pynhq.com/flows/campaign-templates/duplicate-a-campaign/) when next year comes round. - [Create a conditional sender](https://support.pynhq.com/flows/steps/create-a-conditional-sender/) so each region's note comes from its own HR lead. - [Add reminders](https://support.pynhq.com/flows/steps/add-reminders/) is not available on campaign steps; use a duplicated step on a later date instead. ## Related - [Add a campaign template](https://support.pynhq.com/flows/campaign-templates/add-a-campaign-template/) and [Enroll employees in a campaign](https://support.pynhq.com/flows/campaign-templates/enroll-employees-in-a-campaign/) for chapter 1 in detail. - [Create a campaign](https://support.pynhq.com/flows/campaign-templates/create-a-campaign/) for chapter 3 in detail. - [Employee Groups](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/employee-groups/) for the regional groups. ## Related Intercom articles - [Pyn Holidays and Observances content (Pyn 1)](https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/6024190-pyn-holidays-and-observances-content-pyn-1) — Pyn 1 article, kept for reference - [HR Calendar](https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/6825617-hr-calendar) — Pyn 1 article, kept for reference