One of the interesting contrasts between the U.S. and Switzerland (and much of Europe for that matter) is the role of religion. I think the U.S. is much more religious, but perhaps because of the Constitution and the general acceptance (by some, at least) of a separation between church and state, religious holidays are seldom acknowledged in the U.S. Here, my sense is that people are not necessarily very religious, but the church historically played a large role in affairs, so religious holidays are observed even though people are largely secular. This comes up because both tomorrow (Good Friday) and Monday (Easter Monday) are official holidays here, and they don't give them secular-sounding names like "spring holiday" or anything like that. Meanwhile, back home we never had those days off. I'm not sure what any of this means...