Public Holidays in Germany

Public holidays in Germany are very confusing.  Today, November 1st is a public holiday in Germany, but when I asked J.P. what the holiday was for his response was "some Catholic holiday" (no disrespect to Catholics intended).  It turns out that today is All Saints Day, a day in which Catholics pray for Christian saints. 

Candle lighting is part of the service for All Saints Day, a public holiday in Germany in 5 states that are predominantly Catholic

Tomorrow, November 2nd is All Souls Day, another Catholic holiday in which Catholics pray for loved ones who have passed on, and visit grave sites, but it is not a public holiday in Germany.  I'm not sure why it this is not a public holiday in Germany as it would seem to apply to everyone, regardless of your religion.  To further confuse matters, some Protestants celebrate All Saints Day, so I don’t know how that works when it's a Catholic holiday.  J.P. was baptized Protestant but he wasn't sure either so if anyone can shed light on this, please let me know.

Also confusing about public holidays in Germany is that many of them are not national public holidays.  All Saints Day is a public holiday in Germany only in 5 out of 16 states, those that are predominantly Catholic.  But when I asked J.P. which 5 states he could only list 2, Baden Würrtemberg (the state where we live) and Bavaria.  For the record, the other 3 are: Rheinland-Pfalz, Nordrhein-Westfalen and Saarland.  Similarly, there are Protestant public holidays in Germany that are only celebrated in states that are predominantly Protestant.  I was rather baffled so I asked J.P. how Germans keep track of all the public holidays in Germany and how Germans know which public holidays in Germany apply to their state; his response was “we look at a calendar".  I think this is my cue to stop asking him questions he can't answer about public holidays in Germany, but I feel somewhat relieved, if a German doesn't know so much about public holidays in Germany, surely it's understandable why I'm so confused.