Holiday Calendar

What Is a Public Holiday Calendar?

A public holiday calendar lists the days a country officially observes as national holidays. These are the dates when government offices, banks, schools, and many businesses close, and when employees who do work are often paid a premium. This holiday calendar shows the full year of public holidays for eight countries, including the weekday each date falls on, any substitute day created when a holiday lands on a weekend, and a live countdown to the next holiday on the calendar.

Because public holidays combine fixed dates, astronomical events, and movable observances, the exact list changes every year. Two countries can share the same holiday name and still observe it on different days. This tool calculates the calendar for the selected country and year in your browser, so you can plan travel, staffing, payroll, project deadlines, and long weekends with confidence.

Fixed, Movable, and Weekend Holidays

Holidays fall into three broad groups:

• Fixed date holidays always fall on the same calendar date, such as New Year's Day on January 1, Christmas Day on December 25, or Bastille Day on July 14.
• Movable holidays follow a rule instead of a date. Thanksgiving in the United States is the fourth Thursday of November, Memorial Day is the last Monday of May, and Easter is calculated from the first full moon on or after March 21.
• Easter-linked holidays are defined as offsets from Easter Sunday. Good Friday is two days before Easter, Easter Monday is one day after, Ascension Day is 39 days after, and Whit Monday is 50 days after.

When a fixed holiday lands on a Saturday or Sunday, many countries move the day off to the next working day. The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand all use this substitute day system. The United States uses the opposite direction for Saturday holidays and observes them on the preceding Friday. Germany, France, and India keep holidays on their calendar date even when that date falls on a weekend.

Holidays by Country

Each country has its own holiday mix. The United States observes eleven federal holidays, including Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth, and Thanksgiving. The United Kingdom has eight bank holidays in England and Wales, built around Easter, early May, spring, and summer bank holidays, plus Christmas and Boxing Day. Canada adds Victoria Day, Canada Day, and Thanksgiving, while Australia includes Australia Day, Anzac Day, and the King's Birthday. Germany observes Ascension Day and Whit Monday alongside German Unity Day, France observes Bastille Day and Assumption, and New Zealand Mondayises the Day after New Year's Day, Waitangi Day, and Anzac Day. India's national holidays are Republic Day, Independence Day, and Gandhi Jayanti.

How to Use the Holiday Calendar

1. Select a country from the dropdown. The United States is selected by default.
2. Choose a year from the year selector. The current year loads automatically.
3. Review the holiday table, which shows the date, weekday, holiday name, substitute day, and how far away each holiday is.
4. Toggle "Hide past holidays" to focus on the rest of the year, or use the search box and sorting controls to find a specific holiday.
5. Download the list as CSV, Excel, JSON, or PDF for payroll, staffing, or planning worksheets.

All of your selections are stored in the page URL, so you can bookmark a specific country and year combination or share the link with a colleague and they will see the same calendar.

Why Holiday Dates Differ Between Countries

Even countries with shared history observe different holidays, and the differences matter for scheduling. A client in the United States may be working on a day that is a bank holiday in the United Kingdom, and an Australian public holiday can fall in the middle of a European project sprint. Substitute day rules add another layer: a Christmas that falls on a Saturday creates a Monday substitute in London and a Friday observed date in New York.

When planning international work, always check the destination country's official calendar rather than assuming holidays align. This tool keeps the calculations in your browser and updates instantly as you change the country or year, making it easy to compare how the same year looks across regions.

Related Tools

Explore related tools to assist with your planning:

• Business Days Calculator
• Calendar Countdown
• Date Calculator
• Day of Year Calendar
• Hijri Calendar Converter