Holiday Data Methodology

This calculator covers public holidays for 11 countries. Each country uses a conservative national or federal holiday set, with state, provincial, and bank-only days excluded. The detail below documents what is included per country, how weekend observance is handled, and how lunar and Islamic dates are computed for forward years.

What we cover by country

Each country's holiday list reflects the dates that close federal offices, banks, and the national payment system. Citations point to the controlling statute or gazette where one exists.

• US: the 11 federal holidays under 5 USC 6103. Inauguration Day (DC only) excluded.
• UK: bank holidays for England and Wales. Scotland's 2 January and St Andrew's Day, and Northern Ireland's 17 March and 12 July, are not observed UK-wide and are excluded.
• Canada: federal statutory holidays under Part III of the Canada Labour Code. Civic Holiday is provincial and excluded. National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is included.
• Australia: nationally observed public holidays. State-specific days (state Labour Days, Melbourne Cup, Queen's Birthday state shifts) excluded.
• India: centrally observed gazetted holidays. State-specific and restricted (optional) holidays excluded.
• Philippines: regular national holidays under the Administrative Code of 1987. Special non-working days (annual presidential proclamation) excluded because they vary year to year.
• Germany: the 9 bundesweite Feiertage. Bundesland-specific days (Reformationstag, Allerheiligen, Heilige Drei Könige, Fronleichnam) excluded.
• France: the 11 national jours fériés. Alsace-Moselle's Good Friday and 26 December excluded.
• Japan: the 16 kokumin no shukujitsu, plus furikae kyūjitsu (Sunday substitutes) and kokumin no kyūjitsu (Citizens' Holiday).
• Singapore: all 11 gazetted public holidays under the Holidays Act. Sunday-falling holidays add a Monday substitute; Saturday-falling holidays are not shifted.
• Mexico: the 7 mandatory holidays in Article 74 LFT, with the 2006 Monday-observance reform applied to Constitution Day, Benito Juárez's birthday, and Revolution Day. Presidential transmission day (1 December every six years) included in the relevant years.

What we exclude and why

Regional, provincial, state, and bank-only holidays are excluded by design. Maintaining per-state data across 11 countries, with frequent sub-national revisions, is more error-prone than shipping a conservative national set and letting users add their state-level dates.

Concrete consequences: Civic Holiday is not in our Canada set; Patriots' Day is not in our US set; Reformationstag is not in our Germany set; state Labour Days are not in our Australia set. Each calculator has an Advanced options section that accepts custom dates merged with the country list, so you can add the holidays that apply to your jurisdiction.

How we handle observed dates

Different countries shift weekend-falling holidays differently. We follow each country's own rule:

• US: Saturday-falling holidays observed the preceding Friday; Sunday-falling holidays observed the following Monday (5 CFR 610.202 and E.O. 11582). The Federal Reserve and most banks follow the federal observance.
• UK: weekend-falling holidays shifted to the next available weekday by Royal Proclamation under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971. Christmas Day on a Saturday gives a Tuesday substitute (because Boxing Day takes Monday).
• Canada: federal statutory holidays under section 195 of the Canada Labour Code shift to the next working day.
• Australia: most jurisdictions shift weekend holidays to the following Monday under each state's Public Holidays Act, with state variations. ANZAC Day is observed on the actual day in several states regardless of weekend.
• Germany, France: weekend-falling holidays absorb into the weekend with no substitute weekday. A Sunday-falling Tag der Deutschen Einheit is the end of it; no Monday off.
• Japan: Sunday-falling holidays shift to the following Monday under the furikae kyūjitsu system. A non-holiday weekday between two holidays becomes a kokumin no kyūjitsu (Citizens' Holiday).
• Singapore: Sunday-falling holidays add a Monday substitute. Saturday-falling holidays are not shifted.
• Mexico: three reform-era holidays shift to the nearest Monday under the 2006 reform; others absorb into the weekend with no substitute.
• Philippines, India: weekend handling is proclamation-driven; we follow official observed-date data.

For a deeper comparison of weekend observance rules across the four major English-speaking jurisdictions, see the guide on weekend observance.

How we handle lunar and Islamic dates

India (Diwali, Eid'l Fitr, Eid'l Adha), Philippines (Eid'l Fitr, Eid'l Adha), and Singapore (Hari Raya Puasa, Hari Raya Haji, Vesak Day, Deepavali, Chinese New Year) observe holidays whose dates are set by lunar or Islamic calendars and shift year to year.

For years where the relevant ministry has published official dates (typically the current year and one year forward), we use the published dates exactly. For years beyond that horizon we compute dates astronomically and tag them (approximate) in the holiday list. Approximate dates land within one day of the eventual proclamation in the great majority of cases; Islamic dates can adjust by a day based on local moon-sighting committees. For legally critical deadlines near a lunar or Islamic holiday, verify the date against the official source: MOM (Singapore), the Office of the President (Philippines), or the Ministry of Home Affairs (India).

Update cadence

We review the holiday data annually, typically in November and December as official calendars are published for the following year. Proclamation-driven dates (Philippine Eid'l Fitr, Singapore Hari Raya, Indian gazette holidays) are updated as soon as the ministry publishes them, which is usually October to December for the following year.

Coverage spans 2024 through 2027 for all 11 countries. We extend forward each year to maintain a three-year forward window from the current date.

What to do if you find an error

If you spot an incorrect date or a missing holiday, please get in touch. Include the country, the date, and the source you are referencing (typically a government calendar or proclamation). We typically push corrections within a few days of confirmation.

For the underlying data files and the calculation logic, the holiday module is open and reviewable in the calculator's source. Each country's holiday list is a JSON file structured as year keys mapping to arrays of date and name pairs.