Public Holidays 2025
Sri Lanka has adopted 8 hours a day 5 working day week in general. While the government institutions are closed in the weekends, some of the commercial enterprises including the banks are open on Saturdays too. Public Holidays in Sri Lanka.
In addition to the Saturdays and Sundays, each full moon day called Poya day is a public holiday in Sri Lanka. This has resulted in at least one additional holiday for each month unless the poya day falls in the weekend.
Poya Day WorldwideThe Full moon day is important to Buddhists all around the world, who have adopted the Lunar Calendar for their religious observances. Owing to the fullness of the moon as well as its effulgence, the full moon day is treated as the most auspicious of the four lunar phases occurring once every lunar month (29.5 days) and thus marked by a holiday.
Full Moon Poya Day and the Buddhists of Sri LankaThe term poya is derived from the Pali and Sanskrit form uposatha (from upa + vas: to fast) primarily signifying “day of fasting”. Generally shops and businesses are closed and the sale of alcohol and meat is forbidden island wide on Poya days. The practising Buddhists visit the village temple or one of the famous ancient Buddhist temples of Sri Lanka for the rituals of worship and observation of Buddhist precepts called Sil. Observing Sil is initiated in front of a bhikkhu (Buddhist monk) making a solemn Buddhist pledge in Pali language to strictly observe the 5 precepts during the course of the day. Five percepts of Buddhism are abstaining from killing any living being, abstaining from stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech and consumption of alcohol and intoxicants.
Poya Day and the Foreign Tourists to Sri LankaTourists to Sri Lanka may call Poya day a Dry Day in the backdrop of non-availability of alcoholic beverages at hotels and restaurants. Wine stores, taverns and bars are closed on Poya days. Mini bar of your hotel room would be the one and only available option.
Buddhist Holidays- Wesak Full Moon Poya Day.
- Day following the Wesak Full Moon Poya Day.
- Poson Full Moon Poya Day.
- Every single poya days in relavant months including mention abow
Hindu Holidays
- Tamil Thai Pongal Day – harvest festival.
- Deepavali Festival Day.
Percentage of Hindus in Sri Lanka: 14% of the population. Local astronomical observations being the determining factor, some of the Hindu festivals are declared with approximate time of their occurrence.
Muslim Holidays- Milad Un Nabi Holy Prophet’s Birthday
- Eid al-Adha, Hadj Festival Day
- Eid al-Fitr, end of Ramadan (Sept), Deepavali (Oct),
- Eid al-Adha, Hadj Festival Day (28 Nov)
During the lunar month of Ramadan that precedes Eid al-Fitr, Muslims fast during the day and feast at night and normal business patterns run by the Muslims may be interrupted. However, this has no major bearing on the run of commerce and administration in Sri Lanka.
Christian Holidays
Percentage of Christians in Sri Lanka: 7% of the population.
70% van de Sri Lankaanse bevolking hangt het boeddhisme aan, de meeste feestdagen in 2020 zijn gebaseerd op de boeddhistische cultuur. Islam, hindoeïsme en christendom worden ook in sommige delen van het land beoefend en als teken van respect; de overheid neemt ook feestdagen voor deze religies elk jaar op in de lijst van nationale feestdagen van het land. Een van de belangrijkste op het boeddhisme gebaseerde feestdagen die elke maand als nationale feestdagen worden aangekondigd, zijn de volle maan poya-dagen. Op elke volle maan poya-dag hebben werknemers recht op betaald verlof; banken en alle organisaties blijven op deze 12 dagen van het jaar gesloten.
Daarnaast zijn enkele van de andere belangrijke nationale feestdagen in Sri Lanka onder andere de nationale feestdag, Dag van de Arbeid, Nieuwjaarsdag, Sinhala en Tamil Nieuwjaar, de geboortedag van de profeet Mohammed (Milad-un-Nabi), Thai Pongal-dag, Mahasivarathri, Eid-al-Fitr, Eid-al-Adha en Kerstmis. Hoewel sommige van deze feestdagen officiële, bank- en handelsfeestdagen zijn, zijn andere alleen officiële en bankvakanties waarop het bedrijfsleven blijft werken. Vrijaf wordt doorgaans door de werkgever verleend voor de viering van religieuze en nationale feesten. Hieronder vindt u een gedetailleerde lijst van alle nationale feestdagen in Sri Lanka in 2020.
In deze tabel ziet u de datum van de feestdag, de gelegenheid en welke sectoren op die specifieke feestdag gesloten blijven.
