Data Sources & Verification

How we verify dates

Every public holiday on this site follows the same workflow:

1. Primary source — a government gazette, cabinet circular, labour-ministry notice, or consolidated statute from the country itself.
2. Independent cross-check — a second official portal, national observatory, or reputable reference that cites the same notice (never another calendar farm as the sole check).
3. Explicit handling of uncertainty — provisional years, moon-sighting dependencies, and empty versus missing make-up-workday fields are documented on the page.

We never infer a date from a neighbouring country or from last year's pattern. If the government has not published the arrangement, we say so.

Each country/year page lists the exact sources used for that edition in its source box. This page summarises the primary authorities we rely on across all 37 covered markets.

Africa

Ghana

• Ministry of the Interior, Republic of Ghana (mint.gov.gh) — official gazetted public-holiday declarations
• Parliament of Ghana — Public Holidays Act, 2001 (Act 601) and Public Holidays and Commemorative Days (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act 1142)

Kenya

• Republic of Kenya — Kenya Gazette public-holiday notices
• Kenya Law (National Council for Law Reporting) — consolidated public-holiday legislation

Nigeria

• Federal Ministry of Interior, Nigeria — annual public-holiday declarations
• Official Gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria — published notices (Islamic dates confirmed by the Sultan of Sokoto's announcement when applicable)

South Africa

• South African Government (gov.za) — Public Holidays Act and annual proclamations

Asia

China

• The State Council of the PRC — annual holiday arrangement notices (including make-up workdays)

Hong Kong SAR

• GovHK — general holidays ordinance and annual lists
• Labour Department, HKSAR — statutory holiday schedules for employees

India

• Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Government of India — Office Memoranda listing Annexure-I gazetted holidays

Indonesia

• Sekretariat Negara (State Secretariat) — joint decrees on collective leave and national holidays
• Kemenko PMK (Coordinating Ministry for Human Development) — published holiday calendars

Japan

• Cabinet Office, Government of Japan — National Holiday Act and annual holiday proclamations
• National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) — substitute-holiday calculations where applicable

Macau SAR

• Macao SAR Government Portal — official public-holiday announcements

Malaysia

• Federal Government Gazette, Malaysia (Attorney General's Chambers) — national public-holiday declarations
• Prime Minister's Department — state-level and national holiday notices

Philippines

• Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines — presidential proclamations on special and regular holidays

Saudi Arabia

• Royal Court / Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development — Eid and National Day announcements (dates provisional until moon sighting)

Singapore

• Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Singapore — gazetted public-holiday list
• data.gov.sg — open-data publication of the official list

South Korea

• Ministry of Personnel Management, Republic of Korea — annual public-holiday circular
• Ministry of Government Legislation — National Holiday Act text via the National Law Information Center

Taiwan

• Directorate-General of Personnel Administration (DGPA), Executive Yuan — annual calendar with make-up workdays

Thailand

• Royal Gazette — published public-holiday proclamations
• Bank of Thailand — supplementary notices where they mirror official closures

UAE

• Federal Authority for Government Human Resources (FAHR) and emirate-level HR authorities — Eid and National Day announcements (provisional until moon sighting)

Vietnam

• Government Portal of Viet Nam (chinhphu.vn) — State Council holiday arrangements
• Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) — Tet and National Day schedules

Europe

Austria

• Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (Bundeskanzleramt) — Feiertagsruhegesetz 1957 § 1 and the Arbeitsruhegesetz § 7 list
• Bundesministerium für Bildung — statutory holidays and the Land patron-saint days that are not days off

Belgium

• SPF Emploi, Travail et Concertation sociale — official list of public holidays
• Moniteur belge (FOD Justitie) — Loi du 4 janvier 1974 relative aux jours fériés

France

• Service-Public.fr (Ministère de l'Intérieur) — official list of French public holidays

Germany

• Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (BMI) — nationwide public-holiday reference; state-specific gazettes for Länder variations

Ireland

• Citizens Information / gov.ie — Organisation of Working Time Act holiday schedule

Italy

• Normattiva / Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana — Legge 27 maggio 1949, n. 260 on public festivities and later additions

Netherlands

• Rijksoverheid — official list of feest- en gedenkdagen
• Kamer van Koophandel (Business.gov.nl) — public-holiday register employers work from

Portugal

• Diário da República (diariodarepublica.pt) — official gazette and Código do Trabalho (Lei n.º 7/2009, Artigo 234.º)
• Portal ePortugal (Agência para a Modernização Administrativa) — official mandatory public holidays calendar

Spain

• Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE) — annual calendario laboral order and art. 37.2 of the Workers' Statute
• Ministerio de Trabajo y Economía Social — state and autonomous-community holiday calendars

Sweden

• Sveriges riksdag — Lag (1989:253) om allmänna helgdagar, which fixes every red day and the Saturday rules
• Regeringskansliet — government pronouncements on changes to the holiday list

United Kingdom

• GOV.UK — bank holidays for England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland

North America

Canada

• Government of Canada — federal statutory holidays
• Justice Laws Website — Canada Labour Code holiday provisions (provincial sources added per jurisdiction on relevant pages)

Mexico

• Cámara de Diputados — Ley Federal del Trabajo holiday articles
• Procuraduría Federal de la Defensa del Trabajo (PROFEDET) — official holiday guidance

United States

• U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) — federal holiday schedule (widely adopted benchmark for private-sector calendars)

South America

Argentina

• Argentina.gob.ar / Boletín Oficial — Jefatura de Gabinete de Ministros — the annual tourism-day instruments (Decreto 1027/2024 for 2025, Resolución 164/2025 for 2026) and the moves of weekend holidays (Decreto 614/2025, Resolución 139/2025)
• Ley 27.399 — the standing framework for movable holidays and non-working days

Brazil

• Presidência da República — Planalto — federal law on national holidays and electoral calendars

Oceania

Australia

• Fair Work Ombudsman — National Employment Standards public-holiday reference
• Federal Register of Legislation — Fair Work Act holiday provisions (state gazettes for local variations)

New Zealand

• Employment New Zealand / MBIE — public-holiday schedule under the Holidays Act 2003
• New Zealand Legislation — consolidated statute text

Colombia

• Departamento Administrativo de la Función Pública (funcionpublica.gov.co) — Ley 51 de 1983 («Ley Emiliani»), which sets the national festivos and their Monday transfers
• Secretaría Jurídico Documental de la Presidencia (DAPRE) — Ley 2578 del 1 de junio de 2026, art. 6, adding Chiquinquirá as a national festivo from 2026

Czech Republic

• Parlament České republiky, Poslanecká sněmovna (psp.cz) — Act No. 245/2000 Sb. on state holidays, other holidays, significant days and working rest days
• Ministerstvo vnitra — e-Sbírka (e-sbirka.gov.cz) — the digital collection of laws, consolidated text of the same Act

Greece

• Hellenic Labour Inspectorate (ΗΕΠ – ΣΕΠΕ), Ministry of Labour (hli.gov.gr) — Article 60 of Law 4808/2021, the days of compulsory closure for all businesses
• Decentralized Administration of Crete, Ministry of the Interior (apdkritis.gov.gr) — national and movable Paschal holidays under the 1980/1981 instrument

Norway

• Lovdata AS (lovdata.no) — Lov om helligdager og helligdagsfred, § 2, consolidated text in force since 1 June 2021
• Lovdata AS (lovdata.no) — Lov om 1 og 17 mai som høgtidsdager, which is where the two May national days come from

Denmark

• Retsinformation — Civilstyrelsen / Ministry of Justice (retsinformation.dk) — Lov nr. 214 af 6. marts 2023, § 7, which amended § 2(1) of the Shop Closing Act to spell out the ten helligdage
• Retsinformation (retsinformation.dk) — Lov om detailsalg fra butikker m.v. (LBK nr. 515 af 30. april 2019), the Shop Closing Act that also fixes the closing days which are not helligdage
• Retsinformation — Kirkeministeriet (retsinformation.dk) — Bekendtgørelse (Lovtidende A 2023 nr. 270) abolishing Store Bededag as a holiday from 1 January 2024
• Danmarks Nationalbank (nationalbanken.dk) — Banklukkedage, the bank closing days (not helligdage), which we show only as a note
• Retsinformation (retsinformation.dk) — Lov nr. 1754 af 29. december 2025, shop opening on helligdage in towns under 16,850 inhabitants from 1 January 2027

Poland

• Internetowy System Aktów Prawnych / ELI (eli.gov.pl) — Ustawa z dnia 18 stycznia 1951 r. o dniach wolnych od pracy, Article 1, consolidated text Dz.U. 2025 poz. 296
• Internetowy System Aktów Prawnych / ELI (eli.gov.pl) — Ustawa z dnia 6 grudnia 2024 r. (Dz.U. 2024 poz. 1965), which added Christmas Eve (Wigilia) as a day free from work from 1 February 2025
• Sejm of the Republic of Poland — ISAP (isap.sejm.gov.pl) — the Act's record with its full amendment history
• Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy (National Labour Inspectorate) (pip.gov.pl) — what the new Christmas Eve holiday means for employers, work on holidays and retail trading
• Ministerstwo Rodziny, Pracy i Polityki Społecznej (gov.pl) — settlement periods and the Labour Code Art. 130 § 2 working-time reduction for holidays; the holiday list on that page predates Christmas Eve, so we cite it for the rule only

Cross-check sources

Secondary sources — national observatories, open-data portals, legal databases, and established references — are listed on individual country pages when they helped confirm a date. They never replace the primary notice.

Updates and corrections

When a government publishes a revised notice, we update the live page, regenerate downloadable exports, and record the change. If you have an official URL we have not yet incorporated, please email buleskeepyou@gmail.com or use our contact page.