Burkina Faso 2026 Public Holidays

New Year

1 January.

The start of the Gregorian calendar year. Some sources list this alongside a separate New Year's Day entry when a country grants more than one day off around the turn of the year.

International Women's Day

8 March.

Marks the struggle for women's rights, with roots in the labour movement of the early 1900s. A full public holiday across the post-Soviet states; a half day for women only in China; and an observance in most of the rest of the world.

Day off for International Women's Day

The next available weekday when 8 March falls on a weekend.

The substitute day for International Women's Day, granted in the post-Soviet states where 8 March is a full public holiday.

Eid al-Fitr

1 Shawwal, the day after Ramadan ends. The date depends on a moon sighting and is often confirmed only a day or two in advance.

The festival that ends Ramadan, and the largest holiday of the year across the Muslim world. Most countries grant two to three consecutive days; Indonesia and Malaysia extend it further with collective leave. Because the date is set by moon sighting, calendars published far in advance are provisional.

Eid al-Fitr Holiday

The second and third days of Eid al-Fitr.

The additional days off that follow Eid al-Fitr itself. Most Muslim-majority countries treat Eid as a multi-day break rather than a single holiday.

Easter Monday

The Monday after Easter Sunday.

A public holiday across most of Europe, the Commonwealth and Latin America, extending the Easter weekend to four days. Notably not a holiday in the United States, Portugal or Spain outside Catalonia and the Balearics.

Labour Day

1 May in most countries.

International Workers' Day, commemorating the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago, and a public holiday in most of the world. The United States and Canada are the notable exceptions, holding their Labor Day in September instead.

Ascension Day

The Thursday 39 days after Easter Sunday.

Marks the ascension of Christ, forty days after Easter. Always a Thursday, which makes it a popular bridge day — in France, Germany, the Nordics and the Benelux many people take the Friday off to reach a four-day weekend.

Eid al-Adha

10 Dhu al-Hijjah, about seventy days after Eid al-Fitr, confirmed by moon sighting.

The Feast of Sacrifice, marking the end of the Hajj pilgrimage and commemorating Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son. Alongside Eid al-Fitr it is one of the two principal Islamic holidays, and is observed with several days off in most Muslim-majority countries.

National Day

Varies by country — a founding, unification, or constitutional anniversary.

The principal patriotic holiday of a country that does not frame its national day as independence — a founding, unification, revolution or monarch's day depending on the state.

Assumption of Mary

15 August.

A Catholic and Orthodox feast marking the assumption of the Virgin Mary. A public holiday across southern and Central Europe, Latin America and francophone Africa, and the peak of the summer holiday season in France and Italy.

The Prophet's Birthday

12 Rabi' al-Awwal — 17 Rabi' al-Awwal in the Shia tradition.

Mawlid, marking the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. A public holiday across most of the Muslim world, though Saudi Arabia and Qatar do not observe it.

Martyrs' Day

Varies by country.

Honours those killed in a country's struggle for independence or in a defining national tragedy.

All Saints' Day

1 November.

Honours all saints, and in much of Catholic Europe and Latin America is the day families visit and tend graves. A public holiday in France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Portugal, the Philippines and many francophone African countries.

Christmas Day

25 December. The day off moves to the following weekday when it falls on a weekend.

The most widely observed public holiday after New Year's Day, a day off in the great majority of countries including many with no Christian majority, where it functions as a secular end-of-year holiday. Orthodox churches following the Julian calendar keep it on 7 January instead.