Public holidays in Belgium

In Belgium, there are ten official public holidays. Other particular days are also celebrated, but these are not official public holidays and employers are not obliged to give their employees a day off.[1] However, some employers do award a day's holiday in accordance with union negotiations.

Public holidays[2]
Date Name
English Dutch French German
1 January (fixed) New Year's Day Nieuwjaar Nouvel An Neujahr
22 March – 25 April
(floating Monday using Computus)		 Easter Monday Paasmaandag Lundi de Pâques Ostermontag
1 May
(fixed)		 Labour Day Dag van de arbeid Fête du Travail Tag der Arbeit
40 days after Easter
(floating Thursday)		 Ascension Day Hemelvaart Ascension Christi Himmelfahrt
50 days after Easter
(floating Monday)		 Whit Monday Pinkstermaandag Lundi de Pentecôte Pfingstmontag
21 July
(fixed)		 Belgian National Day Nationale feestdag Fête nationale Nationalfeiertag
15 August
(fixed)		 Assumption Day Onze Lieve Vrouw hemelvaart Assomption Mariä Himmelfahrt
1 November
(fixed)		 All Saints' Day Allerheiligen Toussaint Allerheiligen
11 November
(fixed)		 Armistice Day Wapenstilstand Jour de l'Armistice Waffenstillstand
25 December
(fixed)		 Christmas Day Kerstmis Noël Weihnachten

In addition to the above, the same legal text names all Sundays as public holidays (which is why Easter and Pentecost, which always fall on Sundays, are "feasted" by extending the Sunday holiday to the following Monday).

Particular days celebrated in Belgium that are not official public holidays
HolidayDateDutchFrenchGerman
Epiphany 6 January Driekoningen Épiphanie Erscheinung des Herrn
Valentine's Day 14 February Valentijnsdag Saint-Valentin Valentinstag
Veterans Day 7 April[3] Veteranendag Journée des Vétérans
Iris Festival (in Brussels only) 8 May Irisfeest Fête de l'Iris Iris-Festival
Day of the Flemish Community (in Flanders only) 11 July Feest van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap Fête de la Communauté flamande Feiertag der Flämischen Gemeinschaft
French Community Holiday (in Wallonia only) 27 September Dag van de Franse Gemeenschap Fête de la Communauté française Feiertag der Französischen Gemeinschaft
Day of the Walloon Region (in Wallonia only) third Sunday of September Feest van het Waalse Gewest Fête de la Région wallonne Festtag der Wallonischen Region
Halloween 31 October Halloween Halloween Halloween
All Souls' Day 2 November Allerzielen Jour des morts Allerseelen
Day of the German-speaking Community 15 November Dag van de Duitstalige Gemeenschap Fête de la Communauté germanophone Tag der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft
King's Feast Koningsdag Fête du Roi Festtag des Königs
Saint Nicholas 6 December Sinterklaas Saint-Nicolas Sankt Nikolaus
Second Day of Christmas 26 December Tweede kerstdag Lendemain de Noël 2. Weihnachtstag

The days of the three communities are holidays for their civil servants and for employees of institutions controlled, supervised or financed by them (e.g. municipalities, universities) and may also be observed by banks in the community concerned. King's Feast is a holiday observed by all (i.e. federal, community or regional, provincial and local) administrations, including some of the schools they organize.

See also

References
  1. "Public holidays in Belgium".
  2. "Nationale feestdagen in België | Belgium.be".
  3. Noulet, Jean-François. "Le 7 avril, la Belgique se souvient de ses vétérans : 252 militaires belges sont morts lors d'opérations de maintien de la paix depuis 1945". RTBF. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
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