Colombia Public Holidays
Discover upcoming public holiday dates for Colombia and start planning to make the most of your time off.
The Republic of Colombia currently celebrates 18 national holidays each year. Many of the holidays celebrated in Colombia are religious holidays. These holidays may change in date each year because their celebrations are calculated on the lunar cycle.
There are many laws governing national holidays in Colombia. Most holidays are established as part of a national decree and then honoured from that point forward. Emiliani’s Law (Enacted December 6, 1983 as Law 51) requires that most holidays are moved to the following Monday so that work weeks are not interrupted. However, holiday dates associated with Easter, Independence Day, the Immaculate Conception and Christmas are never changed.
Labour laws in Colombia require that all employers provide employees a day off from work for all national holidays. These laws do not state whether or not it is mandatory for employees to be paid for national holidays. In many cases, however, employment contracts provide employees with payment for days off that occur due to a national holiday.
It should be noted that almost everyone takes the entire week off from work during Easter week. While only four of two of these days are considered national holidays and two are on the weekend, it has become traditional for businesses to close for the entire week.