Public Holidays in Singapore

The major public holidays in Singapore reflect the cultural and religious diversity of the country, including the Chinese New Year, Buddhist Vesak Day, Muslim Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha (known locally by their Malay names Hari Raya Puasa and Hari Raya Haji respectively), and Hindu Deepavali. Christians are also a significant group (about 14 per cent of the population), and Christmas Day and Good Friday are public holidays. This represents a carefully calibrated distribution of public holidays given to each group. Because of this some of the other special days have not been given public holiday status – including other Christian holidays (Ascension Day), Muslim holidays (Awal Muharam, birthday of Muhammad) and Hindu holidays (Thaipusam).