Public holidays in the Americas
The defining feature of holidays in this region is that many of them move to Monday by law. Colombia's Ley Emiliani shifts most holidays to the following Monday; Chile, Argentina, Peru, Costa Rica and others have their own transfer rules. The effect is that Latin America produces more long weekends per holiday than any other region, and that the date you look up is often not the date the holiday nominally commemorates.
The defining feature of holidays in this region is that many of them move to Monday by law. Colombia's Ley Emiliani shifts most holidays to the following Monday; Chile, Argentina, Peru, Costa Rica and others have their own transfer rules. The effect is that Latin America produces more long weekends per holiday than any other region, and that the date you look up is often not the date the holiday nominally commemorates.
The United States is the outlier in the opposite direction. It has no national public holidays that bind private employers — the federal list applies to federal employees, and each state sets its own. Private-sector paid holidays are a matter of contract, not law.
How many public holidays each country has in 2026
The 23 countries in the Americas hold between 5 and 19 nationwide public holidays in 2026. The median for the group is 11, below the median of 13 across all 100 countries we track. Argentina and Colombia share the most at 19; Canada and Uruguay share the fewest at 5.
Across 22 of the 23 countries in the group, 93 named holidays are set by a calendar other than the Gregorian one. We can tell because they land on a different day in 2027: Colombia has the most, at 13. Canada, Colombia and Mexico lose nothing to the weekend in 2026: every one of their holidays falls Monday to Friday.
Nationwide public holidays in 2026, ranked. “On a weekday” counts those falling Monday to Friday. “Holidays that move” counts named holidays that fall on a different day in 2027 because another calendar sets them; a festival running several days counts once. Each row links the country's holiday page, its guide and the five cities we cover.
The rules that shape the region
Colombia — Ley Emiliani. A 1983 law moves most public holidays to the following Monday, whatever day they nominally fall on. The consequence is that Colombia converts almost its entire holiday calendar into long weekends, and loses very few holidays to the weekend — a structural advantage over most of Europe. A handful of holidays are fixed to their date and do not move.
Chile, Argentina and Peru — transferable holidays. Each has its own statute allowing certain holidays to be moved to create a long weekend, sometimes decided annually by decree rather than fixed in advance. Argentina in particular designates additional tourism bridge days by executive decision.
Carnival. In Brazil, Carnival is not a national public holiday in the statutory sense, yet business closes for it across most of the country. It is a facultative point of law and a certainty in practice, which is exactly the kind of thing a holiday dataset gets wrong. Its date is fixed relative to Easter and therefore moves every year.
The United States. Federal holidays apply to federal employees and to the federal government's own operations. States set their own lists, and private employers are not obliged to give any paid holiday at all. Any list of American public holidays is describing the federal calendar, not an entitlement.
The Caribbean. The Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica and Curaçao follow the British substitution model — a holiday falling on a Sunday is observed on the Monday — alongside national days that are fixed to their date.
Common follow-up questions
What is Ley Emiliani?
A Colombian law that moves most public holidays to the following Monday. The effect is visible in the 2026 data: of Colombia's 19 nationwide public holidays, 9 are dates the law has moved to a Monday, 16 fall on a Monday or a Friday, and only 0 land on a weekend at all. No other country in the Americas converts as much of its calendar into long weekends.
Does the United States have national public holidays?
Not in the sense most countries mean. The federal holiday list governs federal employees and federal offices. States legislate their own, and private employers are under no federal obligation to provide paid time off on any of them.
Is Carnival a public holiday in Brazil?
Not a statutory national one, though business closes across most of the country for it and many states and municipalities do declare it. Its date is tied to Easter and moves each year.