Public holidays in Bonaire

Bonaire keeps the ten holidays shared by all three islands of the Caribbean Netherlands and two of its own, Dia di Rincon on 30 April and Dia di Boneiru on 6 September. Two of the shared ten, Easter Sunday and Whit Sunday, always fall on a Sunday, and in 2026 Dia di Boneiru does too. The days kept only on Sint Eustatius or Saba are working days on Bonaire.

Yes, as Dia di Rincon, the festival of the village of Rincon held on that date since 1989. When King's Day moved to 27 April in 2013, Bonaire lost the day off it had used for the festival, and in 2015 the island government traded Kingdom Day on 15 December for 30 April. Sint Eustatius and Saba work on 30 April.

Saba keeps its national day on the first Friday of December, according to the National Office for the Caribbean Netherlands and Beleven, which puts it on 4 December in 2026 and 3 December in 2027. Some holiday providers list it on 6 December instead, the date Saba's flag was adopted in 1985. Offices, schools and shops on the island close for the day.

On 16 November 1776 the guns of Fort Oranje on Sint Eustatius returned the salute of the American brig Andrew Doria, which the island counts as the first foreign salute to the flag of the United States. Statia Day is the island's public holiday, with speeches, parades and music in Oranjestad, and the island's flag was adopted on the same date in 2004.

No. Emancipation Day on 1 July, marking the abolition of slavery in the Dutch colonies in 1863, is a public holiday on Sint Eustatius only. Bonaire's own days are Dia di Rincon and Dia di Boneiru, and the Simadan harvest festival in Rincon, which grew from the farming of families freed in 1863, falls on Easter Monday, already a holiday.

The island council meets in the morning, and the official programme follows with a uniformed parade, the raising of the flag, the anthem Tera di Solo y Suave Biento and speeches, with honorary citizens recognised. In 2026 the celebrations continued from noon at Plaza Reina Wilhelmina with music and food and closed shortly before midnight. The date, 6 September, recalls the arrival of Spain in 1499.

Under the rules published by the National Office for the Caribbean Netherlands, an employee must be paid for an official holiday that falls on a normal working day, even if the business is closed. The employer decides whether work goes ahead, and employees in irregular services outside normal office hours who work on the holiday are paid double. An employee who stays away when required to work is not paid.