Public holidays in Central African Republic

Fourteen, on the lists of Wikipedia and timeanddate. Nine keep a fixed date, three move with Easter, and two, Korité and Tabaski, follow the Islamic lunar calendar. Without the two Muslim feasts the count is 12 days off in 2026 and 11 in 2027, the year Easter Monday shares its date with Barthélemy Boganda Day. Three of the 2026 holidays land on a weekend, 29 March, 15 August and 1 November, and the sources on file give no rule for replacing a day lost that way. The busiest stretch of the year runs from Easter Monday to Whit Monday, with four holidays inside seven weeks.

A Catholic priest turned politician. In 1946 he was elected to the French National Assembly with 9,000 votes, the territory's first representative there, and in 1950 he founded MESAN, the Movement for the Social Evolution of Black Africa. From 1 December 1958 he led the autonomous republic as its first head of government. He died in a plane crash on 29 March 1959, the date of the holiday named after him.

On 13 August, for independence from France in 1960. Ubangi-Shari had been a French colony since 29 December 1903 and later a territory of French Equatorial Africa before it took the name Central African Republic. The 2026 date is a Thursday. The 2027 one is a Friday, giving three days off that end on Sunday 15 August, which is itself Assumption Day.

Twenty months. National Day, 1 December, recalls the 1958 proclamation of an autonomous republic inside the French Community, still counted as part of the French Empire; Independence Day, 13 August, recalls the break with France in 1960. Timeanddate files the December day under the name Republic Day.

A public holiday on 30 June set aside for prayer and tied to no denomination, which timeanddate lists as National Prayer Day. It sits in a calendar weighted toward Christian feasts: the 2003 census counted 51.4% of the population as Protestant and 28.9% as Roman Catholic, against 10% Muslim. Its weekday was Tuesday in 2026 and is Wednesday in 2027.

Yes, under the names Korité and Tabaski. Wikipedia and timeanddate both list them: Korité on 1 Shawwal, closing the Ramadan fast, and Tabaski on 10 Dhu al-Hijjah, the feast of the sacrifice. Their Gregorian dates move each year with the lunar calendar, and the holiday provider used here does not carry them, so neither appears among the 2026 and 2027 dates on this page.

In 2027 the two coincide on Monday 29 March, so one date carries both holidays and the year has 11 days off where 2026 has 12. No rule moving either holiday to another day appears in Wikipedia or timeanddate. The weekend still joins the Monday, giving three days from Saturday 27 March. In 2026 the two were eight days apart, Boganda Day on Sunday 29 March and Easter Monday on 6 April.

Four arrive without leave: Easter from Saturday 4 to Monday 6 April, Labour Day from Friday 1 May, Whitsun from Saturday 23 to Monday 25 May, and Christmas from Friday 25 to Sunday 27 December. One day of leave builds others. Friday 14 August links Independence Day on Thursday 13 August to the Assumption on the Saturday, and Monday 30 November joins the weekend to National Day.