Public holidays in Gibraltar

Twelve bank and public holidays on the government's list, all on weekdays. Boxing Day falls on Saturday 26 December 2026, so it is kept on Monday 28 December in lieu. The list mixes church feasts, Monday bank holidays such as the Winter Midterm Bank Holiday on 16 February and the King's Birthday on 15 June, and two days particular to Gibraltar, Workers' Memorial Day on 28 April and National Day on 10 September.

The anniversary of the sovereignty referendum held on 10 September 1967, in which Gibraltarian voters were asked whether to pass under Spanish sovereignty or stay under British sovereignty with their own institutions of self-government. The first National Day was a rally in John Mackintosh Square on 10 September 1992, the 25th anniversary, and the government declared the date a public holiday after it. The day brings a children's fancy dress competition, a street party, the reading of the National Day Declaration from the City Hall balcony and fireworks from the Detached Mole. For years it also brought the release of 30,000 red and white balloons, representing the population.

They are the colours of the Gibraltar flag: a red castle on white above a red band, with a gold key hanging from the castle gate. On National Day most Gibraltarians dress in them, and many homes and offices hang the flag from windows and balconies. The balloons once released over the city came in the same two colours.

A day off on 28 April remembering workers killed, disabled, injured or made ill by their work. The date goes back to 1989, when the American union federation AFL-CIO declared it, and the International Labour Organization has recognised it since 2001 as the World Day for Safety and Health at Work. Gibraltar recognises it as a national day and keeps it as a bank and public holiday. The 2027 date is a Wednesday.

In daily use none, but in law they differ. Bank holidays are fixed by statute and are the days banks and many other businesses close: Easter Monday, the Spring and Late Summer Bank Holidays and Boxing Day. Public holidays rest on custom and practice; Good Friday and Christmas Day are traditional common law holidays. New Year's Day is a third case, proclaimed by the Crown.

The statute puts the bank holiday on 26 December only if that day is not a Saturday or a Sunday, so a weekend Boxing Day moves. In 2020, and again in 2026, 26 December is a Saturday and the holiday is kept on Monday 28 December. In 2027 Christmas Day is a Saturday and Boxing Day a Sunday, and the days off are Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 December. New Year's Day works differently: it is currently not proclaimed at all when 1 January falls at a weekend.

Good Friday falls on 26 March 2027 and Easter Monday on 29 March, giving four days off from Friday to Monday. In 2026 the same four days ran from 3 to 6 April. Good Friday is a common law holiday and Easter Monday a statutory bank holiday, and Easter Sunday itself is not on the list.

Easter gives four days, Friday 3 April to Monday 6 April, and Christmas another four, Friday 25 to Monday 28 December. The Winter Midterm Bank Holiday on Monday 16 February, May Day on Friday 1 May, the Spring Bank Holiday on Monday 25 May, the King's Birthday on Monday 15 June and the Late Summer Bank Holiday on Monday 31 August each make three. Single days of leave stretch others: Monday 27 April joins the weekend to Workers' Memorial Day, and Friday 11 September follows National Day.

It was replaced. Whit Monday moved with the date of Easter, and after a trial from 1965 to 1970 the last Monday in May became a statutory bank holiday in 1971 in its place. The same change moved the August holiday from the first Monday of the month to the last.