Public holidays in Venezuela

The table below shows a list of the most notable holidays in Venezuela. Popular and public holidays are included in the list.

Date	Local Name	English Name	Remarks
January 1	Día de Año Nuevo	New Year's Day	Beginning of the Civil Year
January 6	Día de Reyes	Epiphany	Christian feast honoring the visit of the three Magi to Jesus. Also national Rugby Day Sports day
January 14	Día de la Divina Pastora	Feast of the Divina Pastora	Celebrates the Virgin Patroness of the State of Lara and its capital city of Barquisimeto, and also of the Venezuelan National Militia
January 15	Día del Maestro	Teacher's Day	Honors all teachers in public and private kindergartens and pre-schools, elementary, middle and high schools
February 12	Día de la Juventud	Youth Day	Commemorates the patriotic victory in the 1814 Battle of La Victoria led by rebel youth militias and patriots under Jose Felix Ribas
February 20	Dia de la Federacion	Federation Day	Marks the start of the 4 year long Federal War in 1859
Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday	Carnaval	Carnival	-
March 8	Dia Internacional de la Mujer	International Women's Day	-
From Palm Sunday to Easter (movable)	Semana Santa	Holy Week	Religious holiday marking the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
March 19	Día de San José	St Joseph's Day	In honor of Saint Joseph
March 21	Día del abolición de la esclavitud	Slavery Abolition Anniversary	Honors the 1854 decision of the Government of Venezuela to abolish all forms of slavery
March 28	Día Nacional del Patrimonio Cultural	National Cultural Patrimonies Day	In honor of the cultural legacies of the Venezuelan nation, new holiday established in 2014 (but not a public holiday)
March 31	Aniversario del fundacion del San Cristóbal	Foundation anniversary Day of San Cristóbal, Táchira	Honors the 1561 founding of the capital city of Táchira State, one of Venezuela's oldest cities
April 19	Diez y nueve de abril	Beginning of the Independence Movement, 19th April Day	Declaration of a local junta in Caracas on 19 April 1810, launching the road towards the First Republic of Venezuela and the start of the independence struggle, the first Junta in Latin America as a whole, and the achievement of home rule
May 1	Día del Trabajador	Labor Day
May 3	Día del Cruz del Mayo	Fiesta de las Cruces	Honors the Holy Cross of May in the states of Miranda and Aragua as its patrons
Second Sunday of May (movable)	Día de las Madres	Mother's Day	Honors all mothers
May 25	Día del Himno Nacional	National Anthem Day	Not a public holiday. Honors the Venezuelan National Anthem, Gloria al Bravo Pueblo, on the day of the 1881 presidential decree conferring its official status as the national anthem.
Third Sunday of June (movable)	Día de los Padres	Father's Day	Honors all fathers
June 24	Día de San Juan Bautista y aniversario de la Batalla de Carabobo	Solemnity of Saint John the Baptist, Battle of Carabobo	Honors both the birth of John the Baptist and the key 1821 battle in the Venezuelan War of Independence; tagged also as Army Day
June 27	Día del Periodista y aniversario de la instauración del Decreto de Instrucción pública gratuita y obligatoria	Journalists' Day and anniversary of the 1872 Public Education Decree	Celebrates all those in the journalism and public education sectors
July 5	Cinco de julio	Independence Day	Signing of the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence marking the birth of the first independent nation of South America, also Armed Forces Day
Third Sunday of July (movable)	Dia del niño	Children's Day	Honors all children
July 24	Natalicio del Libertador, Dia de la Armada Nacional	Birth of Simón Bolívar, Navy Day	This day honors the 1783 birth of Simon Bolivar, also tagged as Navy Day honoring the victory in the Battle of Lake Maracaibo of 1823.
July 25	Aniversario del fundacion del Caracas	Caracas City Foundation Day	Honors the 1567 foundation of the national capital
August 3	Día de la Bandera	Flag Day	Previously, in Venezuela the Flag Day was celebrated on March 12. In 2006, it was designated August 3 in honor of the disembarkment of Francisco de Miranda in La Vela de Coro, 1806.
August 4	Día de la Guardia Nacional	National Guard Day	Celebrates the 1937 founding of the Venezuelan National Guard, not a public holiday
September 8	Día del Virgen del Valle, aparicion del Virgen del Coromoto	Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary and feasts of the Virgen del Valle and Our Lady of Coromoto	Honors the birth of Mary, the Blessed Virgin, and who, as Our Lady of Coromoto, whose picture was first seen on this day in 1562 after a second apparition, is since 1942, Patroness of Venezuela. Also the feast of the Patroness of the Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela, the Virgin of the Valley (Virgen del Valle), venerated and honored in the state of Nueva Esparta.
September 24	Día del Virgen de las Mercedes	Feast of the Our Lady of Mercy	Celebrated in selected townships in Venezuela where the Lady of Mercy is Patroness
October 12	Día de la Resistencia Indígena	Day of Indigenous Resistance	Previously, in Venezuela the holiday was called Día de la Raza, commemorating the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas. Now honors the heroes of the anti-Spanish resistance of the indigenous peoples of Venezuela, also feast of Our Lady of the Pillar
November 1	Día de Todos los Santos	All Saints' Day	-
November 2	Día de los fieles difuntos	All Souls' Day	-
November 17 to November 19	Feria de la Chinita	Feria of La Chinita	Only in the state of Zulia; celebrating the miracle of Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá.
November 21	Día del estudiante universitario	University Students Day	Celebrated in all colleges and universities honoring the day of the 1957 student demonstrations against General Marcos Perez Jimenez
December 8	Inmaculada Concepción, Dia de la Lealtad	Immaculate Conception, Loyalty Day	Catholic holiday celebrating the preservance of Mary, the mother of Jesus from the original sin by the Grace of God. From 2013, it's also Loyalty Day in honor of Hugo Chávez's final address to the nation on that day in 2012.
December 10	Día de la Aviacion Militar	Venezuelan Air Force Day	Air Force Day honoring the founding of the Venezuelan Air Force and its Air Force Academy in Maracay on this day in 1920, not a public holiday
December 17	Aniversario de la muerte de Libertador Simon Bolivar	Simon Bolivar Memorial Day	Honoring Simon Bolivar's demise on this day in 1830. As the nation's liberator died that day, the Flag of Venezuela is flown half mast nationwide in his honor and a moment of silence observed in commemorative events held that very day in honor of his untimely death.
December 24	Nochebuena	Christmas Eve	The eve of the birth of Jesus (Divino Niño).
December 25	Navidad	Christmas	The day of the birth of Jesus (Divino Niño), commemorated by all Venezuelans.
December 31	Nochevieja	New Year's Eve	Final day of the Civil Year, celebrated by all Venezuelans nationwide.