Gambia Public Holidays
Discover upcoming public holiday dates for Gambia and start planning to make the most of your time off.
The Islamic Republic of The Gambia, otherwise known as The Gambia or Gambia, currently celebrates 15 national holidays each year.
Under the new Constitution that was established in 1997 after the Gambian government was overthrown in 1994, the President of The Gambia has the exclusive rights to establish reoccurring and one-time national holidays under Section 76, 1 Subsection. This law removes all authorities of the previous Labour Laws on 1990 that established national holidays and the labour laws surrounding payment for these days.
The 2007 Labor Laws of Gambia re-established paid holidays for all nationally recognised holidays. In Section 9, Subsection 73, the law provides that all employees are entitled to receive paid non-working national holidays. This law allows the employer to either pay the employee at a premium for working on the holiday or receive a paid day off in lieu of the holiday if their position requires them to work on a national holiday.
A majority of the holidays celebrated in Gambia are based on religious beliefs. Many of these holidays are celebrated based on a lunar cycle and their celebration dates can change each year. The government of Gambia requires all employers to acknowledge these holidays, regardless of what day they appear each year. Muslim holidays that are based on the lunar cycle use the Umm al-Qura calendar of Saudi Araba to determine these dates.
It should be noted that it is not unusual for the President of Gambia to declare one-time national holidays with very short notice. It is also very common for the government to extend the celebration time for some of the national holidays.
In many previous years, the end of Ramadan and the Feast of Sacrifice holidays were extended by one or two days. The President will publish a national decree when additional holidays are granted during the year.