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Public Holidays in Belgium

There are 12 official Belgium holidays. Below is the list of Public Holidays for 2009. To avoid surprises it is essential to know when those holidays take place since some shops, museums and attractions will be closed.

National and Regional holidays in 2011
1 January (Saturday)New Year's DayNational
25 April (Monday)Easter MondayNational
1 May (Sunday)May DayNational
8 May (Sunday)Fête de l'iris (Brussels Region Day)Municipal/Government
2 June (Thursday)Ascension DayNational
3 June (Friday)Ascension FridayBanks
13 June (Monday)Whit MondayNational
11 July (Monday)Flemish Community DayRegional/Government
21 July (Thursday)National DayNational
15 August (Monday)Assumption DayNational
27 September (Tuesday)French Community DayRegional/Government
1 November (Tuesday)All Saints' DayNational
2 November (Wednesday)All Souls' DayGovernment
11 November (Friday)Armistice DayNational
15 November (Tuesday)Government
25 December (Sunday)Christmas DayNational
26 December (Monday)Second Day of ChristmasGovernment

Note *Observed by the respective communities.


An important, although not an official, public holiday takes place on December 6th. Sort of an early Christmas, Sinterklaasdag in Dutch or la Saint-Nicolas in French (English: Saint Nicholas) is especially loved by children in Belgium and the Netherlands.

On December 5th before going to bed, kids put their shoes with some water or wine and a carrot by the fire place. If the children were well behaved during the year they can expect gifts from St. Nicholas - who comes at night and travels down their chimney.

St. Nicolas gets the wine or water and his horse the carrot :-)

Public Holidays to Practical Information



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