Belize Public and Bank Holidays 2027: The Official List and the Five Moved to a Monday

Verified on 14 November 2026 on the Government of Belize Press Office’s public and bank holiday notices for 2027 and 2026, and on the Holidays Act, Chapter 289, and two holiday Orders as the Attorney General’s Ministry publishes them.

Belize’s 2027 public and bank holidays run from New Year’s Day on Friday 1 January to Boxing Day on Monday 27 December, in the list the Government of Belize Press Office notified on 30 October 2026. The notice says the days will be observed “in accordance with section 3 of the said Act”, the Holidays Act, Chapter 289. It lists fourteen days, and five of them carry the words In Lieu of: they are kept on a Monday instead of their calendar date (our count of the notice).

Four of the five Monday moves match a rule printed in the Holidays Act; the Labour Day move does not (our reading of section 3 against the notice, set out below).

Section 3: the Sunday rule and the three Monday holidays

The Act has two moving rules, both in section 3.

• Section 3(2): if a holiday in Schedule I or Schedule II falls on a Sunday, “the following Monday shall be observed as a public and bank holiday in substitution for Sunday”, unless the minister orders otherwise by Order published in the Gazette.
• Sections 3(3) and 3(4): three named holidays, “the ninth of March - (Baron Bliss Day)”, the twenty-fourth day of May (Sovereign’s Day) and the twelfth day of October (Columbus Day or Day of the Americas), are observed on the previous Monday when they fall on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, and on the following Monday when they fall on a Friday, again unless the minister orders otherwise.

Set against the 2027 calendar: 9 March 2027 and 12 October 2027 are Tuesdays (our calendar arithmetic), so section 3(3) puts them on the previous Mondays, 8 March and 11 October, which is where the notice puts them. 1 August 2027 and 26 December 2027 are Sundays (our calendar arithmetic), so section 3(2) puts them on the following Mondays, 2 August and 27 December, again as the notice does. The 1 August holiday comes from an Order made under section 9, and section 9 applies the Act to an appointed day “in the same manner as if the said day or part of such day had been mentioned in the said Schedule”.

Labour Day 2027 and the other Saturday holidays

1 May 2027 is a Saturday (our calendar arithmetic). Section 3(2), as the Attorney General’s Ministry prints it, moves a holiday that falls on a Sunday; the 2027 notice nevertheless moves Labour Day to Monday 3 May, In Lieu of 1 May, and names no provision other than section 3. The same notice keeps Christmas Day on its Saturday, 25 December. Besides Holy Saturday, the 2026 notice kept two fixed-date holidays that fell on a Saturday on that Saturday, with no day in lieu: Emancipation Day on Saturday 1 August and Boxing Day on Saturday 26 December. Holy Saturday is a Saturday every year; the Act’s Schedule I lists it as The day after Good Friday.

Where the notice and the Act’s printed text differ

The Act on the Attorney General’s Ministry site is the Revised Edition 2020; both Press Office notices cite the Revised Edition 2011. Its Schedule I lists thirteen public holidays and Schedule II the same thirteen as bank holidays (our count).

• The twenty-fourth day of May. The Act lists Sovereign’s Day in both Schedules and in section 3(4). Neither the 2026 nor the 2027 notice lists it.
• 12 October. Statutory Instrument No. 115 of 2021, gazetted on 6 October 2021, rewrote the 1 August paragraph of the Holidays (Appointment) Order so that 1 August is “Emancipation Day in substitution for the twelfth day of October (Columbus day or Day of the Americas)” in the Act’s First Schedule. The 2027 notice lists both Emancipation Day and, on Monday 11 October, Indigenous People’s Resistance Day In Lieu of 12 October.

None of the three instruments we read (the Act, its subsidiary-law volume and Statutory Instrument No. 115 of 2021) renames the 9 March, 10 September or 12 October holidays or removes Sovereign’s Day. The margin of Statutory Instrument No. 115 of 2021 also cites S.I. 65 of 2021, which we did not read.

The Orders behind 15 January and 1 August

Neither day is in the Act’s Schedules. The Holidays (Appointment) Order, made under section 9 in December 2020 and gazetted on 30 December 2020, appointed 15 January as George Price Day and the 1st day of August as Freedom Day, each “to be observed as a public and bank holiday throughout Belize”. Statutory Instrument No. 115 of 2021 renamed the 1 August holiday Emancipation Day. Garifuna Settlement Day, on Friday 19 November in the 2027 list, is in the Act itself; its history is on our Garifuna Settlement Day page.

What the Act closes on a holiday

• Banks. Section 5: the Schedule II days “shall be kept as close holidays in all banks in Belize”. The Act says nothing about cash machines; the Belize dollar is covered on Belize currency and ATMs.
• Public offices. Section 11(1): the public offices, including the summary jurisdiction courts, are open daily except on “Saturdays, Sundays, public or bank holidays”, during hours the minister directs; the same section lets the Minister make regulations excluding a public office or department from the Act.
• Business due that day. Section 4: an act required to be done by or before a judge, a court officer or a public officer on a public holiday may be lawfully done on the next day that is not a public holiday.

The end of 2026 sits under the 2026 notice, which puts Christmas Day on Friday 25 December and Boxing Day on Saturday 26 December. That month’s weather and dates are on Belize in December.

What the Press Office notices do not say

• The provision behind the 2027 Labour Day move to Monday 3 May; the notice cites section 3 only.
• Why Sovereign’s Day is not listed, in either the 2026 or the 2027 notice.
• Any event or programme. The notices list days and names only.

How we researched this

On 14 November 2026 we read the Press Office’s 2027 notice (dated 30 October 2026) and 2026 notice (dated 6 November 2025) on the Press Office site, and downloaded the Holidays Act, its subsidiary-law volume and Statutory Instrument No. 115 of 2021 from the Attorney General’s Ministry’s law library and extracted their text. Every day, date and name in the 2027 table is printed in the 2027 notice. The weekdays of the calendar dates the notice replaces in 2027 (9 March, 1 May, 1 August, 12 October and 26 December) are our calendar arithmetic, checked by computer; so are the counts of days.

Sources

• Government of Belize Press Office: Public and Bank Holidays 2027 (read 14 November 2026): every day, date and name in the 2027 list, the five In Lieu of entries, the 30 October 2026 date, the reference to section 3 and to the Revised Edition 2011
• Government of Belize Press Office: Public and Bank Holidays 2026 (read 14 November 2026): Emancipation Day on Saturday 1 August, Christmas Day on Friday 25 December and Boxing Day on Saturday 26 December, no Sovereign’s Day
• Attorney General’s Ministry: Holidays Act, Chapter 289, Revised Edition 2020 (read 14 November 2026): sections 3(2) to 3(4), 4, 5, 9 and 11(1), Schedules I and II, the as-at date
• Attorney General’s Ministry: Holidays Act, subsidiary laws, Holidays (Appointment) Order (read 14 November 2026): George Price Day and Freedom Day, gazetted 30 December 2020
• Attorney General’s Ministry: Statutory Instrument No. 115 of 2021 (read 14 November 2026): Emancipation Day in substitution for 12 October, gazetted 6 October 2021, the S.I. 65 of 2021 margin note

Last verified: 2026-11-14

Researched and written by Estuardo Enriquez for belizetravelblog.com, an independent site with no connection to any airport, airline, tour operator or government body.