Public holidays in Chile
This is a list of public holidays in Chile; about half of them are Christian holidays.
Dates for the year 2026
History
On January 28, 1915, President Ramón Barros Luco promulgated Law 2,977, which organized all available information regarding holidays celebrated in Chile. It established or retained the following holidays:- Sundays year-round.
- January 1, June 29, August 15, December 8, December 25, and the movable holidays of the Ascension of Jesus Christ and Corpus Christi.
- Fridays and Saturdays during Holy Week.
- September 18, Establishment of the First Government Junta in 1810.
- September 19 and May 21, in celebration of the achievements of the Army and the Navy.
- The day of election of electors of the President of the Republic.
On November 14, 1921, President Arturo Alessandri Palma promulgated Law 3,810, designating October 12 as a holiday. On April 30, 1931, President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo promulgated the Decree Enforceable as Law 130, marking May 1 as a holiday.
In 1932, Provisional President Bartolomé Blanche reinstated the September 20 holiday, which remained in effect until 1944. In 1968, the holidays of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Ascension of Jesus Christ, and Corpus Christi were eliminated by Article 144 of Law 16,840. The Catholic Church agreed to celebrate them on the nearest Sunday. September 11 was established as a holiday by the military regime in 1981. In 1998, it was replaced by the Día de la Unidad Nacional, observed on the first Monday in September. In March 2002, the latter was abolished. The holiday on June 29 was reinstated in September 1985. In 1987, during a visit by Pope John Paul II, Corpus Christi was reinstated.
On March 10, 2000, Law 19,668 moved the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Columbus Day, and Corpus Christi holidays to the preceding Monday if they fell on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, or to the following Monday if they fell on a Friday. Additionally, the designation of Columbus Day was changed from Aniversario del Descubrimiento de América to Día del Descubrimiento de Dos Mundos, which was an obvious adaptation of the then-recent ubiquitous Encuentro de dos mundos slogan.
On January 6, 2007, Law 20,148 replaced Corpus Christi with Our Lady of Mount Carmel, to be observed on July 16, starting that year. On September 14, 2007, Law 20,215. declared holidays for all September 17s falling on a Monday and all September 20s falling on a Friday. On October 11, 2008, Law 20,299 established Reformation Day on October 31 as a national holiday, starting that year. This holiday is moved to the preceding Friday if it falls on a Tuesday or to the following Friday if it falls on a Wednesday. On April 30, 2013, Law 20,663 established the regional Battle of Arica holiday, to be observed only in the Arica and Parinacota region. On December 30, 2016, Law 20,983 declared as holidays those days that are Monday, January 2, or Friday, September 17. On June 19, 2021, Law 21,357 declared the Winter Solstice as a holiday, honoring Chile's aboriginal peoples.
In addition to yearly holidays, presidential elections have been declared holidays since 1901, as mandated by successive versions of the General Elections law. Since the late 20th century, parliamentary and municipal elections are also public holidays. Censuses, held every ten years, have been declared holidays since 1982; that year's census and 1992's were so due to ad-hoc laws; censuses taken from 1992 onwards are declared holidays due to a reform in the Census law.