Date | Festival | Notes |
---|---|---|
1 January | New Year’s Day | The celebrations can last for a week or even a month in some areas. In Fiji, it is customary to beat drums and throw water on each other. Fireworks and an annual street festival welcome the New Year in the heart of Suva, the country’s capital. It is one of the biggest New Year celebrations in the South Pacific. |
February/March | Holi | Hindu “festival of colours” (not a holiday). |
March/April | Ram Naumi | Hindu celebration of the birth of Lord Rama (not a holiday). |
March/April | Easter | Major Christian holiday; Friday (Good Friday) and Sunday (Easter Sunday) are both official holidays. There is also a public holiday on Easter Monday, the Monday after Easter Sunday. |
March/April | Palm Sunday | Also celebrated by Fijian Methodists as Children’s Sunday (it is not a public holiday). |
May | Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna Day | The celebrations in honour of Fiji’s first modern state actually began a week earlier. They are almost always celebrated on a Friday. It used to be a public holiday, but the military-backed interim government abolished it after the military coup in 2006. |
4 May | National Youth Day | A holiday celebrating the youth of Fiji. |
15 June | Birthday of the Queen | Official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, the former Queen of Fiji, who is still recognised by the chiefs as Tui Viti or Supreme Head of Fiji. |
In the first half of the year and based on the Islamic and lunar calendar | Eid al-Fitr | Muslim holiday celebrated after Ramadhan. The holiday is not the actual day of the festival due to the unpredictability of the appearance of the moons that mark the day. |
August | Bula Festival | Celebrated in Nadi |
August | Carnival/Hisbiscus Festival | Celebrated in Suva |
September | Eid | Celebrated in Lautoka |
September | Friendly North Festival | Celebrated in Labasa |
September | Coral Coast Festival | Celebrated in Sigatoka |
10 October | Fiji Day | The anniversary of Fiji’s cession to the United Kingdom in 1874 and the attainment of independence in 1970. The week leading up to Fiji Day is called Fiji Week, a week of religious and cultural ceremonies celebrating the country’s diversity. |
October/November | Diwali | Hindu “festival of lights” in honour of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. The folk festival is a day of colour and celebration among all races and creeds in Fiji, not in the religious sense, but for its festive and cultural aspects. Hindus in Fiji usually open their homes to other families to share the sweets and traditional foods of Diwali in Fiji. |
6 November | Music | BlueSky Fiji “Music Festival” charters a tropical island for an international music festival. |
Boxing Day | Boxing Day | Boxing Day. |
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