Festivals & Holidays in Fiji

Australia and OceaniaFijiFestivals & Holidays in Fiji

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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