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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for Trinidad and Tobago

The list of Trinidad and Tobago bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2008, comes from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. Qualified professionals can license data for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

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03 Dec 2008 (Trinidad Express-Port of Spain) Government Minister Mariano Browne, who is the chairman of the Cabinet's oversight sub-committee for the Fifth Summit of the Americas, would not confirm plans for an April 17, 2009, one-off public holiday. • 25 Sep 2008 (Newsday-Port-of-Spain) The Government Information Service of Trinidad and Tobago announced that President George Maxwell Richards has announced October 1 as the date of the public holiday in celebration of Eid-ul-Fitr, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Holidays and Festivals Act. • 26 Aug 2008 (Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday) Asked about the much-rumoured September 8 public holiday to honor the 4x100m relay team's silver medal, Trinidad and Tobago's PM, Patrick Manning, said that while Cabinet was yet to decide on the best method by which to honour the achievement, he thought that the declaration of a one-off public holiday was "very unlikely". • 04 Oct 2007 (The Trinidad and Tobago Express) President George Maxwell Richards has declared Saturday, October 13, 2007, as the date for this year's public holiday in commemoration of Eid-ul-Fitr. • 02 Sep 2007 (Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday) One of the issues being considered by a Cabinet-appointed committee to look into issues affecting indigenous people, is the possibility of a public holiday for the Carib community next year. • 10 Aug 2007 (Travel Video Television News) The Trinidad and Tobago Hindu community has set the date for the observance of the Diwali public holiday (spelled Divali in Trinidad and Tobago) to Friday, November 9, 2007. • 30 Dec 2006 (Stabroek News) Trinidad and Tobago's Muslim community will observe Eid al Adha on December 31 (it is not one of the Trinidad and Tobago public holidays, although Eid al Fitr is). • 08 Sep 2006 (Trinidad and Tobago Express) Trinidad and Tobago's Cabinet has designated October 12, 2006, as an official day-off to commemorate the arrival of Chinese immigrants to Trinidad and Tobago some 200 years ago. • 15 Nov 2005 (ESPN + Reuters) Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, announced that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has declared Thursday, November 17, 2005, as a public holiday in celebration of Trinidad and Tobago's victory in the World Cup Football qualifying match against Bahrain. • 13 Oct 2005 (Office of the Prime Minister-Port of Spain) The Government of Trinidad and Tobago has announced that Friday, November 4, 2005, would be the date of the upcoming Eid ul-Fitr public holiday in Trinidad and Tobago. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the Trinidad and Tobago public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Governing Law: The list and dates of official public holidays in Trinidad and Tobago are regulated by The Public Holidays And Festivals Act, Chapter. 19:05 (An Act relating to Public Holidays and Festivals) of 1872 as most recently amended in 2003. • Weekend Public Holidays: When a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the holiday will be observed on the Monday immediately following. When two public holidays fall on the same day, the following day is also given as a public holiday. • Carnival: Most businesses are closed on Carnival Monday and Tuesday, even though these days are not public holidays. • Indian Arrival Day, celebrated on May 30th, commemorates the arrival of the first Indian indentured labourers from India to Trinidad, in May1845. While this event was celebrated among the Est Indian community in Trinidad and Tobago for many years, it was not until 1994 that it was made an official public holiday, when it was called Arrival Day. In 1995 it was re-named Indian Arrival Day . • Diwali is a public holiday since 1966. One of the highlights of the Diwali celebrations here is the staging of the nine-day Diwali Nagar, which attracts over 100,000 people every year. As the choice of the name Diwali (rather than Deepavali) suggests, the public holiday's date calculation in Trinidad and Tobago follows Norther Indian practice, aligning its date with that of India, rather than that of other countries such as Malaysia and Singapore, whose Indian emigrants came predominently from the Southern parts of India, and often celebrate Deepavali a day earlier. • March 30 was declared a public holiday in 1996, by former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday, in honour of Spiritual Shouter Baptist Liberation Day . • The Labour Day public holiday is celebrated, in Trinidad and Tobago, on June 19, rather than the usual May 1st, to commemorate the June 19th, 1937, revolt general strike . • One-Off Public Holidays: At the discretion of the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, any other date may also be declared a public holiday. • Other Sources of Information For information not covered here, see the following specialized websites: Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (Trinidad and Tobago central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (maps, demographic and economic statistics), Copp Clark (financial markets' trading hours, settlement holidays and currency non-clearing days), and the IFES Election Guide (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and past voter participation).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in Trinidad and Tobago, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world. Aft=Afternoon, Arm=Armenian, Bah=Bahai, Bnk=Banks and most financial institutions, Bud=Buddhist, Cat=Catholic, Chr=Christian, Cop=Coptic, Eve=Evening, Gov=Government services and civil servants, Hin=Hindu, Jew=Jewish, Lin=Linguistic or ethnic groups, Mor=Morning, Mun=Municipal, Mus=Muslim, Orth=Orthodox, Othr=Miscellaneous partial observances (usually described in the Additional Information section of this page), Prt=Protestant, Reg=Regional, Rel=Other Religion, Sch=Schools and universities, Sik=Sikh.

Religious Holidays : Public holidays in Trinidad and Tobago that are based on certain religious calendars may be subject to local variations due to differing interpretations between different religious authorities, or to seemingly arbitrary changes in the date a holiday is celebrated because it conflicts with another holiday that is based on another calendar, or because the day of the holiday is deemed inauspicious (bad luck). To find out more about these uncertainties, see the footnote below, if any, for each specific religion.

Muslim Holidays : Muslim bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Trinidad and Tobago were evaluated using the Umm al-Qura Calendar of Saudi Arabia which is used in Saudi Arabia and in most of the Persian Gulf States. Holidays may occur a day later in countries outside the Gulf region. The sunrises, sunsets, moon phases, moonrises and moonsets used in these calculations are based on the location of Mecca (latitude 21.42°N, longitude, 39.82°E, GMT+3 hours, no summer time rules). For more details on Muslim holidays, see Muslim Calendar Holidays. For Salat (prayer times) calculations, see our Freeware page.

Hindu Holidays : For Trinidad and Tobago, when calculating the date of bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays based on the Hindu Lunar calendar, if the date is expunged (ie. does not occur), then we use the following existing date of the Hindu Lunar calendar. Local practice concerning expunged days may vary regionally. For more details on the evaluation of Hindu holidays, see Hindu Calendar holidays.

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2008 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Trinidad and Tobago, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of Trinidad and Tobago, before planning any trip to Trinidad and Tobago. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.