Site Map

Contact

Search

Home

Bhutan

Home
Q++ Studio
World Holidays

Downloads
References

About Us
Subscribe
Site Map
Contact
Search
News
Blog
FAQ

Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for Bhutan

The list of Bhutan bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2009, 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 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

 © 1989-2009 Alter Ego Services

29 Oct 2009 (Royal Civil Service Commission of Bhutan-Thimphu) The Government of Bhutan has finally, officially, confirmed the change of date of the upcoming Coronation Day of Druk Gyalpo public holiday. • 16 Sep 2009 (Kuensel Newspaper-Thimphu) Bhutan's Home Minister, Lyonpo Minjur Dorji, has announced that Bhutan's Cabinet had approved the home ministry’s recommendation to reinstate the Thrue Bab (Blessed Rainy Day) national public holiday. • 30 Aug 2009 (Xinhua-Kathmandu) The dates of Wednesday and Thursday, April 28-29, 2010, have been confirmed for the 16th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit to be held in the Bhutanese capital, Thimphu. • 29 Jul 2009 (Bhutan Ministry of Health-Thimphu) Bhutan's Minister of Health, Lyonpo Zangley Dukpa, has called for a return to an annual public holiday on the Buddhist festival of Nyenpa Guzon. • 20 Jul 2009 (Royal Civil Service Commission of Bhutan-Thimphu) A circular from Bhutan's Home Ministry has announced that the Coronation Day of Druk Gyalpo Jigme Khesar public holiday will be observed, starting in 2009, on November 1st, rather than November 6, as had been previously announced. • 06 Jun 2009 (Kuensel Newspaper-Thimphu) Bhutan's chief election commissioner, Dasho Kunzang Wangdi, has announced that the local government elections, scheduled for December 2008, but postponed, would be held in early October 2009. • 21 May 2009 (Kuensel Newspaper-Thimphu) Bhutan prime minister, Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley, has announced that Bhutan would host the 2010 SAARC Summit, tentatively scheduled for April 28 and 29, 2010. • 19 Jan 2009 (Kuensel-Thimphu) Earlier today, Bhutan's home minister, Lyonpo Minjur Dorji, announced that the holiday of Thrue bab (blessed rainy day) will be restored as a public holiday. • 23 Dec 2008 (Government of Bhutan-Thimpu) The Government of Bhutan has released its official list of public holidays for the year 2009. • 04 Nov 2008 (Royal Civil Service Commission of Bhutan-Thimpu) The government of Bhutan has finally confirmed that the period from Thursday, November 6, to Wednesday, November 12, 2008, will be public holidays on the occasion of the coronation of the Fifth Druk Gyalpo and Centenary Celebrations. • 03 Jan 2007 (Bhutan Broadcasting Service-Thimpu) The Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs has announced important changes in the list of public holidays in Bhutan, effective immediately. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the Bhutan 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: Official public holidays in Bhutan are regulated by article 5.22 of the "Rules and Regulations on Employment of Bhutanese Nationals in the Private Sector" and section 108 of the Labour and Employment Act of Bhutan 2007, which stipulates that employees are entitled to a minimum of 9 public holidays each year, inclusive of the birth anniversary of His Majesty the King and the National Day in addition to the normal days of rest. The specific dates of public holidays are confirmed yearly by decree. • Workweek: Government employees work five days a week, from 9am to 5pm in the summer, and 9am to 4pm in the winter. The private sector works 5 and a half to 6 days a week. • The Dasain ceremony, which symbolises the victory of good over evil, was declared a national holiday in Bhutan by His Majesty the King in 1980. • Two wonderfully named holidays, the Blessed Rainy Day (Thrue) and the day of the Meeting of Nine Evils (Ngenpa Guzom) are no longer public holidays as of 2007. • Thimphu Tshechu is a public holiday in Thimphu only. • Constitution Day: The full, official name for this public holiday is The signing and the endorsement of the Draft Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan. • Bhutan International Codes BT and BTN (2 and 3-letter ISO3166 codes) and .bt (ICANN national top-level internet domain). • Other Sources of Information The following specialized websites are also a good source of Bhutan information and news: Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan (Bhutan central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (Bhutan maps, demographics and economic statistics), the IFES (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and voter participation in Bhutan), and Wikipedia (includes Bhutan commemorative dates that are not necessarily public holidays).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in Bhutan, 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.

Religious Holidays : Public holidays in Bhutan 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.

Solar Holidays : The calculation of moon phases, moonrises, moonsets, equinoxes, solstices, sunrises, and sunsets used to predict solar bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Bhutan are based on the geographical location of Thimphu (latitude 27,5°N, longitude 89,8°E, GMT+5,5 hours, no summer time rules). Note that many countries in South-East Asia are progressively changing the recurrence rule of some of their lunar/solar holidays to rules based on fixed dates of the Western (Gregorian) calendar. Therefore, while the dates predicted above for 2010 and beyond are currently technically correct, the rules of these holidays may change in the next few years. For more details on lunar and solar holidays, see the Lunisolar Footnotes.

Lunisolar Holidays : The calculation of moon phases, moonrises, moonsets, sunrises, and sunsets used to predict lunar bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Bhutan are based on the geographical location of Thimphu (latitude 27,5°N, longitude 89,8°E, GMT+5,5 hours, no summer time rules). Note that many countries in South-East Asia are progressively changing the recurrence rule of some of their lunar/solar holidays to rules based on fixed dates of the Western (Gregorian) calendar. Therefore, while the dates predicted above for 2010 and beyond are currently technically correct, the rules of these holidays may change in the next few years. For more details on lunar and solar holidays, see the Lunisolar Footnotes.

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 2009 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Bhutan, 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 Bhutan, before planning any trip to Bhutan. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.