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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for Swaziland

The list of Swaziland 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

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29 Aug 2009 (Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland-Mbabane) Swaziland's Foreign Ministry has confirmed that the upcoming Umhlanga (Reed Dance) public holiday would occur on Monday, August 31, 2009. • 15 Aug 2009 (The Times of Swaziland-Nhlangano) Swaziland's Education Minister, Wilson Ntshangase, has indicated in a recent announcement that the upcoming reed dance would be staged at the end of August. • 29 Jul 2009 (The Times of Swaziland-Mbabane) Swaziland's Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Macford Sibandze, has announced that the upcoming Umhlanga (Reed Dance) public holiday would be on Monday, August 31, 2009. • 26 Mar 2009 (The Swazi Observer-Mbabane) Swaziland's Minister of Home Affairs, Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze, announced that Monday, April 20, 2009, had been declared a one-off public holiday due to the fact that this year's King’s Birthday public holiday (April 19) falls on a Sunday. • 13 Dec 2008 (Swazi Observer-Mbabane) Swaziland's Principal Secretary of Home Affairs, Meshack Shongwe, announced last night that the upcoming Incwala (aka. First Fruits) public holiday would be observed on Monday, December 15, 2008. • 15 Aug 2008 (The Times of Swaziland-Mbabane) Prince Gabheni, in an interview yesterday, announced that the 2008 Umhlanga (Reed Dance) ceremony would occur on August 31 and September 1, 2008, with the second day, being the official Umhlanga public holiday. • 30 Jul 2008 (Times of Swaziland-Lobamba) At a press conference, earlier today, Swaziland's Elections and Boundaries Commission Chairman, Chief Gija, announced that Friday, September 19, 2008, will be a public holiday on the occasion of the the Secondary General Elections. • 26 Dec 2007 (The Times) Swaziland's Minister of Home Affairs, Prince Gabheni, has officially announced that the public holiday corresponding to the Incwala, would be on Friday, December 28, 2007. • 22 Dec 2007 (The Swazi Observer) Swaziland's Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Meshack Shongwe, said that the date of the upcoming Incwala public holiday had not been made, adding that such a decision was made by Labadzala who understand the customary signs, which prelude the Incwala Dance. • 28 Aug 2007 (IOL) It would appear that this year's Umhlanga, or Reed Dance, Ceremony will take place on Saturday and Sunday, September 1 and 2, 2007. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the Swaziland public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Weekend Public Holidays: There are isolated reports that when a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the gazette states that the following day shall be deemed a public holiday. However, we have not been able to obtain independent, official, confirmation of this. In any case, there seems to be a consensus that public holidays that fall on a Saturday do not get moved. • The Umhlanga (Reed Dance) is one of the 2 important ceremonies in Swazi culture. In the Umhlanga the main role players are the girls and the women. There are two Reed Dance ceremonies in the year - one is mainly for the girls (Tingabisa) and the other is mainly for the women (Lutsango). The main Reed Dance (the one for the girls) takes place in late August or early September during school holidays. The second, and last, day of the ceremony is declared the main day and a public holiday. However, its date is only announced shortly before it takes place. • The other important ceremony of Swazi culture is the Incwala. It is interesting to note that the name Incwala, which corresponds to first fruits, was used by Maulana Ron Karenga, in a slightly different spelling (and adding a second "a" for numerological reasons), when he initiated the African-American holiday of Kwanzaa, in 1966 . • Photography and Video Recordings: The Cinematograph Act, 1920 prohibits films to be made of certain Swazi cultural occasions and celebrations namely the Incwala Day, the King’s Birthday, the Umhlanga (Reed Dance) and the Somhlolo (Independence Day) without the Minister’s written consent. • Swaziland International Codes SZ and SWZ (2 and 3-letter ISO3166 codes) and .sz (ICANN national top-level internet domain). • Other Sources of Information The following specialized websites are also a good source of Swaziland information and news: The Central Bank of Swaziland (Swaziland central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (Swaziland maps, demographics and economic statistics), the IFES (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and voter participation in Swaziland), and Wikipedia (includes Swaziland commemorative dates that are not necessarily public holidays).

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

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 Swaziland, 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 Swaziland, before planning any trip to Swaziland. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.