Next public holiday in Brazil: when it is and how many days to go

Brazil's national civil holidays sit in a handful of laws. Law 662 of 1949, as amended by Law 10,607 of 2002, makes 1 January, 21 April, 1 May, 7 September, 2 November, 15 November and 25 December national holidays. Law 6,802 of 1980 adds 12 October, the day of Our Lady of Aparecida, patron saint of Brazil. Law 14,759 of 2023 made 20 November, National Day of Zumbi and Black Consciousness, a national holiday; it has applied nationwide since 2024.

Good Friday rests on a different footing. Law 9,093 of 1995 says religious holidays are declared by municipal law, up to four per municipality, "Good Friday included". In practice the day is kept across the country and the Ministry of Management's yearly ordinance lists it among the national holidays, so it appears here as a holiday in every state. The same law lets each state set its data magna, the source of most state holidays.

Each state may declare its data magna by law, usually a founding, emancipation or independence date. That is how São Paulo has 9 July, Bahia 2 July and Rio Grande do Sul 20 September. Several states went further and created other holidays, religious or civic. The Federal Supreme Court has struck some of them down, holding that only the Union legislates on holidays beyond the data magna: Rondônia's Evangelical Day fell with ADI 3940 and Amapá's Saint James's Day with ADI 4820. Others remain in force and are applied by state governments and courts.

That is why every state holiday on this site comes with the law, decree or official calendar where we read it, with a link. When a date appears in lists online but we found no official text, it is left out of the count and the state's page explains why. All 2027 state holidays are gathered in a single table.

Municipalities may have up to four religious holidays, Good Friday included, plus the centenary of their founding. State capitals usually spend that allowance on their patron saint, Corpus Christi and dates of their own. We publish municipal holidays only for capitals whose law we read from an official source: Rio Branco, Maceió, Manaus, Fortaleza, Cuiabá, Campo Grande, Belo Horizonte, João Pessoa, Curitiba, Recife, Teresina, Natal, Porto Alegre, Porto Velho, Boa Vista, São Paulo, Aracaju, Palmas. For the others, the tool shows national and state holidays only and says the municipal law was not checked. For any other city, the reference is the municipal law or the city hall's calendar decree.

A ponto facultativo is not a public holiday. It is a day the government gives its own staff off, and the Ministry of Management's yearly ordinance sets them for federal bodies. For 2026, Ordinance MGI 11,460 of 2025 listed Carnival Monday and Tuesday, the morning of Ash Wednesday, 20 April, Corpus Christi and the day after, Public Servant's Day and the afternoons of 24 and 31 December. States and city halls publish their own lists. Private employers are bound by none of them.

The 2027 ordinance had not been published as of 28 October 2026. Until it is, the optional days off page shows the 2026 dates and the computed 2027 movable dates, without guessing what the ordinance will decide.

Fixed dates come from the law. Movable dates come from Easter, computed with Gauss's formula and checked against a second algorithm, by Meeus, Jones and Butcher, for every year from 1600 to 2600. Carnival Tuesday falls 47 days before Easter Sunday, Ash Wednesday 46 days before, Good Friday 2 days before and Corpus Christi 60 days after. Details are in the method.

Today's date is your device's: the next holiday and the day count are computed in your browser, at midnight in your time zone. That matters in a country with four time zones: when it is midnight in Brasília, it is still 10 pm in Rio Branco.

Few holidays are left in 2026: All Souls' Day on a Monday, Proclamation of the Republic Day on a Sunday, Black Consciousness Day and Christmas on Fridays. That is three long weekends in under two months. The full list is on public holidays 2026, and December's on undefined.

2028 looks better. Tiradentes Day and Good Friday fall on Fridays, and Labour Day, Black Consciousness Day and Christmas on Mondays. On the other hand, Independence Day, Aparecida and All Souls' Day fall on Thursdays, each with a bridge on the Friday. With ten days off, someone in São Paulo reaches 29 consecutive free days. Just pick 2028 in the long-weekend planner.