January 01st – New Year:

New Year is the day on which the beginning of the new year is celebrated.

February 25th – Day of the Revolution:

On February 25, 1980, a coup takes place in Suriname. Desi Bouterse and Roy Horb together with 14 fellow sergeants – the Group of 16 – seize power.

March 20th – Holi:

The Holifeest, Holi-Phagwa or Phagwa, Phagawa, Phaguaa is a Hindu festival that is celebrated around the month of March each year and is in fact a combination of a spring festival, a celebration of the victory of good on evil and a New Year’s Eve party. According to the Gregorian calendar, it is celebrated in the spring and in the Hindu calendar on the day after the full moon of the month. This month is also called this festival, Phagua / Phagwa.

April 19th – Good Friday:

Good Friday is the Friday before Easter. On this day Christians commemorate the crucifixion and death of Jesus on the hill of Golgotha near the city of Jerusalem.

April 21st – 1st Easter:

Easter is the most important Christian feast in the liturgical year, following the Good Week. Christians celebrate this day from their belief that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion.

April 22nd – 2nd Easter:

Easter Monday is the day after Easter Sunday and is a day off in a large number of mainly Christian countries.

May 01st – Labor Day:

Labor Day is a public holiday of the socialist and communist workers’ movement. The day will take place in the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname on 1 May each year.

June 04th – Ied-Ul-Fitr:

The Sugar Festival or the Little Feast (Arabic: عيد الفطر, `id-al-fitr) is an Islamic feast on which the end of the month of Ramadan is celebrated. The Arabic id-ul-fitr means “feast day on the occasion of breaking (of fasting)”.

July 1st – Day of Freedom:

Keti-koti or Keti Koti is an annual holiday that celebrates the abolition of slavery. The name comes from the Sranantongo and means Chain Broken. On 1 July 1863 the Netherlands abolished slavery in Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles.

More than 45,000 slaves originally imported from Africa were released, 34,441 slaves from Suriname. Since then, the end of slavery is celebrated every year on this day. In spite of the fact that slave owners were indemnified for each slave with 300 guilders, while the slaves released were not given anything themselves and the heavy work on the plantations had to continue to do so on a contractual basis for another ten years.

In Suriname this day is officially called Day of Freedom, but the holiday is also called informal chain cutting. It is a feast for all residents and not only for the descendants of the slaves.

August 09th – Day of the Natives:

The Day of the Natives, also called Ingi Dei, is an official day off in Suriname and falls on August 9th. The day symbolizes respect for and recognition of the indigenous people of Suriname.

August 11th – Ied-Ul-Adha (subject to change):

The Feast of Sacrifice, Slaughter Feast or the Great Feast (Arabic: عيد الأضحى, Id al-Adha) is the second Id feast in Islam. It is celebrated in memory of the prophet Ibrahim, who was willing to sacrifice his son on behalf of God.

October 10th – Day of the Maroons:

Maroons, also known as Businenge or Bosnegers, have fled West African slaves who started living in tribes in the jungles of South America, and their descendants.

October 27th – Divali:

Divali, also called Deepavali, Diwali or Deevali is one of the most important festivals in Hinduism and has its origins in India. The word is derived from the Sanskrit dipavali, which means a row of lights. The oil lamps, Dipa, traditionally a clay baking lamp, Diya or Dia, with cotton wick and clarified butter (ghee). During the party, the house and the heirs will light up slightly. Divali, also known as the Festival of Lights, is symbolically referred to as “the victory of good over evil, the victory of light over darkness, the victory of bliss over ignorance.”

Celebrating this party is accompanied by consuming sweet food. In India, fireworks are also lit up. Divali is a joyous celebration and is often celebrated as a family. It is a feast for everyone, for young and old, man and woman, rich and poor. Divali is celebrated to welcome the light in life. Light is always associated with success and hope. In Suriname it is from 2010 a National Day. Also for a week the Suriname Dia is lit on the independence square in Paramaribo.

November 25th – Independence day:

By independent means that a country or state is wholly sovereign over its territory, can decide independently about domestic and foreign policy and is not (or no longer) governed by another country.

December 25th – Christmas Day:

Christmas Day is the first day of the Christmas party. Christmas Day always takes place on December 25th.

December 26th – Christmas Day:

Boxing Day falls on 26 December and is the feast day following Christmas Day.