Singapore will have a total of eleven 11 national public holidays in For other special days celebrated but not officially gazetted, see Other Important Dates and Chinese Calendar for Chinese customary festivals links in the menu.
This year, two 2 public holidays fall on Sundays. The offical rest day of the week is Sunday [1]. This is the first day of the year, and as with most other countries in the world which have adopted the Gregorian calendar, Singapore welcomes this day with a public rest day. Gregorian year coincides mainly with the year of the Monkey in the Chinese zodiac.
The year before would be a Goat year, and the following year will be the year of the Rooster. The associated heavenly element one of five for the Chinese year coinciding mainly with Gregorian year is the Fire element in the Yang form. Good Friday is the day Christians commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Labour Day is also commonly known as May Day in Singapore because it is commemorated in on the 1st day of the month of May.
This is a gazetted holiday in recognition of workers' contribution to the progress and prosperity of Singapore. Vesak Day or Wesak as it is knowned in some other countries such as Malaysia is a gazetted public holiday in multi-religious Singapore. It is held to honour the willingness of the prophet Ibrahim Abraham to sacrifice his young son Ismail Ishmael in submission to Allah God. Singapore, with a substantial percentage of the population being of the Christian and Catholic faiths, celebrates this important day as a gazetted national holiday.
With an increasing trend of commercialization of this religiously significant season, many Singaporeans known for their love of shopping , Christians and non-Christians alike, look forward to the December period for its retail sales bonanza as well. In the run-up to Christmas day itself, the Singapore tourism promotion board and retail stakeholders spare no effort to decorate and light up the well-known shopping belt Orchard Road.
