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Public holidays in Cuba
Date |
English Name |
Local Name |
Remarks |
January 1 |
Liberation Day |
Triunfo de la Revolución |
The day of the victory of the Revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1959 – after Fulgencio Batista fled the night before – which established the government in Cuba that reigns to this day. |
May 1 |
Labor Day |
Día de los trabajadores |
International Labour Day |
July 26 |
Commemoration of the Assault of the Moncada garrison |
Asalto al cuartel Moncada |
The date after which the revolutionary movement (M 26-7) was named. In the morning of July 26, 1953, some 160 men under the command of Fidel Castro attacked the Moncada army garrison in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba's second-largest city. Although this action crushingly failed, it is seen as the beginning of the Castro-led insurrection that expelled Fulgencio Batista. There are normally two or three days public holiday together. |
10 October |
Independence Day |
Día de la Independencia |
This day in 1868, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, "Father of the Homeland", gave freedom to his slaves and started the independence war against the Spanish colonial power, which led to the Ten Years' War |
December 25 |
Christmas |
Navidad |
For decades Christmas was a normal working day in revolutionary Cuba. The Christmas celebration (and the corresponding holiday) was reinstalled in 1998 after Pope John Paul II visited Cuba. |