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What are the current Indonesian holidays and associated dates for 2017 and for the next five years?
Hi there, thanks for asking Wonder about the current Indonesian holidays and associated dates for 2017 and the next five years.
The short answer is that Indonesia has many public holidays that are centered around religious festivals, from Islamic holidays, to Christian Good Friday and Christmas, to Chinese New Year, Buddhism and Hinduism festivities as well as Independence Day and joint public holidays which are declared by the government of Indonesia and are called “Cuti Bersama”. However, the actual dates for these public holidays vary year to year because of the lunar years of Islam and the Chinese, and this would also impact which dates would occur for Cuti Bersama. As some of Indonesian public holidays are based on the lunar calendars, the dates vary and may be subject to changes later on.
As a side note, I am currently located in a neighboring country with similar language and culture, Malaysia, and as such, I find this request quite interesting and easy to digest as Malaysia has similar public holidays which center around the same festivities.
Below is a list of dates of Indonesian public holidays which we have put into a spreadsheet from 2017 and for the next five years, up to 2022.
METHODOLOGY
My colleague started her search for public holidays in Indonesia for 2017 and worked her way for the next five years, 2018 -2022. Based on the list of public holidays found for 2017, she then searched for the remaining five years’ holidays.
However, for the latter years, from 2020 onwards, some of the lunar based festivities are not available on the Indonesian calendars. Hence, we have used Islamic and Chinese based calendars to complete the later years by using When-Is.
We also conducted searches on the background of each holiday, in order to understand its meaning to the local population.
The most useful source we found is from an Indonesian website, PublicHolidays, as the locals would have a better understanding of their cultures, festivities and holidays.
INDONESIAN PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
As listed by PublicHolidays, the following are the public holidays in Indonesia, which each having a separate date:
"New Year Holiday
Chinese New Year
Bali Hindu New Year (also known as "Hari Raya Nyepi" or "Holi" by Hindus)
Good Friday
Easter Sunday
Voting Day
*Isra Mi'raj (Islamic holiday)
Labour Day
Waisak Day (Buddhist holiday)
Ascension Day of Jesus Christ
Pancasila Day
Lebaran Holiday (Cuti Bersama)
Hari Raya Eid Al-Fitri (Islamic holiday)
Lebaran Holiday (Cuti Bersama)
Independence Day
Eid Al-Adha (Islamic holiday)
Islamic New Year (Islamic holiday)
Prophet Muhammad's Birthday (Islamic holiday)
Christmas Day
Christmas Holiday"
GEOPOLITICAL ASPECTS OF INDONESIAN PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
In addition to the above holidays, the Indonesian government also declares “Cuti Bersama” which are additional public holidays for government staff. The private sector also follows this and adjust their annual leave calendars to be in line with the government declared holidays.
It should be noted that each year the dates of the Cuti Bersama are different, as the dates are adjusted to be in line with the Islamic festivities of Eid Al-Fitri. The PublicHolidays website has named this "Lebaran Holiday" but it is also known as "Cuti Bersama" which is the term used by the Indonesian government.
Non-religious holidays are Independence Day, to mark the independence of Indonesia from the Dutch's colonial rule and the Pancasila Day (similar to a National Day), where the five principles of Indonesia are constituted and declared a holiday.
CUSTOM VS OFFICIAL HOLIDAYS
All of the holidays listed above are based on official holidays. As Indonesia is a multi-religious country, she celebrates all the major religions of the country's population. However, it should be noted that the Hindu New Year is only celebrated in Bali.
INDONESIAN PUBLIC HOLIDAYS- DATES FOR 2017 - 2022
The sources of these dates are from the Indonesian website, PublicHoliday, and international sites such as OfficeHoliday and CalendarDate.
As mentioned earlier, some of these dates may change as some festivities need to coincide with festivities that use lunar calendars. However, for later years, from 2020 onwards, some of the lunar-based festivities are not available on the Indonesian calendars.
Hence, we have used Islamic and Chinese based calendars to complete the later years by using When-Is. However, some dates are still not available for the years 2021 and 2022 such as the Christ Ascension Day and the Buddhist Wesak Day. We have also made the assumption on Cuti Bersama days to fall on one day prior and one day after Hari Raya Eid Al-Fitri holidays.
SUMMARY
In summary, we have populated the Indonesian public holidays from 2017 -2022 from various sources. Indonesian public holidays are based on religious festivities, from Islamic, to Christian, to Hinduism, to Buddhism and the Chinese New Year celebration. Non-religious holidays are the National Day and Independence Day. As some of Indonesian public holidays are based on the lunar calendars, the dates vary and may be subject to changes later on.
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