This is a comprehensive listing of official and non-official holidays and long weekends set for 2014. These dates are important to know, both for work and for programming vacation time. Note as elsewhere in the world, long weekends will bring droves of locals to hotels all around the country, with the consequential bottlenecks on highways and crowded establishments in the resort areas. It is also a good time to enjoy the cities.
Official holidays 2014 [2013]
These holidays will be celebrated on their actual days in 2014:
- Wednesday, 1 January: New Year's Day
- Monday, 6 January: Three Kings Day
- Tuesday, 21 January: Our Lady of Altagracia Day
- Sunday, 26 January: Duarte Day
- Thursday, 27 February: Independence Day
- Friday, 18 April: Good Friday
- Thursday: 19 June: Day of Corpus Christi
- Saturday, 16 August: Day of Restoration.
- Wednesday, 24 September: Our Lady of Mercedes Day
- Thursday, 25 December: Christmas Day.
Rotating official holidays:
The following holidays are being celebrated on the closest Monday to the actual date:
- Monday, 5 May: Celebrates Labor Day that actually falls on Thursday, 1 May.
- Monday, 10 November: Celebrates Constitution Day that actually falls on Thursday, 6 November.
This makes for three non-rotating official religious holidays:
- Tuesday, 21 January: Our Lady of Altagracia Day
- Friday, 18 April: Good Friday
- Thursday: 19 June: Day of Corpus Cristi
- Wednesday, 24 September: Our Lady of Mercedes Day
Not a holiday, but observed by many:
- Thursday, 17 April: The Thursday before Good Friday that falls on 18 April.
- Friday, 26 April: National Secretary Day.
- Sunday, 25 May: Mother's Day. Last Sunday in May.
- Sunday, 27 July: Father's Day. Last Sunday in July.
- Wednesday, 24 December: Christmas Eve Day.
- Tuesday, 31 December. New Year's Eve.
Note that December is for Dominicans, what August is for Europeans. Do not expect too much to be done in December, unless entertainment related. Too many parties going on.
Long weekends in 2014 (with Monday's falling on a holiday). Take note that on many of these, school may be called off:
- 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 January: Our Lady of Altagracia Long Weekend. Dominicans may take off from Friday, 17 January, extending to a five-day holiday given that the religious holiday falls on a Tuesday.
- 17, 18, 19, 20 April: Easter Long Weekend. Dominicans will take off from Thursday, 17 April as school is called off from the previous Monday.
- 19, 20, 21, 22 June: Corpus Christi Long Weekend is four days long because the holiday falls on a Thursday.
- 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 December: Christmas Day in 2014 falls on a Thursday, creating a five-day long weekend-holiday starting with the Christmas Eve celebrations on 24 December.
- 31 December, 1, 2, 3, 4 January: New Year’s Day long weekend. Expect the Christmas Day celebrations to merge into the New Year’s celebrations making for almost two weeks of non-work at the end of the year.