If you were looking forward to the long holiday weekends, the news is not so good this year. The Christmas holidays fall on Saturday or Sunday, as do many other holidays, such as New Year’s Day (Saturday, 1 January), Independence Day (Sunday, 27 February), Our Lady of Mercedes (Saturday, 24 September), Constitution Day (Sunday, 6 November), and Christmas Day (25 December).
There will be only five long weekends this year, 7-10 January for Three Kings Day, 21-24 January for La Altagracia & Duarte days, 22-24 April for Easter, 23-25 June for Corpus Christi, and 12-15 August for Restoration Day.
For the complete calendar of holidays in the DR in 2011, see http://dr1.com/travel/prepare/holidays.shtml