The following are public holidays in Tuvalu.[1]

Date English name Tuvaluan name
1 January New Year's Day Tausaga Fou
Second Monday in March Commonwealth Day
moveable in autumn Good Friday
moveable in autumn Holy Saturday
moveable in autumn Easter
moveable in autumn Easter Monday
Second Monday in May Gospel Day Te Aso o te Tala Lei
Second Saturday in June
(can vary if appointed differently)		 King's Official Birthday
First Monday in August National Children's Day Aso Tamaliki
1 October (public holiday continues 2 October) Tuvalu Day
Second Monday in November Heir to the Throne's Birthday
25 December Christmas Day Kilisimasi
26 December Boxing Day

Also, the regions observe the following regional holidays:[2]

Date Atoll/Island Name Remarks
8 January Nanumea Te Po o Tefolaha The day Nanumea embraced Christianity brought by the London Missionary Society through Samoan pastors.[3]
11 February Nukufetau Te Aso o Tutasi Honors the Tutasi school.
16 February Nui Bogin te Ieka (Day of the Flood) Commemorates the Tsunami that struck the island on that day in 1882.[4][5]
15 April Nanumaga Aho o te Fakavae
23 April Funafuti Te Aso o te Paula (The day of the bombing)[6] Commemorates the day during the Pacific War (World War II) when 10 to 20 people took refuge in the concrete walled, pandanus-thatched church from a Japanese bombing raid.[6] Corporal Fonnie Black Ladd, USMCR, persuaded them to get into dugouts, then a bomb struck the building shortly after.[7][8]
moveable in May Nukulaelae Aso o te Tala Lei Island-specific Gospel Day.
17 September Niutao Te Aso o te Setema
21 October Funafuti Cyclone Day Commemorates Cyclone Bebe's destruction of Funafuti in 1972.[9][10]
25 November Vaitupu Te Aso Fiafia (Happy Day) Commemorates 25 November 1887 which was the date on which the final instalment of a debt of $13,000 was repaid to H. M. Ruge and Company.[11]

References

  1. ^ "Public Holidays Act". Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute. 2008. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  2. ^ Lalua, Silafaga (3 January 2007). "Island special public holidays". tuvalu-news.tv. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  3. ^ Te Po o Tefolaha
  4. ^ Sotaga Pape (1983). "Chapter 10 – Nui". In Laracy, Hugh (ed.). Tuvalu: A History. Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific and Government of Tuvalu. pp. 74–75.
  5. ^ "Nowhere to run. Tuvaluans consider their future after Tropical Cyclone Pam". Report from International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies. 17 April 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  6. ^ a b Latif, Justin (26 April 2024). "Te Aso o te Paula: Tuvalu community remember WWII bombing attack". Pacific Media Network. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  7. ^ Ladd, Fonnie Black (2001). The Wholesale Rescue. Valley Farm Publications (January 1, 1986).((cite book)): CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ^ Melei Telavi, Tuvalu A History (1983) Ch. 18 War, U.S.P./Tuvalu, p. 140
  9. ^ Resture, Jane (17 May 2004). "Tuvalu and the hurricanes". Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  10. ^ "Funafuti natives celebrate Hurricane Bebe". tuvalu-news.tv. 23 October 2006. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  11. ^ Kalaaki Laupepa (1983). "Chapter 11 – Vaitupu". In Laracy, Hugh (ed.). Tuvalu: A History. Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific and Government of Tuvalu. p. 82.
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