Public Holidays in Mauritius 2026: The Official List and What the Law Says

Mauritius has 15 public holidays in 2026, set out by the Prime Minister’s Office in General Notice No. 611 of 2026, which amended the list first published in 2025. Four of those dates fall on a Sunday this year, and Mauritian law does not grant any automatic make-up day in that case — a detail most holiday calendars leave out, and one that genuinely affects a payslip.

The official 2026 public holiday list for Mauritius

The table below reproduces the list published by the Prime Minister’s Office, in its amended version of 25 May 2026.

Two holidays fall on the same day, 1 February: Abolition of Slavery and Thaipoosam Cavadee each count as a separate public holiday, but coincide this year.

Why half of these dates change every year

Seven public holidays have a fixed date in the Gregorian calendar: both New Year days, Independence Day, Labour Day, the Assumption, the Arrival of Indentured Labourers and Christmas. The others follow lunar or lunisolar religious calendars — Hindu, Chinese, Muslim — and are recalculated every year by the government in consultation with the relevant religious federations.

That recalculation can also shift after the initial list has already been published. Ganesh Chaturthi 2026 was first set for Wednesday 16 September in the notice of 20 August 2025; it was moved to Tuesday 15 September by the amendment of 25 May 2026, at the request of the Mauritius Marathi Mandali Federation. Eid-Ul-Fitr remains explicitly marked “subject to confirmation” in the official text: its date depends on the sighting of the moon and is only confirmed shortly before the festival.

A public holiday that falls on a Sunday: what the law actually says

This is the most misunderstood point of the 2026 list. The Workers’ Rights Act 2019, the law that governs remuneration for every worker in Mauritius today, provides in section 30 that a worker is entitled to a normal day’s pay for every public holiday that falls on one of his normal working days — but the text explicitly excludes Sunday. A public holiday that falls on a Sunday therefore triggers neither that payment nor a substitute day off: the law does not require it, and nothing in the text provides for it to be carried over to the following Monday. In 2026, that applies to Abolition of Slavery, Thaipoosam Cavadee, Maha Shivaratree and Divali.

This Sunday exclusion applies to every worker, regardless of how they are paid. A collective agreement or sector-specific arrangement may provide more favourable terms; the law itself does not require it, and any clause under which a worker gives up the right to a paid public holiday is void.

Working on a public holiday: what the employer owes

For any public holiday that does not fall on a Sunday, the law is specific about what a worker called in to work is owed: at least double the normal rate for hours worked during normal working hours, and at least triple that rate for hours worked beyond normal working hours — on top of the normal day’s pay already due for the holiday. The full detail of Mauritius’s rules on pay, notice and termination is covered in our guide to Mauritian labour law.

What this means in practice

All 15 public holidays close banks, government offices and most schools nationwide, regardless of which community a given festival belongs to: a Catholic employee is off work for Ganesh Chaturthi just as a Hindu employee is off for Christmas. That is also what separates the official list from a simple festival calendar: to see how these dates actually play out on the ground — markets, processions, illuminations — our calendar of festivals and events in Mauritius covers each celebration, and our dedicated guides walk through Christmas in Mauritius and Diwali in Mauritius.

Frequently asked questions

Does a worker lose money when a public holiday falls on a Sunday? Not if they would not have worked that Sunday anyway. But section 30 of the Workers’ Rights Act 2019 explicitly excludes Sunday from the entitlement to a paid public holiday, and no substitute day off is provided in compensation.

Can a public holiday date change after it has been published? Yes. Ganesh Chaturthi 2026 is the proof: set for 16 September in 2025, it was moved to 15 September by an amendment published in May 2026, at the request of a religious federation.

Where can I check the updated list every year? The Prime Minister’s Office publishes a dedicated General Notice, usually around the end of August of the previous year, on the official Mauritian government website.

Sources and verifications

• General Notice No. 611 of 2026 — Prime Minister’s Office, Mauritius
• General Notice No. 1195 of 2025 — Prime Minister’s Office, Mauritius
• Workers’ Rights Act 2019, consolidated version as at 9 August 2025 — Ministry of Labour, Mauritius