Holidays

Namibians love their public holidays. In larger towns such as Windhoek, Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, Rundu and Oshakati, supermarkets are probably open on most public holidays (except Christmas Day and the afternoons on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve), but offices, shops and many restaurants are closed. However, traveling will continue almost as usual.

Here is a list of public holidays in Namibia for 2025 and 2026. Please note: If a public holiday falls on a Sunday, it is also a public holiday on the following Monday.

 

1 January - New Year's Day

21 March - Independence Day

Public holiday in Namibia to celebrate Namibia's independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990.

April - Good Friday (18 April 2025 / 3 April 2026)

April - Easter Sunday (20 April 2025 / 5 April 2026)

April - Easter Monday (21 April 2025 / 6 April 2026)

1 May - Workers Day

4 May - Cassinga Day (2025: also Monday, 5 May)

Public holiday in Namibia to commemorate the hundreds of Namibian victims of an attack by the South African armed forces on a military and refugee camp in Cassinga in southern Angola on 4 May 1978.

25 May - Africa Day (2025: also Monday, 26 May)

Public holiday in Namibia and other African countries to celebrate the founding of the Organisation of African Unity on 25 May 1963.

28 May - Genocide Remembrance Day

Public holiday (proclaimed in 2024, first celebrated in 2025) to commemorate the victims of the genocides of OvaHerero and Nama during the colonial wars from 1904 to 1908 in the former colony of German South West Africa. The concentration camps were officially closed on 28 May 1908. Thousands of men, women and children died in the camps as a result of hard labour, lack of food and poor medical care. In the prevailing historical scholarship, however, they are not equated with Nazi Germany's later extermination camps of the same name in the Holocaust of the Jews.

29 May - Ascension Day (2026 : 14 May)

26 August - Heroes' Day

Public holiday in Namibia to commemorate the battle between the South African armed forces and the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) at Omugulugwombashe in northern Namibia on 26 August 1966, which is regarded as the beginning of the armed struggle for independence.

On the same day, the OvaHerero commemorate the reburial on 26 August 1923 of the mortal remains of Chief Samuel Maharero, who had declared war on the German colonial power in 1904, had to flee abroad and died in exile.

10 December - Day of the Namibian Women / International Human Rights Day

Public holiday in Namibia in honour of the role of women in society (and International Human Rights Day). In 1959, women from the 'Old Location' (now Hochland Park) in Windhoek protested against the resettlement of residents to Katutura. During a protest action on 10 December 1959, the police shot 13 demonstrators, including one woman, and wounded 44.

25 December - Christmas Day

26 December - Family Day

May, with its five public holidays, is used by many Namibians for a short holiday break by taking time off on bridging days.

The long summer holidays last from the beginning of December to mid-January. Many Namibians who live in the cities spend their holidays at the coast or with their loved ones in the north or south of the country or on the farms.