Puerto Rico celebrates all official U.S. holidays,[1] and other official holidays established by the Commonwealth government.
Additionally, many municipalities celebrate their own Patron Saint Festivals (fiestas patronales in Spanish), as well as festivals honoring cultural icons like bomba y plena, danza, salsa, hamacas (hammocks), and popular crops such as plantains and coffee.
Until June 30, 2014, there were 19 public holidays in Puerto Rico.[2] As a result of a new Commonwealth law, after July 1, 2014, the Commonwealth government consolidated three of its former holidays (Luis Muñoz Rivera, José Celso Barbosa, and Luis Muñoz Marín) into just one called Día de los Próceres Puertorriqueños (The Day of Illustrious Puerto Ricans), and reducing the number of holidays observed publicly to 17. As part of the new law, the third Monday of February became Día de los Próceres Puertorriqueños when, in addition to commemorating the birth of those three illustrious Puerto Ricans will also include commemorating the birthdays of four other illustrious Puerto Ricans – Ramón Emeterio Betances, Román Baldorioty de Castro, Ernesto Ramos Antonini and Luis A. Ferré. The law mandated that the Eugenio María de Hostos holiday and the José de Diego holiday would continue to be observed on their respective days as usual.[3][4]
Official public holidays
Official public holidays are those recognized by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico government. All public offices must close. Many businesses also elect to close. These public holidays include both federal and commonwealth-established holidays, since Puerto Rico recognizes all U.S. federal holidays.[5]
As in most countries, this holiday is celebrated with gatherings and fireworks. Although illegal, celebratory gunfire has sometimes led to injuries and even deaths on certain occasions.[7] Official commonwealth and federal holiday.
This is a Commonwealth of Puerto Rico official holiday, as well as a religious holiday. It celebrates the Three Wise Men's visit to see the newborn Christ by exchanging gifts. Traditionally, children stack bundles of hay in boxes under their beds for each Wise Man's camel, to then find their boxes exchanged for gifts.[8]
A Commonwealth of Puerto Rico official holiday. Slavery was abolished in Puerto Rico in 1873—eight years after the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as the Island was still a colony of Spain at the time.
An official Commonwealth of Puerto Rico holiday. (See also Constitution of Puerto Rico.) Formerly called Occupation Day, commemorating the anniversary of the landing of American troops at Guánica in 1898.
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (ELA) holiday. Dr. José Celso Barbosa (1857–1921) was a medical doctor and an early advocate of statehood, founder of the Republican Party on the Island.
A Commonwealth of Puerto Rico official holiday. Formerly known as Descubrimiento de Puerto Rico, as Christopher Columbus landed on the northwest coast of Puerto Rico near Aguada on this day in 1493.
Official holiday. Also known as Nacimiento del niño Jesús. During Spanish colonial rule (1492 to 1898), Navidad (Christmas in English), marked the Christian ecumenical celebration date of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. It was not until the development of the commercialization of Christmas, product of the subsequent American colonial rule, that Navidad becomes the delivery day for Papá Noel (Santa Claus). As in the rest of the United States, Papá Noel leaves Christmas presentes (presents) under the Árbol de Navidad (Christmas tree). This has replaced in large part, but not entirely, the gift giving custom of Puerto Ricans in Three Kings Day. No other country celebrates a holiday for so long. Many countries celebrate Christmas for a couple of days, or as long as four or five. In Puerto Rico, however, the celebration starts after Thanksgiving and ends in the third week of January, on the last day of the St. Sebastian Street Festival in Old San Juan.
Religious holidays
Date
English name
Local name (in Spanish)
Remarks
January 5
Eve of Epiphany
Víspera de los Tres Reyes Magos
Puerto Rican children leave a box with grass for the camels of the Three Wise Men and a glass of water for the magos themselves.
Children find that the camels ate the grass and the Three Kings drank the water left for them the day before. Traditionally the Kings leave presents under the children's beds.
Like other Catholic cultures (Brazil, Trinidad, Louisiana), the solemn 40 days of Lent are preceded in Puerto Rico by a massive blow-out with elaborate costumes and parades. In the city of Ponce, in particular, Carnival time means characters in the streets wearing incredible horned-devil masks, called vejigantes.
Since John the Baptist is the patron saint of the Island and the namesake of the capital city (San Juan), his day is widely celebrated by big parties on the beaches on the Eve of St. John's Day (June 23). One tradition is to walk backward into the ocean and fall in 12 times at midnight on the beginning of the 24th.
Christmas traditions in Puerto Rico include a large supper with families and friends on Christmas Eve, and the Midnight Mass or Misa de Gallo. Anytime during las navidades neighbors and friends make a parranda or asalto, going from house to house singing Puerto Rican Christmas carols. Once everything has been eaten and drunk, the erstwhile 'host' joins the trulla and they all go to somebody else's house to eat and drink.
December 28
Day of the Innocents, Festival of the Masks
Día de los Innocentes
Día de las Máscaras en Hatillo
A Christmas season tradition in the town of Hatillo on the north coast. Similar to Mardi Gras "crewes" in Louisiana, teams of friends completely cover cars, trucks, and floats with elaborate frilly decorations, and wearing head-to-toe costumes, while cruising the country roads, and playing practical jokes along the way. There is a not-to-be missed half-day long parade, full of loud noise and brilliant colors. The tricksters commemorate Herod's soldiers and the slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem.
^Formerly celebrated on the second Monday of January. Eugenio María de Hostos (1839–1903) was a writer and statesman who struggled for Puerto Rican independence and the end to slavery in the late 19th century.
^Also celebrated on the third Monday of February. Luis Muñoz Marín (1898–1980) was the first democratically elected governor of Puerto Rico. He founded the Partido Popular Democrático and was instrumental in establishing the Commonwealth status in 1952. He was a noted journalist and poet, and served four terms as governor.
^Formerly celebrated on the third Monday of April. José de Diego (1866–1918) was a much-loved poet and political leader. In recent years, the holiday has been celebrated on the third Monday of April.
^Formerly celebrated on the third Monday of July. Don Luis Muñoz Rivera (1859–1916) was a prominent journalist, poet, and politician who advocated independence from Spain and later, the United States. His son Luis Muñoz Marín was the first democratically elected governor of Puerto Rico.
^Juneteenth National Independence Day, también conocido como Día de la Liberación o Día de la Emancipación.
^"Días feriado de Puerto Rico 2018"(PDF) (in Spanish). Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce (Camara de Comercio de Puerto Rico). Retrieved 26 January 2023.
^"MEMORANDO ESPECIAL NÚM. 12—2023"(PDF). Oficina de Administración y Transformación de los Recursos Humanos (in Spanish). Archived from the original(PDF) on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
