Life isn’t a fiesta, but that’s probably how many see Latin America. So is it true that workers in the region have more public holidays than in developed countries?
Again, the answer depends on how you look at numbers (I’m an economist, I know numbers can be a lot more subjective than they appear) and what countries you look at.
Take Uruguay, for example, where I’m based. Uruguay has only 5 “proper” bank holidays, days when people just don’t work unless they’re providing an essential service
With this “sombrero vueltiao” do I look Colombian enough to get 18 bank holidays a year?
(or their bosses are prepared to pay them at twice their pro-rata daily salary). Those “feriados no laborables” or “non-working bank holidays” are 1st January, 1st May, 18th July, 25th August and 25th December. There are other “feriados” (bank holidays) but most people in the private sector would work on those dates – yet you’d find public offices, banks and schools, for example, closed. So we are very envious here of the 18 bank holidays a year that Colombians get… (apparently, Mexicans get even fewer bank holidays than us, but that all depends on how you count them..)
The same story will repeat itself across the continent but with some variations. Bank holidays on 25th December, 1st January and 1st May (Labour Day, if you wonder) are the norm. Uruguay is a very secular country and doesn’t have any religious holidays (we managed to convince ourselves that we officially celebrate “Family Day” on 25th December, not Christmas). Other Latin American countries will have lots and lots of (highly observed) religious holidays.
Did you notice, for example, that I didn’t mention Easter as a public holiday in Uruguay? There’s no official bank holiday during Easter, although many will take at least Thursday and Friday off, but that’s not something you can legally expect (and for those in the UK, Latin Americans hardly ever celebrate Easter Monday, it’s all over with our Easter eggs on the Sunday).
Similarly, most Latin America will have at least one or two public holidays around 1st and 2nd November, which you might recall are All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days respectively. When I was growing up in Uruguay, 2nd November was highly observed, and people would go to the cemetery to pay their respects to their lost ones. That’s not so much the case these days in Uruguay, but it’s still the case in other countries.
Countries like Peru and Chile also have full weeks dedicated to their “patriotism”, known as the “fiestas patrias”. In Uruguay we only have 18th July (Constitution Day) and 25th August (Independence Day).
Just to complicate things further, there are “feriados” across the region that, if they fall during the middle of the week, can be moved to a Monday or a Friday, while there are others that can’t. Similarly, there are some “feriados” that fall on the same date every year (such as 6th January – Epiphany, 1st January, 25th Decembers, 1st May) while there are others that fall onto different dates every year.
The most notorious “changing” “feriado” across the region (apart from Easter) is Carnival, which is observed very differently across countries and even cities. Brazil being the best known Carnival country in the world, expect no business during a few days or weeks, but the same applies here in Uruguay (well, at least for a couple of days) or in cities like Barranquilla (Colombia).
To the bank holidays you need to add those dates during the year where most people would take their annual leave. Across the region, that’s usually January and February (including Carnival), Easter, and a couple of weeks in July, mainly to coincide with school holidays.
Photo: www.guruguay.com
Sounds complicated? Let’s sum up – if you are travelling on business basically:
– Check what applies to the country or countries you are travelling to or doing business with – the best way is to ask a local contact, since I find that websites are at best unreliable (mainly because this is Latin America and things change at short notice)
– When you ask, make sure you get information not just about official bank holidays but about times when people are unlikely to be available – for example, there was a strike in Uruguay last Thursday 14th July and Monday 18th is a public holiday… do you really reckon visiting on Friday 15th would be the best idea…? Take into account strikes, holidays and elections, for example.
– Talking about strikes, also check if there’s any Trade Union activity planned, and be flexible to adjust to unplanned strikes – strikes might not affect you at all or they might totally spoil a trip if you are relying for example on public transport (including airports!), visiting government offices or doing official (including customs) paperwork
– I find that the use of out-of-office messages (email or answerphone) is very poor across Latin America. I have emailed for example colleagues in Colombia, Peru or Chile who haven’t replied in days, only to find out that they were on some patriotic or religious week I knew nothing about (I’m getting more and more conversant but they do change, add and substract festivals without much notice)… so check, check, check.
So what’s your experience of “feriados” (or “festivos”) in Latin America? Leave us your comments below!
