December 24 Becomes Public Holiday Starting This Year
- Hungary's National Assembly passed a bill making December 24 an official public holiday, ending a decades-long debate
- The vote on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, was unanimous, with 193 MPs backing the change and none voting against
- The new law also limits shop opening hours on Christmas Eve, though some businesses remain exempt
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Budapest, Hungary - Hungary's National Assembly voted on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, to declare Christmas Eve an official public holiday, ending a long-standing arrangement that required workers to compensate for the day off by reporting to work on Saturday, December 12, instead.
As reported by Daily News Hungary, the bill passed with 193 votes in favour and no votes against or abstentions. Three MPs from the Tisza Party submitted the proposal in September, and it will come into force this year, giving Hungarians an extra day of rest during the Christmas period.
Source: Twitter
Ground News also reported the development in the European country.
Under the previous system, December 24 was classified as a rest day rather than a public holiday, meaning employees were obliged to work on a separate date to make up for it. The new legislation removes that requirement entirely, and Christmas Eve will now sit alongside 25 and 26 December as a fully recognised public holiday.
New rules for shops on Christmas Eve
The law also introduces restrictions on retail trading hours on December 24. Most shops will be required to close, giving a broader group of workers in the commercial sector the chance to spend the day with their families.
Businesses exempted from the closures include restaurants, hotels, flower shops, confectionery stores, petrol stations, and retail outlets inside railway stations, bus terminals, and airports. Employees who are still required to work on Christmas Eve may be entitled to double pay under the new rules.
Christmas Eve gets permanent public holiday status
The push to make Christmas Eve a non-working day has a long history in Hungary. The Jobbik party launched referendum campaigns in both 2024 and 2025 in an effort to bring the question to a public vote. The first attempt was rejected by the Curia, Hungary's supreme court, while the second cleared both the National Election Committee and the Curia but could not gather sufficient signatures to proceed.
The Trade Union of Commercial Employees also lobbied repeatedly for the change, most recently in April this year. The union had long argued that although Christmas Eve was already treated informally as a special day, hundreds of thousands of workers were still legally required to clock in.
The bill's official justification describes December 24 as a central part of Hungarian cultural and social life, tied to family gatherings, festive preparations, and religious traditions. The legislation is also designed to create a stable legal framework so that Christmas Eve is guaranteed as a public holiday each year, rather than being subject to yearly changes in the working calendar.
Prime Minister Péter Magyar welcomed the outcome, noting that the change had come after 36 years. Christian Democrat politician Csaba Latorcai described the vote as a victory for Christian Democrats.
See the X post below for more details about the update in Hungary:
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Egypt announces New Year holiday
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Mostafa Madbouly, the prime minister of Egypt, declared a public holiday in observance of the Islamic Hijri New Year (1448 AH).
According to the State Information Service (SIS), Egypt's government official media and information authority, the country’s Dar Al-Iftaa (an Islamic institution or council responsible for issuing formal legal rulings and religious verdicts known as fatwas) is expected to sight the crescent moon for the first month of Muharram on June 15, which corresponds to the 29th of Dhu al-Hijjah in the Islamic calendar, marking the beginning of the new lunar year.
Source: Legit.ng
