January 2025
1 Jan – New Year’s Day
In Laos, the Gregorian Calendar New Year and the Lao New Year are both celebrated. While Lao New Year has been celebrated for thousands of years, the people of Laos now also celebrate Gregorian New Year with fireworks, New Year resolutions, shopping sprees, and the whole package of traditions imported from the West.
March 2025
8 March International Women’s Day
In Laos, Women’s Day is taken very seriously. It is considered a truly “major“ holiday of the year. All the government buildings and many businesses shut down for the day, and workers take a much-needed break. One tradition for International Women’s Day in Laos is that many women go out and drink beer. Meanwhile, the men stay at home and take care of the house. It’s a kind of role reversal idea, but it only lasts one day.
April 2025
13 to 16 April – Lao New Year
This major holiday is celebrated by nearly every Lao family. Lao New Year is commonly referred to as Pii Mai or Songkran. For most Lao people, this holiday is celebrated from April 14 to April 16. In some areas of Laos, the festival can go on for an entire week. Because of Laos’ rich history and Buddhist practices, Lao New Year is observed with many traditions and celebratory activities. For example: Sand Decorations, Cleansing with Water, Freedom to Animals, Flower Arrangements, Pageants, Dancing & Music, Food and Greetings.
May 2025
1 May – Labour Day
Though Labour Day began in the US after the bloody incident in Chicago in 1886, it eventually spread to most other nations all around the world, including Laos. In Laos, a federation of trade unions organises activities for Labour Day in the capital city of Vientiane and in other cities. There are often lectures, rallies, and “community walks” that promote and celebrate the role of workers and the advancement of workers’ rights in Laos.
May 2025
11 May – Visakhabousa Day
Visakhabousa Day is celebrated by many in Laos to commemorate the day they believe that Buddha was born. It is also considered the day of his enlightenment experience and of his death. Many businesses close for the day, and all schools and government offices will shut down. Businesses are not allowed to serve alcoholic beverages for a full day. And many buildings fly “the yellow flag of Buddhism”.
June 2025
1 June – Children’s Day
This is an official public holiday in Laos and falls on the same day as the UN international observance also called Children’s Day. Children’s Day is a time for public awareness campaigns and fundraising efforts that focus on protecting children’s rights, helping kids get a good education, and preventing poverty, abuse, or neglect of children in Laos. Children’s Day is one of the few days of the year when many rural kids get a chance to take part in festive events and educational “clinics” that are held.
July 2025
20 July – Lao Women’s Union Day
The purpose of the holiday is to remember the founding of the Lao PDR (People’s Democratic Republic) Women’s Union on 20 July, 1955. The Lao Women’s Union is heavily connected with the government and has much say in developing and influencing public policies in Laos. It is provided for in the national constitution. It is tasked with protecting women who may be abused or discriminated against and in promoting gender equality and unity nationwide. The union runs a women’s shelter in Vientiane, Laos’ capital city, where up to 50 women and girls can be sheltered at a time. The shelter helps victims of sex trafficking, domestic abuse, abandonment, and other crimes recover, while also giving opportunity to advance their education.
July 2025
24 July – Boun Khao Phansa
Boun Khao Phansa in Laos is the start of the three-month period sometimes referred to as “Buddhist Lent”. During this time period, Buddhist monks stay at a pagoda and focus on meditation and strict observance of their religion. They are especially forbidden from sleeping anywhere else but in their pagoda at night. On Boun Khao Phansa, people of villages throughout Laos bring food offerings in bowls to the pagoda-bound monks – a practice called “tak bat”. Tak bat means “morning offering”, and indeed, these offerings are brought in the morning hours. There are other rituals performed by the people and monks on Boun Khao Phansa, such as the blessing of “holy water” which is then poured out onto the earth, candlelight processions around Buddhist temples, and neighbourhood “drumming competitions”.
August - September 2025
24 July to 8 October – Buddhist Lent
Boat races are common all throughout Buddhist Lent. Since it’s the rainy season, the waters are high and good for boating, the farmers are not overburdened with work, and tourist season is at a low point. This set of circumstances, and the fact that people have been waiting all year for this, creates a lot of excitement about the boat racing events. The first and last races are by far the largest and most important.
The first major boat racing festival is held in Luang Prabang about mid-way through Buddhist Lent. Many others will be held later on along the Mekong River and other waterways. The final boat race is held just outside Vientiane at the end of Buddhist lent.
October 2025
7 October – Boun Ok Phansa
Boun Ok Phansa, the end of three-month “Buddhist Lent”, is a national public holiday in Laos. Traditionally, Boun Ok Phansa is a time to honour the “river spirit” of the Mekong. It is thought that sickness, bad luck, and everything negative can be sent away into the river.
8 October – Boat Racing Festival (Vientiane Only)
The final boat race is in Ban Xieng Ngeun, just outside Vientiane. The Boat Racing Festival is also a time of other, accompanying festivities. There are bamboo rockets shot off to announce the beginning of a race, local markets that spring up and thrive, and other entertainment that goes on.
November 2025
5 – 7 November – That Luang Festival
In Laos, Boun That Luang, or simply “That Luang” for short, is one of the most important of national public holidays. It is a Buddhist celebration centred around the That Luang, the name of the oldest and most highly acclaimed of all Buddhist temples (stupas) in Laos. The temple is covered in gold and sits in the middle of Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. The That Luang Festival occurs for three consecutive days, beginning on the full moon of the twelfth month of the Buddhist Calendar. This will generally put the festival sometime in November on the Gregorian Calendar. During That Luang Festival, Buddhist monks gather at the stupa for religious ceremonies. They make offerings, offer incense, circle the stupa thrice, and do other religious rituals meant to earn merit. There are also musical and dramatic presentations at the festival, and both people and monks participate.
December 2025
2 December – National Day
A public holiday which commemorates the creation of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic in the year of 1975. The holiday provides citizens with the opportunity to celebrate their country’s history and their present independence through festivities and a day of rest. There are numerous parades, some ceremonies, and even formal speeches. These festivities often include the use of red flags bearing a hammer and a sickle. A new flag has also been introduced to the country which includes the colours blue, white, and red. The red is meant to symbolise blood that has been shed for the country’s independence, blue symbolises the country’s health (also known as “Makong”), and the white disc-shaped emblem on the country’s modern flag represents the moon over the “Mekong” (the country’s unity) under the Communist government.