Goa Public Holidays 2026

Understanding Goa's Holiday Calendar in 2026

Goa's General Administration Department issues its 2026 holidays in three annexures: Annexure-I lists 18 public holidays, Annexure-II lists two special holidays, and Annexure-III lists 22 restricted holidays from which an employee may avail two.

The special holidays in Annexure-II are a mechanism no other state uses. Mahashivratri on Sunday 15 February and Milad-un-Nabi on Tuesday 25 August are declared as special rather than public holidays. Where an employee applies for the Milad special holiday it must be sanctioned, and if it is not availed on the day itself it may be taken on any working day during 2026. Special holidays can also be prefixed or suffixed to any kind of leave. Because Mahashivratri falls on a Sunday, the notification records that no request for it, or for a day in lieu, arises.

Goa's list is shaped by its religious composition in a way no other state's is. The Feast of St. Francis Xavier is a full public holiday, and the Feast of St. Joseph Vaz, Maundy Thursday, the Feast of the Sacred Heart, All Souls Day and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception all appear as restricted holidays. Alongside them sit Gudi Padava, Dhulivandana and two days of Ganesh Chaturthi, carried over from the Marathi-speaking tradition of the Konkan.

For payroll, commercial establishments fall under the Goa Shops and Establishments Act, 1973. Tourism and hospitality run through the December peak. St. Francis Xavier's feast on 3 December, Goa Liberation Day on 19 December, Christmas and New Year's Eve all land inside the season, so the establishments that most need staff are closed on paper exactly when they are busiest.

National Holidays in Goa

Republic Day on Monday 26 January, Independence Day on Saturday 15 August and Gandhi Jayanti on Friday 2 October are mandatory, and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar's birth anniversary on Tuesday 14 April is a full public holiday in Goa's own list.

Four of the 18 public holidays fall on a weekend in 2026 (Id-Ul Fitr on Saturday 21 March, Independence Day on Saturday 15 August, Diwali on Sunday 8 November and Goa Liberation Day on Saturday 19 December), leaving 14 weekday closures. That is one of the shortest effective public holiday calendars in the country this year.

Goa-Specific Holidays

Goa Liberation Day on Saturday 19 December marks the end of 451 years of Portuguese rule in 1961. It is the state's defining civic holiday and falls on a Saturday in 2026, which removes it as a working day off but not as an occasion. Official functions run in Panaji regardless.

The Feast of St. Francis Xavier on Thursday 3 December is the largest religious gathering of the Goan year, centred on the Basilica of Bom Jesus at Old Goa where the saint's relics are kept. Traffic and accommodation across Tiswadi are affected for several days around it.

Ganesh Chaturthi is declared for two days: Hartalika and the first day on Monday 14 September, and the second day on Tuesday 15 September. Maharashtra declares only the one. Chovoth is the largest household festival in Goa's Hindu community and the two-day declaration reflects that.

Goa follows the Maharashtra convention of declaring the second day of Holi, Dhulivandana, on Tuesday 3 March, rather than the first. Gudi Padava on Thursday 19 March is likewise shared with Maharashtra.

Muharram and Mahavir Jayanti are restricted holidays in Goa, not public ones. Both are full public holidays in most other states, which is a common source of error for employers copying a national template into a Goan establishment.

Restricted Holidays in Goa

The restricted list runs to 22 days and each employee may avail two. It is unusually balanced across communities: Catholic feasts (St. Joseph Vaz, Maundy Thursday, the Sacred Heart, All Souls Day, the Immaculate Conception, Christmas Eve), Hindu observances (Makarsankranti, Shivaji Jayanti, Mahavir Jayanti, Budha Purnima, Raksha Bandhan, Janmashtami, Govardhan Puja, Bhaubij), Sikh commemorations, Onam, Muharram and both New Year's Day and New Year's Eve.

Three of the 22 are worth nothing in 2026. Guru Ravi Das's Birthday falls on Sunday 1 February; Vaisakhi/Vishu on 14 April shares its date with the public holiday for Ambedkar Jayanti; and Budha Purnima on 1 May shares its date with May Day. Guru Nanak's Birthday and Guru Teg Bahadur Martyrdom Day are both listed on 24 November, so an employee can only ever use one of them.

All Souls Day on Monday 2 November needs advance planning. Observance in Goa's Catholic community is close to universal, cemeteries are visited through the day, and demand for that particular restricted day will be concentrated rather than spread.

HR & Payroll Guidance for Goa, 2026

The Annexure-II special holiday mechanism has to be configured, not just recorded. Milad-un-Nabi on 25 August must be sanctioned where an employee applies for it, and if the employee does not take it on the day, the entitlement survives and can be used on any working day in 2026. That is a floating day tied to an employee rather than a date on a calendar, and a conventional holiday calendar cannot represent it.

December is the collision month. St. Francis Xavier on 3 December, Goa Liberation Day on 19 December, Christmas Day on 25 December, with Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve as restricted days, all inside the tourism peak. Hospitality and travel operators need a rostered plan with documented compensatory offs well before the season starts.

Muharram and Mahavir Jayanti being restricted rather than public in Goa is the most likely error in a multi-state calendar. So is Ganesh Chaturthi, where Goa closes for two days and Maharashtra for one.

Four public holidays land on weekends in 2026, which leaves only 14 weekday closures from the public list. Employees comparing against another state will notice; the two-day restricted quota is the only formal flexibility available to answer it.

Engage HRMS can hold Goa's special holidays as employee-level floating entitlements alongside the fixed public list and the two-day restricted quota, so the Milad day stays claimable through the year without being carried as an open leave request.