Which church holidays are days off?
The Orthodox church calendar includes religious observances as well as statutory days off. For work and leave planning, the distinction matters: a date marked as a religious holiday is not, by that designation alone, a public holiday. Most saints’ days in this calendar are religious observances rather than days off.
Under Article 154 of the Labour Code, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are public holidays. The public holiday calendar also includes 24, 25 and 26 December. Bulgaria’s standard working week is Monday to Friday, eight hours a day.
Orthodox Easter in 2026
In 2026, Orthodox Easter Sunday falls on 12 April. The four-day public holiday period runs from Friday, 10 April, through Monday, 13 April, covering Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. This is the main continuous break shown in the church calendar.
Easter days are not compensated when they fall at the weekend. This differs from fixed public holidays: when a fixed public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the first working day afterwards is a day off. The Council of Ministers may also declare one-off extra non-working days by decision.
Easter dates change from year to year. In 2027, Easter Sunday falls on 2 May, so the 2026 dates should not be reused when planning a later visit or leave.
Observances and local traditions
Epiphany, known in Bulgaria as Jordanovden, falls on 6 January. It commemorates Christ’s baptism in the River Jordan and is marked by water blessings and cross-retrieval rituals. In 2026 it falls on a Tuesday and is listed as a religious holiday.
Palm Sunday, or Tsvetnitsa, falls one week before Orthodox Easter, on 5 April in 2026. Blessed willow branches and name day celebrations mark the occasion. The wider calendar includes saints’ days and feasts throughout the year, from January observances to St Stephen’s Day in December.
Church dates and fasting periods
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has kept fixed feasts according to the new style since 1968, while Easter and movable feasts follow the Julian calendar. This distinction separates fixed annual dates from observances that move with Easter.
Great Lent lasts seven weeks before Easter. The Christmas fast lasts 40 days, from 15 November to 24 December, and the Dormition fast runs from 1 to 14 August. The Apostles’ fast precedes 29 June, with its length changing each year.