Hong Kong 2014 Festival Calendar

  Welcome to the year of the Horse. If you are born in 1906, 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990 or 2002, then you belong to the Horse!

The Festival Calendar in Hong Kong is a complex mixture of Public Holidays, and local festivals, some are recognized by the government as a day off work.  The equivalent of a Bank Holiday in the UK or Statuary Holidays in other countries, while some are only celebrated privately and are not a day off work.  And then some are a combination such as the Luna New Year which has a government mandated 3 working day holiday, but is celebrated by may people for longer than this, even though they can't necessarily get days off work. 

In many industries in Hong Kong the Chinese New Year festivals is much longer, particularly in those where it is expected, at least historically, that family members will have long distances to travel to "go back" to their ancesetoral place of origin to spend time with extended family.  For example small construction work and builders take as much as two weeks off work at this time.

On the other hand with the demands of modern commerce and the need to earn a living many shops actually choose to open every day of the holiday, so it is common today to find supermarkets, electronics stores, boutiques and of course restaurants open ever day of the Lunar New Year festival.

In the table below I have specified which are Public Holidays and which are not, and provided some notes where matters are not clear. For the festivals which are not Public Holidays they may well be celebrated just as seriously, and indeed sometimes more so, by the older generation and retired people.  The Hungry Ghosts festival is a good example of this which is not a Public Holiday, yet you can see it being celebrated as people burn paper offerings and leave out food for the ghosts, who are after all "hungry". 

Click through on the names of the festivals below to find out more about their history and how we celebrate them in Hong Kong.

See also Festivals in HK 2013 and HK Calendar 2015

Festival Date in 2014 Public Holiday Notes     The first day of January 1 Jan Y Wed, Happy New Year! Chinese New Year of the Horse 31 Jan Y Fri - A day to spend with family traditionally The second day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, Che Kung's Birthday 1 Feb Y* Sat * public holiday because of CNY, not because of Che Kung. The third day of the Lunar New Year . Traditionally a day to visit friends. 2 Feb Y Sun - The day following third day of Chinese New Year 3 Feb Y Compensation holiday for the 3rd day of new year falls on Sunday. Spring Lantern Festival AKA Yuen Siu 14 Feb N Thur, 15th day of 1st lunar month. Look out for lantern display at Cultural Centre! Chinese "Groundhog Day" - An official start of Spring 6 Mar N Thur, Excited Insect solar segment Ching Ming Grave Sweeping Festival 5 Apr Y Sat, grave sweeping day Easter Good Friday 18 Apr Y A day off and a long weekend for most, but also an important festival for the regions Catholics. The large quantity of Filipino workers in the territory , who are predominantly Catholic, means this is often celebrated more visibly. The day following Good Friday 19 Apr Y   Easter Monday 21 Apr Y   Birthday celebration of Tin Hau 22 Apr N Tur, 23rd day of 3rd lunar month. Lots of celebration at old fishing villages. Labour day 1 May Y Thur The Loard Buddha’s Birthday and Cheung Chau Bun Festival (also Tam Kung's Birthday) 6 May Y Tue, 8th day of 4th lunar month Tuen Ng or  Dragon Boat Festival 2 Jun Y Mon, have some rice dumplings and watch the dragon boat race! Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day 1 July Y Tue, special ceremony at Golden Bauhinia Statue Square. Kwan Tai AKA Kwan Gon's Birthday 20 Jul N 24th day of 6th lunar month Seventh Goddess' Day sometimes called Tsat-je 2 Aug N 7th day of 7th lunar month Chinese Hungry Ghosts Festival / Yue Lan 9 Aug N 14th day of 7th lunar month, worshipping can be seen a few days before the festival Confucius' Birthday - Also known as Teacher's Day 20 Sep N 27th day of 8th lunar month Chinese National Day 1 Oct Y Wed Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival or popularly the "Moon Festival" 8 Sep N Mon, 15th day of 8th lunar month Day after Mid-Autumn Festival Festival for theMonkey King 9 Sep Y* Tue - this is the public holiday the day after the festival for people to sleep in! *  public holiday because of Moon Festival, not because of the monkey god. Chung Yeung the second Grave Sweeping day of the year 2 Oct Y Thur, 9th day of 9th lunar month The Winter Solstice - Marking the middle of winter it is a day of family gathering. Many companies allow their staff to leave a little early on this day to prepare for the evening feast. As a private family festival little or nothing will be seen in public. 22 Dec N Mon Christmas Day 25 Dec Y Thur Boxing Day 26 Dec Y Fri

Notes: Gazetted holidays, e.g. the official Public Holidays decided by the Government of Hong Kong, have been published for 2014; but even before that it is possible to calculate most of them following the rules laid out in the Ordinance.

See also Festivals in HK 2013 and HK Calendar 2015