Christmas Day

Christmas Day is a national public holiday in Indonesia, allowing Christian communities across the country to celebrate the birth of Jesus through worship, music, meals and visiting. In regions with large Christian populations, church life and public decorations can shape the whole holiday season; elsewhere, families and institutions mark the day in their own ways.

Catholic and Protestant congregations hold Christmas Eve or Christmas morning services in Bahasa Indonesia and regional languages, with music and family meals reflecting local cultures. Celebrations are especially visible in North Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, Papua, Maluku, North Sumatra and urban churches, but security, traffic and worship arrangements vary. Interfaith neighbours and authorities may help protect services without turning Christmas into a generic secular event.

Friday, December 25 is the 2026 national holiday for the Birth of Jesus Christ. Thursday, December 24 is cuti bersama and is canonicalised to this guide; it is not Christmas Day and private employers decide implementation under applicable rules. Government offices close, while banks, markets, transport and visitor services issue their own year-end schedules. No additional Monday substitute appears in the SKB merely because Christmas creates a long weekend.