When is Christmas Day?
In 2026, Christmas Day falls on Friday, December 25, 2026. It is classified here as a paid public holiday.
History of Christmas Day
Christmas Day is the December 25 holiday commemorating Jesus’ birth. Christianity reached Liberia through settler churches, Catholic and Protestant missions and Liberian-led congregations, and Christmas is visible through worship, choirs, travel, family meals and commerce. It is widely observed but not religiously universal in a constitutionally secular state with Muslim and traditional-religion communities.
Liberians also reshaped Christmas through local performance. Cultural sources document Santa Claus troupes and the masked Old Man Beggar, or Old Man Bayka, whose dancing draws on regional masquerade traditions rather than a literal Christian devil. Poro-related forms can carry community knowledge and restrictions, so visitors should not treat sacred masquerade as costume or assume the custom appears everywhere.
Christmas Day is one of the twelve national public holidays in the Liberia National Tourism Authority’s current calendar. Government offices, banks and many businesses close, while essential services and workplace arrangements can differ. A national holiday falling on Sunday is observed the following Monday; the guidance gives no equivalent automatic Monday substitute for Saturday. Presidents may proclaim special additional holidays, so annual notices still matter.
How Christmas Day is observed
National public holiday on Friday, December 25, 2026. Christmas Eve and Boxing Day are not in the official twelve-holiday calendar.
Traditions of Christmas Day
Worship and music
Congregations hold Christmas Eve or morning services with scripture, choirs and children’s programmes in several languages. Church services, prayer and music give the day its religious centre, with the form of worship reflecting local denominations and community practice.
Family meals
Households travel where possible, wear special clothes, visit relatives and share food or modest gifts according to means.
Old Man Beggar
Where locally practised, masked dancers and musical troupes move through streets collecting small gifts; audiences respect community boundaries.
Dates and observance rules are checked against the official Liberia official holiday calendar or legislation. Government, regional, school and employer schedules in Liberia may differ; check the linked official source and current local notices before making time-sensitive plans.
History sources: Liberia National Tourism Authority: national holidays and 2026 dates, Embassy of Ghana in Monrovia: Liberia public holidays, Judiciary of Liberia: Constitution of Liberia, Library of Congress: Liberia, 1820 to 1847, U.S. Office of the Historian: Founding of Liberia, 1847, Liberian Foreign Ministry: Sunday holiday observed Monday, U.S. Peace Corps: Liberian cultural notes on Christmas performers, KCUR/NPR: Liberia’s Old Man Beggar Christmas tradition, Encyclopaedia Britannica: the Christian liturgical year.
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