Russia's official holiday calendar is set by Article 112 of the Labor Code, which defines 8 non-working national holidays — but the real schedule is far more interesting than that number suggests. Every year, the government issues a decree shifting specific days off to build longer "bridge" weekends, which means the actual non-working days can shift from year to year even when the holidays themselves don't move. This feed sends you a single reminder for the full year, so you're not left checking a new government decree every January. Click the green Configure button and choose how far ahead you want to be alerted.
Why use a reminder for Russian public holidays?
- The New Year break is unusually long: Unlike most countries' single-day New Year holiday, Russia stretches the celebration into a multi-day break that can run anywhere from 9 to 12 consecutive days off, often through Orthodox Christmas on January 7th.
- Bridge days shift the calendar: When a holiday lands on a Tuesday or Thursday, the government often declares the connecting Monday or Friday a day off too — sometimes only confirmed a year in advance via official decree.
- Banks and offices follow the official calendar closely: Knowing the confirmed dates ahead of time saves you from showing up to a closed office or bank.
- One feed, the whole year: Instead of tracking each holiday plus the bridge-day shifts separately, get the whole schedule handled with a single setup.
Why Russian Christmas and Easter don't match the West
The Russian Orthodox Church still calculates its religious calendar using the older Julian calendar, which runs about 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar most of the world uses. That's why Orthodox Christmas falls on January 7th instead of December 25th, and why Orthodox Easter rarely lines up with the Catholic and Protestant version — in 2026, for instance, the two fall a full week apart. Notably, neither Good Friday nor Easter Monday are official public holidays in Russia at all; they remain regular working days.
The "May Holidays"
Spring and Labor Day (May 1st) and Victory Day (May 9th), which commemorates the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, are celebrated close together and collectively referred to as the "May Holidays" — one of the most popular stretches of the year for short trips, gardening at country dachas, and outdoor picnics.
Worth knowing
Unity Day, observed November 4th, is Russia's newest official holiday, established in 2005 to commemorate the liberation of Moscow from Polish occupation in 1612.
So whether you're tracking the long New Year break or a mid-year bridge day, click that green Configure button and let the dates come to you.