Hungarian Holidays and Traditions, Month by Month

Hungary’s calendar is full of days a visitor walks into without knowing it: a city that shuts its shops for a revolution, boots in the windows in early December, boys with cologne on Easter Monday, a cemetery full of candles on 1 November. Some days are public holidays, some are customs with no day off, and a few are foreign holidays that Budapest has adopted in its own way.

This page goes through the year season by season. Each card says what happens, where you can see it, what to taste, and links to our detailed guide and to the month it falls in. For the closures, the bridge days and the dates for the current year, use our public holidays guide; for dated listings, see what’s on in Budapest.

The Hungarian Year at a Glance

Month	Holiday or tradition	Day off?	Next date
January	New Year’s Day	Yes	Fri 1 Jan 2027
January to February	Farsang, the carnival	No	6 Jan to 9 Feb 2027
February	Busójárás, Mohács	No	Ends Tue 9 Feb 2027
March	15 March, the 1848 revolution	Yes	Mon 15 Mar 2027
March or April	Easter	Good Friday and Easter Monday	26 to 29 Mar 2027
May	1 May, majális	Yes	Sat 1 May 2027
May or June	Pentecost, pünkösd	Whit Monday	16 and 17 May 2027
August	20 August, St Stephen’s Day	Yes	Fri 20 Aug 2027
September and October	Wine and sausage festivals	No	See the guides
October	23 October, the 1956 revolution	Yes	Sat 23 Oct 2027
November	All Saints’ Day	Yes	Sun 1 Nov 2026
November	St Martin’s Day	No	Wed 11 Nov 2026
December	Mikulás	No	Sun 6 Dec 2026
December	Christmas	25 and 26 Dec	Thu 24 to Sat 26 Dec 2026
December	New Year’s Eve	No, 1 January is	Thu 31 Dec 2026

“Day off” means a public holiday under the Labor Code. What opens and closes on each one is in our public holidays guide.

Source: the public holidays from §102(1) of the Labor Code (Act I of 2012) at njt.jog.gov.hu, read on 29 October 2026; weekdays and the movable feasts computed from the calendar.

Winter: Farsang and Busójárás

Farsang and Busójárás

When: Farsang, the carnival season, runs from Epiphany on 6 January to Húshagyókedd, Shrove Tuesday; in 2027 that is 9 February. Day off: no.

What happens: balls, doughnuts and dressing up, building to the carnival’s last days. The great event is the Busójárás at Mohács, the six days ending on Shrove Tuesday. On Carnival Sunday more than 500 masked busós cross the Danube in rowboats and parade into the main square, and on Tuesday a coffin standing for winter goes onto a bonfire.

Where: Mohács, on the Danube; the street events, the procession and the bonfire are free. Read more: our Busójárás guide, Budapest in January and Budapest in February.

Busós in horned willow masks and sheepskin coats on Carnival Sunday in Mohács, 23 February 2020. Photo by Arkinessa, CC BY-SA 4.0, resized, via Wikimedia Commons.

The free Mangalica Festival on Szabadság tér last ran in March 2022; our Mangalica festival guide has the mangalica events that run now.

Source: Busójárás dates and program from the organizer at mohacsibusojaras.hu, as cited in our Busójárás guide; the carnival dates computed from Easter 2027.

Spring: 15 March, Easter and 1 May

15 March

When: 15 March. Day off: yes, one of the three national holidays. In 2027 it is a Monday, so Saturday 13 to Monday 15 March is a long weekend.

What happens: Hungary remembers the 1848 revolution and war of independence. Every town raises the flag, lays wreaths at its Petőfi or Kossuth statue, and people pin a red, white and green cockade on their coats. Budapest holds the state ceremony.

Where: in Budapest, the ceremonies and the free museums; around the country, torch processions, hussars and folk music in towns like Debrecen and Kecskemét. Read more: 15 March in Budapest, 15 March celebrations across Hungary and Budapest in March.

Easter and the Sprinkling

When: Easter Sunday moves every year; in 2027 it is 28 March. Day off: Good Friday and Easter Monday, so the city runs a four-day weekend.

What happens: church services, a family meal, and on Monday morning the locsolkodás, the sprinkling: boys and men visit girls and women with a splash of cologne and a short rhyme, and are paid with a painted egg.

Taste: boiled ham with hard-boiled eggs, horseradish and kalács, the sweet braided bread. Where: in the village of Hollókő the sprinkling is one of the best-known customs. Read more: our Easter in Budapest guide and Budapest in March; in a year with a late Easter, see Budapest in April.

1 May: Majális

When: 1 May, Labor Day. Day off: yes. In 2027 it falls on a Saturday, and a holiday on a weekend is not moved, so there is no extra day.

What happens: majális, the spring outing: food stalls, beer, music and families on the grass. City Park (Városliget) is the classic place, and at its 2025 May Day festival the Skanzen open-air museum in Szentendre put up a maypole.

Read more: our 1 May guide and Budapest in May.

Source: holiday status from §102(1) of the Labor Code at njt.jog.gov.hu, read on 29 October 2026; Easter 2027 computed with the Gregorian algorithm; the customs as described and sourced in the guides linked above.

Early Summer: Pentecost

Pentecost: Pünkösd

When: 50 days after Easter; in 2027 Pentecost Sunday is 16 May. Day off: Whit Monday, 17 May 2027, so Saturday to Monday is a three-day weekend.

What happens: the Christian feast of the Holy Spirit. Its folk side is the Pentecost king, chosen by contests to lead the village young men for a year, and the girls’ singing games that crown a Pentecost queen. The biggest Hungarian pilgrimage of the year, at Csíksomlyó in Transylvania, is on the Saturday before.

Where: in May 2026 the Skanzen in Szentendre held a Whitsun heritage festival. Read more: our Pentecost guide and Budapest in May; in a year with a late Pentecost, see Budapest in June.

Source: Whit Monday’s status from §102(1) of the Labor Code at njt.jog.gov.hu, read on 29 October 2026; Pentecost 2027 computed from Easter.

Summer: 20 August, Bread, Fireworks and the Folk Arts Fair

20 August: St Stephen’s Day

When: 20 August. Day off: yes, the national holiday for the founding of the state; in 2027 it is a Friday.

What happens: the day honors King Stephen, who founded the Hungarian state around the year 1000. It opens with the flag raising at Kossuth tér and an air parade over the Danube, brings the blessing of the new bread, and in the evening the Holy Right procession leaves St Stephen’s Basilica. The night ends with the year’s state fireworks over the river. Most official events are free.

Taste: the new bread, and a slice of the year’s winning Cake of Hungary at the Street of Hungarian Flavours. Read more: our 20 August programs guide, the fireworks viewing spots, 20 August on Lake Balaton and Budapest in August.

The Festival of Folk Arts

When: the 20 August holiday weekend. What happens: Mesterségek Ünnepe, Hungary’s largest folk-art and crafts festival, fills the Buda Castle district with around 800 masters working at their trades in front of you, and holds a bread blessing on the 20th. Read more: our Festival of Folk Arts guide.

Source: the program and the free entry from the official sites augusztus20.hu and szentistvannap.hu, and the festival from mestersegekunnepe.hu, as cited in our 20 August and Festival of Folk Arts guides.

Autumn: Harvest, 23 October, All Saints and St Martin’s

Harvest Season: Wine, Pálinka and Sausage

September and October are festival months for food and drink. The Budapest Wine Festival fills Buda Castle in September, and Békéscsaba holds the Csabai Kolbászfesztivál, its sausage festival, in October. Pálinka, the fruit spirit, is on the national Hungarikum list. Read more: the Budapest Wine Festival guide, the Csaba sausage festival guide, our pálinka guide and Budapest in September.

23 October

When: 23 October. Day off: yes, the third national holiday; in 2027 it is a Saturday.

What happens: Hungary remembers the 1956 revolution. The state ceremony is at Kossuth tér in front of Parliament, and on the eve a torch march goes from the Technical University to Bem tér. You will see flags with a hole cut out of the middle.

Where: Kossuth tér, Corvin köz and the 1956 memorial in City Park; the Hungarian National Museum, the National Gallery and the Museum of Ethnography are free that day. Read more: our 23 October guide and Budapest in October.

All Saints’ Day

When: 1 November. Day off: yes.

What happens: families visit the graves and light candles on them. The Fiumei Road National Graveyard, where Kossuth, Ady and József Attila are buried, is free to enter and keeps longer hours around the holiday. It is a day of mourning, so leave the Halloween costume at the hotel.

Read more: Budapest in November.

St Martin’s Day

When: 11 November. Day off: no, so the feasts move to the weekends either side.

What happens: Márton-nap is goose and new wine. In Transdanubia the Martin’s goose was killed on this day and the new wine tasted, and the saying goes that snow on the day means a hard winter. Where: goose menus in Budapest restaurants, the Skanzen’s new wine festival in Szentendre, and the wine towns of Villány and Badacsony. Taste: roast goose leg and the year’s first wine. Read more: our St Martin’s Day guide and Budapest in November.

Source: holiday status from §102(1) of the Labor Code at njt.jog.gov.hu, read on 29 October 2026; the cemetery from fiumeiutisirkert.nori.gov.hu, read on 30 September 2026; St Martin’s customs from the Márton napja entry of the Magyar Néprajzi Lexikon at mek.oszk.hu, as cited in our St Martin’s Day guide.

Advent and Christmas: Markets, Mikulás on the 6th, Gifts on the 24th

The Christmas Markets and Lights

When: from mid-November to the end of December; in 2026 both big markets open on 13 November. What happens: Advent Bazilika in front of St Stephen’s Basilica and Vörösmarty Classic Xmas fill the center with craft stalls, mulled wine and chimney cake, and the street lights stay up to Epiphany. Read more: the Christmas markets guide, the Christmas lights guide, Christmas concerts, where to stay for the markets, how Budapest compares with Vienna and Prague, and the lakeside Hévíz Advent.

Mikulás on 6 December

When: the night of 5 to 6 December. Day off: no.

What happens: children clean their boots and set them in the window, and in the morning the boots hold sweets and a chocolate Mikulás. The warning for naughty children is the virgács, a bundle of birch twigs carried by the krampusz, the little devil who comes with him. Read more: our Mikulás guide, the Mikulás buses and trains and Budapest in December.

Christmas Eve and the Two Holidays

When: 24 December is the main evening; 25 and 26 December are public holidays. What happens: the tree is decorated on the 24th, and in the evening Jézuska, the Christ Child, brings the presents. The city closes in the afternoon of the 24th, and the shops stay shut on the 25th and 26th.

Taste: halászlé, the paprika fish soup, töltött káposzta, stuffed cabbage, and bejgli, the walnut or poppy-seed roll; szaloncukor, fondant sweets in foil, hang on the tree. Read more: our Christmas in Budapest hub, Christmas in Hungary, Hungarian Christmas food, what is open on 24, 25 and 26 December, the Christmas Danube cruise and Budapest in December.

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day

When: 31 December, Szilveszter; 1 January is the public holiday. What happens: parties, cruises and private fireworks, since Budapest has no official display. At midnight the national anthem, the Himnusz, plays and everyone stands. Taste: virsli at midnight, lentils on the 1st for money in the new year, and pork for luck; poultry and fish stay off the table. Read more: our New Year’s Eve guide, the New Year’s Eve Danube cruise, New Year’s Eve at Kincsem Park, Instant-Fogas or Szimpla Kert, what is open on New Year’s Day and Budapest in January.

Source: market dates from adventbazilika.hu and vorosmartyclassicxmas.hu, read on 25 October 2026; holiday status from §102(1) of the Labor Code at njt.jog.gov.hu, read on 29 October 2026; the customs as described and sourced in the guides linked above.

Foreign Holidays in Budapest

Halloween, 31 October. Not a Hungarian holiday. It happens at ticketed events: the zoo’s Halloween evening, costume concerts and club nights. Our Halloween guide has the program.

Thanksgiving. Hungary does not celebrate it, and the fourth Thursday of November is a working day. Some venues cook for Americans in the city; our Thanksgiving guide lists them.

Hanukkah. Budapest has Europe’s largest synagogue, the Dohány, and a public lighting at Nyugati tér that its organizers say began in 1998 as Hungary’s first. In 2026 Hanukkah runs from 4 to 12 December. Our Hanukkah guide has the synagogue hours.

Valentine’s Day. Not a public holiday, and nothing closes for it. Our February guide covers the baths on a Sunday Valentine’s.

Source: Hanukkah 2026 dates from hebcal.com and the Nyugati tér lighting from EMIH at zsido.com, read on 25 October 2026, as cited in our Hanukkah guide.

How Hungarian Customs Differ From What You Know

• Two gift-bringers. Mikulás brings small treats on 6 December; the real presents come on the evening of the 24th from Jézuska, not from Santa on the 25th.
• Christmas Eve is the night. The 24th is the family evening, so plan for an early-closing city that afternoon.
• Water at Easter. On Easter Monday boys sprinkle girls with cologne, and a painted egg is the polite answer.
• Fireworks in August. The state fireworks are on 20 August; on New Year’s Eve the rockets are private.
• Revolutions are holidays. Two of the three national holidays remember revolutions, 1848 and 1956, and the big state museums are free.
• The dead in November, not October. Hungary’s night of candles is 1 November, a day after Halloween.

Planning Around the Holidays

Closures. On a public holiday the chain supermarkets and mall shops close, while restaurants, cafés and petrol-station shops can open. Our public holidays guide has the current year’s dates, the bridge days and the closures, holiday by holiday.

This year’s dates. Programs for each holiday are announced in the weeks before it, and what’s on in Budapest lists the dated events.

The season. To choose when to come, the best time to visit Budapest weighs each month, and Budapest in winter covers December to February.

Source: the rostering rule from §101(1) and §102(2) of the Labor Code at njt.jog.gov.hu, read on 29 October 2026.

📱 Planning a Trip Around a Holiday?

Each holiday’s program comes out in the weeks before it, and the linked guides are updated then. If something on the ground differs from what you read here, tell us and we fix the page.