How does Brazil mark Halloween?
Dia das Bruxas
- Local date
- October 31, 2026
In Brazil the day is usually called Dia das Bruxas, the day of the witches, with Halloween used interchangeably — but it does not exist on the federal calendar. The Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services issues one order a year listing every national holiday and every discretionary day off; for 2026 that is Portaria MGI nº 11.460 of 29 December 2025. October holds exactly two entries: 12 October, Our Lady of Aparecida, a national holiday, and 28 October, federal Public Servant's Day, a discretionary day off. The 31st is an ordinary working day, and no level of government closes for it. The date lives in English classes, private-school costume days, shopping centres and clubs. What makes Brazil worth reading closely is the next entry: the country never gave Halloween a day off, and then wrote a different festival onto the same date.
Dia do Saci
- Local date
- October 31, 2026
Dia do Saci falls on the same 31 October and was created against Halloween — the bills say so in their own words. Federal bill PL 2479/2003, from deputy Angela Guadagnin, and PL 2762/2003, from deputy Aldo Rebelo, presented on 11 December 2003 and attached to the first on 19 December, both proposed 31 October as the day of the Saci. The justification states that the choice of date is deliberate, because that is when Halloween is celebrated in the United States, a festival that draws more Brazilian children every year. The Chamber's Education and Culture Committee approved a substitute text with Chico Alencar as rapporteur, and there the file stops: the current status reads "attached to PL 2479/2003 — archived". The law that did pass is a state one. São Paulo's Lei nº 11.669 of 13 January 2004, promulgated by governor Geraldo Alckmin, runs to two articles; the first says only that the Day of the Saci is instituted, to be commemorated annually on 31 October. No day off — a name placed on the calendar. The idea came from Sosaci, the society of the Saci's friends in São Luiz do Paraitinga in the Paraíba valley, was turned into a bill by two town councillors and passed the municipal chamber unanimously before it travelled any higher.
What is this topic?
No country on this board has made Halloween on 31 October a public holiday. What differs is how far each government goes anyway. The United States leaves it out of the federal holiday statute, yet the FDA polices costume contact lenses as medical devices and one Ohio city moves trick-or-treating to 29 October in 2026. Japan has no national rule at all and two Tokyo wards with ordinances of their own — one of whose mayors published a request that people stay away. Brazil never gave the day off, and then legislated a rival festival onto the very same date.
Sources and dates
Dates follow local time zones, calendars, and official notices. Check the source when a date is estimated or locally variable.