While December twenty-fifth is observed as an official public holiday in more than one hundred and sixty nations across the globe—including several countries where Christians make up less than two percent of the population, such as Japan and South Korea—there remains a distinct group of sovereign states where December twenty-fifth is an ordinary Tuesday or Wednesday on the calendar, or where celebrating the holiday publicly is actively prohibited by law. Across Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, examining the countries that do not observe Christmas as a public holiday reveals three very different motivations: secular calendar traditions, strict religious law, and state ideology.
Category 1: Countries Where Christmas Is Outlawed or Strictly Restricted
In a small handful of nations, Christmas is not merely absent from the list of bank holidays; public displays of Christmas trees, Santa hats, or unauthorized religious gatherings carry the risk of arrest or heavy fines:
- North Korea: Under the state ideology of Juche, all unauthorized religious holidays were eradicated after the 1950s. On December twenty-fourth, instead of Christmas Eve, North Koreans are required to celebrate the birthday of Kim Jong-suk—the grandmother of current leader Kim Jong-un, revered in state propaganda as the “Sacred Mother of the Revolution.”
- Somalia: In 2015, the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Somalia officially banned public Christmas and New Year celebrations nationwide, stating that such festivities have no connection to Islam and could provoke violent attacks from the militant group Al-Shabaab.
- Brunei: In 2014, the Sultanate of Brunei introduced strict Sharia law provisions prohibiting Muslims from celebrating Christmas or wearing Santa hats, and banning Christians (who may still worship privately behind closed church doors) from putting up public Christmas trees, lights, or banners that might “mislead” Muslim citizens—punishable by up to five years in prison or a twenty-thousand-dollar fine.
- Tajikistan: While not an absolute religious ban, the Education Ministry of this secular Central Asian republic issued strict decrees in 2013 and 2015 banning Christmas trees, gift exchanges, festive meals, fireworks, and costumed Father Frost (Ded Moroz) actors from all schools and universities.
- Saudi Arabia (Historically Restricted, Recently Relaxed): For decades, Saudi Arabia’s religious police prohibited any visible Christmas items in shops. While December twenty-fifth remains a standard working day with no public holiday status, recent social reforms under Vision 2030 now allow Riyadh and Jeddah malls and cafes to openly sell tinsel trees and holiday pastries for the country’s expatriate workforce.
Category 2: Nations With Different Official Religious Calendars
In several countries across North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, minority Christian communities or foreign tourists are completely free to attend church or decorate their private homes, but December twenty-fifth is a normal working business day with schools and government offices open because the national holiday calendar follows Islamic, Buddhist, or Jewish festivals:
- Afghanistan: With virtually zero native Christian population and governed under strict Islamic law, December twenty-fifth passes unnoticed as an ordinary winter day.
- Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Mauritania, and Tunisia: Across the Maghreb in North Africa, Islam is the state religion and official public holidays center on Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, and national independence days—though cosmopolitan cities like Marrakech, Casablanca, and Tunis feature festive decorations inside international hotels and historic cathedrals for tourists and expats.
- Iran: While December twenty-fifth is not a national public holiday in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the country’s indigenous Armenian and Assyrian Christian minorities—who are officially recognized in the Iranian constitution—openly decorate shops in Tehran’s Majidieh neighborhood and Isfahan’s New Julfa quarter, celebrating Christmas on January sixth (Armenian Apostolic) or December twenty-fifth.
- Israel: Because Israel’s official national holiday calendar follows the Hebrew calendar (observing Hanukkah in December), December twenty-fifth is a regular workday for banks and schools across most of the country—though Christian citizens have the legal right to take the day off with pay, and historic cities like Nazareth, Haifa, and Jerusalem’s Old City host massive public Christmas markets, lights, and processions.
- Bhutan: Nestled in the Himalayas with a population that is overwhelmingly Vajrayana Buddhist and Hindu, the Kingdom of Bhutan does not include Christmas on its royal public holiday calendar.
Category 3: Commercial Celebration Without a Day Off
- China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Japan: Finally, in several major Asian nations—most notably mainland China (excluding the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, where Christmas IS a public holiday), Thailand, and Vietnam—December twenty-fifth is a normal working school and office day, yet shopping malls in Shanghai, Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh City erect towering fifty-foot illuminated Christmas trees, turning the date into a beloved secular commercial festival of shopping, dining, and winter romance.
