Loading When the Town Stops: Sibu's Four Calendars…
Chinese New Year, Cheng Beng, Gawai, Hari Raya, Good Friday and Christmas, each with its next date worked out for you — because in Sibu the days everything closes come off four different calendars.
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Sibu keeps four calendars at once. The Chinese year runs on the moon and the sun, the Muslim year on the moon alone, the Christian year on Easter, and Gawai and Sarawak Day sit on fixed dates. So the days the town slows down are scattered across all four, and none of them lines up with the others from one year to the next.
Every date below is worked out forward from today, so this page does not go out of date. It is not the official holiday list — the state adds and moves replacement days each year, and the link at the foot goes to Sarawak's own list.
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Wednesday, 26 August 2026
expected — the confirmed day is set by the new moon
The birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, marked with processions and a public holiday.
Thursday, 27 August 2026
The fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, when offerings are burnt for the dead. Street-side offerings and temple opera run through the month, not only on the day.
Monday, 31 August 2026
Malaysia's independence day, 31 August.
Wednesday, 16 September 2026
16 September 1963, the day Sarawak, Sabah, Singapore and the Federation of Malaya formed Malaysia. In Sarawak it carries more weight than 31 August.
Friday, 25 September 2026
The full moon of the eighth lunar month. Mooncakes, lanterns, and family gatherings in the evening.
How these dates work
Each date is worked out forward from today, so this page stays right without updates. Christian feasts on a fixed day, and the two Easters, are exact. Islamic dates — Ashura, the Eids, Ramadan, the Islamic New Year — are set by sighting the new moon and announced by a religious authority, so the day shown is the expected one and can fall a day either side (Sunni and Shia authorities may announce different days). Confirm the day with your mosque, church or the official holiday list, and confirm the hours and whether a given year’s event runs with the host.
Chinese dates are worked out from the same new moons and sun positions every almanac uses, so they are exact years ahead: the lunar new year and the fifteenth night move with the moon, while Qingming and the winter solstice are set by the sun and land on one of two dates depending on the year.
Fuller calendars: Sarawak's official public holiday list — The gazetted dates, including the replacement days the state adds when two holidays fall together. · Sarawak Government portal — Announcements of movable state holidays, such as the Governor's birthday in October.
Tuesday, 22 December 2026
The shortest day in the northern year, kept as a family meal. Like Cheng Beng it is set by the sun, so it falls on 21 or 22 December depending on the year.
Town Tools builds free, public tools for Sibu and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.
Friday, 25 December 2026
A public holiday across Malaysia, and widely kept in Sibu. The council runs a Christmas programme at Sibu Town Square through December.
Thursday, 21 January 2027 · Sibu's Foochow associations
The day the first party of Foochow settlers arrived from Fuzhou under Wong Nai Siong in 1901. It is why Sibu's Chinese community is specifically Foochow, why kampua mee and kompia are the town's food, and it is marked by the Foochow associations rather than by a holiday.
Not a public holiday. Offices and shops open as usual.
6–7 February 2027 · Sibu's Foochow community
The first two days of the lunar year, and the biggest closure of the year in Sibu. Shophouses shut, the market thins out, and people travel home from Kuching, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Many family businesses stay closed longer than the two gazetted days. If you need a particular shop or workshop in the first week, ring ahead.
Monday, 8 February 2027
expected — the confirmed day is set by the new moon
The start of the fasting month. Ramadan bazaars set up in the late afternoon and many food outlets change their hours.
Saturday, 20 February 2027
The fifteenth and last night of Chinese New Year. Not a public holiday, but it closes the season.
10–11 March 2027
expected — the confirmed day is set by the new moon
The end of the Ramadan fast, kept with open house and family visiting. A two-day public holiday.
The confirmed date is announced by the Keeper of the Rulers' Seal after the new moon is sighted, and has fallen a day either side of the date worked out here. Sarawak's official list is the one to plan on.
Friday, 26 March 2027
A public holiday in Sarawak, though not in most of Malaysia — a measure of how large the state's Christian population is, among Iban and Chinese families alike.
Sunday, 28 March 2027
Churches across Sibu hold services in several languages, commonly Mandarin, English, Iban and Bahasa Malaysia.
Monday, 5 April 2027
Tomb-sweeping day. Families clean and tend graves, and many travel back to Sibu to do it. The cemeteries and the roads to them are busy from early morning, and families visit across several weekends either side of the day itself.
Cheng Beng is set by the sun, not the moon, so it lands on 4 or 5 April depending on the year — not the same date every year.
Monday, 17 May 2027
expected — the confirmed day is set by the new moon
The festival of the sacrifice, kept at the mosque in the morning.
1–2 June 2027 · Iban and other Dayak communities
The Dayak harvest festival, and a Sarawak state public holiday on 1 and 2 June. Longhouses hold open house and people travel upriver to their home longhouse — express boats and the Kapit road are at their busiest of the year.
Work on water mains and roads during the Gawai run has been a repeated complaint in Sibu, because a longhouse preparing for open house needs water.
Sunday, 6 June 2027
expected — the confirmed day is set by the new moon
The Islamic new year, and a public holiday.
Thursday, 22 July 2027
A Sarawak-only public holiday marking 22 July 1963, when Sarawak became self-governing.
Wed, 26 Aug
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