The south has an equatorial climate, hot and dry from January-April and during August, and rainy seasons from May-July and September-December. More extreme temperatures in the north, hot and dry from November-June, cool and very wet from July-October. For more information, see Climate in Benin.

Festivals

The nation celebrates the following festivals:

Voodoo Festival, held on 10 January in Ouidah
Martyr's Day on 16 January, to commemorate an attack on Cotonou
Harvest Day, 31 December

Public Holidays

The following table shows the public holidays celebrated in Benin:

Date	Holiday
1 January	New Year's Day
10 January	Traditional Day
March/April (variable)	Easter Monday
May/June (variable)	Ascension Day
May/June (10 days after Ascension)	Whit Monday
1 May	Labour Day
1 August	Independence Day
15 August	Assumption
26 October	Armed Forces Day
1 November	All Saints' Day
30 November	National Day
25 December	Christmas Day
Variable*	Eid al-Fitr (End of Ramadan)
Variable*	Prophet's Birthday
Variable*	Tabaski (Feast of the Sacrifice)

* Although Muslim holidays always fall on the same day of the Islamic calendar, the date they are celebrated on the Gregorian calendar varies from year to year, due to the fact that the Islamic calendar is lunar whilst the Gregorian calendar is solar. Because this lunar year is about 11 days shorter than the solar year, Islamic holy days usually shift 11 days earlier each successive solar year. The method used to determine when each Islamic month begins also varies from country to country.

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