Abolition Day
🇧🇱 St. Barthélemy, Guadeloupe, St. Martin, Martinique
- Multiple Countries
- Public Holiday
- Countrywide
- Fixed date
Overview
Abolition Day, known locally as Abolition de l'Esclavage, commemorates the end of slavery on Saint Barthélemy. It is a public holiday on the island, a French overseas collectivity in the Caribbean, and it falls on October 9 each year, giving residents a day to remember that history.
What It Is
Each year on October 9, Saint Barthélemy observes Abolition Day as a public holiday. Because the date is fixed, it can fall on any day of the week. As with other public holidays on the island, many businesses and public services close for the day, giving residents time to take part in remembrance. The holiday carries the French name Abolition de l'Esclavage and is a moment for the island's community to reflect on the history of slavery and the freedom that followed.
Why It Matters
Saint Barthélemy was under Swedish rule for most of the nineteenth century, and slavery there was ended by Swedish decree in 1847, before abolition in the French colonies in 1848. The holiday keeps that moment of emancipation in public memory. It belongs to the wider abolitionist movement, which gained momentum in the western world in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and worked to end slavery and liberate enslaved people. Marking the day reminds residents that the island's society was shaped by enslaved people and by those who fought for their freedom.
Countries Celebrating
4 countries
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