{"id":2084,"date":"2026-02-17T05:25:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T05:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alcohol.lk\/?p=2084"},"modified":"2026-03-03T06:09:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T06:09:03","slug":"excise-department-announces-19-islandwide-dry-days-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alcohol.lk\/index.php\/2026\/02\/17\/excise-department-announces-19-islandwide-dry-days-for-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Excise Department Announces 19 Islandwide Dry Days for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h2>\n

The Excise Department of Sri Lanka has declared <\/span>19 islandwide dry days for 2026<\/b>, during which the sale of alcoholic beverages will be prohibited in observance of public and religious holidays.<\/span><\/p>\n

The announcement was issued by Deputy Commissioner and Excise Spokesperson <\/span>A. A. Roshan Perera<\/b>, on the directive of the Excise Commissioner General. The dry days include <\/span>12 Full Moon Poya days<\/b>, <\/span>Independence Day<\/b>, the <\/span>Sinhala and Tamil New Year holidays<\/b>, <\/span>World Temperance Day<\/b>, and <\/span>Christmas Day<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Designated Dry Days \u2013 2026<\/b><\/h3>\n
    \n
  • January 3 \u2013 Duruthu Full Moon Poya Day<\/span><\/li>\n
  • February 1 \u2013 Nawam Full Moon Poya Day<\/span><\/li>\n
  • February 4 \u2013 Independence Day<\/span><\/li>\n
  • March 2 \u2013 Medin Full Moon Poya Day<\/span><\/li>\n
  • April 1 \u2013 Bak Full Moon Poya Day<\/span><\/li>\n
  • April 13 \u2013 Day prior to Sinhala and Tamil New Year<\/span><\/li>\n
  • April 14 \u2013 Sinhala and Tamil New Year Day<\/span><\/li>\n
  • May 1 \u2013 Vesak Full Moon Poya Day<\/span><\/li>\n
  • May 2 \u2013 Day following Vesak Poya<\/span><\/li>\n
  • May 30 \u2013 Adi Poson Full Moon Poya Day<\/span><\/li>\n
  • June 29 \u2013 Poson Full Moon Poya Day<\/span><\/li>\n
  • July 29 \u2013 Esala Full Moon Poya Day<\/span><\/li>\n
  • August 27 \u2013 Nikini Full Moon Poya Day<\/span><\/li>\n
  • September 26 \u2013 Binara Full Moon Poya Day<\/span><\/li>\n
  • October 3 \u2013 World Temperance Day<\/span><\/li>\n
  • October 25 \u2013 Vap Full Moon Poya Day<\/span><\/li>\n
  • November 24 \u2013 Il Full Moon Poya Day<\/span><\/li>\n
  • December 23 \u2013 Unduvap Full Moon Poya Day<\/span><\/li>\n
  • December 25 \u2013 Christmas Day<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Limited exemptions will apply on <\/span>April 13, April 14, and December 25<\/b>, permitting the sale of alcohol <\/span>only to in-house guests<\/b> at the Tourist Board,approved <\/span>three-star and above hotels<\/b>, licensed boutique hotels, villas, and establishments operating under special permits.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The Excise Department has urged strict compliance, warning that <\/span>legal action will be taken against violators<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Excise Department of Sri Lanka has declared 19 islandwide dry days for 2026, during which the sale of alcoholic beverages will be prohibited in observance of public and religious holidays. The announcement was issued by Deputy Commissioner and Excise Spokesperson A. A. Roshan Perera, on the directive of the Excise Commissioner General. The dry …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alcohol.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alcohol.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alcohol.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alcohol.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alcohol.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2084"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/alcohol.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2103,"href":"https:\/\/alcohol.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084\/revisions\/2103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alcohol.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alcohol.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alcohol.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alcohol.lk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}