The Multilingual Marketing Calendar: Holidays and Shopping Seasons by Market
A quarter-by-quarter calendar of holidays and shopping seasons in Europe, the US, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia, with the dates that move each year and the lead times to plan around them.
A marketing calendar built around one country's holidays breaks the moment it meets a second market. Mother's Day falls in March, May, or October depending on where your customer lives, and the biggest shopping day in China has nothing to do with Thanksgiving.
This guide walks through the year quarter by quarter across Europe, the United States, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia. It flags which dates move, and it ends with lead times you can plan backward from. Dates for the next occurrence appear as examples with the source beside them, and the text says when a date is counted from a rule instead of quoted.
How to Read This Calendar
Dates come in three kinds, and each one needs a different habit. A fixed date lands on the same day every year, like Singles' Day on November 11 or UAE National Day on December 2. A rule-based date follows a weekday rule: Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of November, so Black Friday follows the next day (U.S. Office of Personnel Management, federal holidays).
A moving date follows a lunar or church calendar and shifts against the Gregorian one. The Islamic year is about 11 days shorter than the solar year, so Ramadan arrives roughly 11 days earlier each year (Wikipedia, "Islamic calendar"). Lunar New Year, Diwali, Easter, and Mid-Autumn Festival move too, though they stay in a narrower window.
Because the post is evergreen, the tables show the next occurrence as an example, labeled with its year. Check the official announcement before you schedule anything against a moving date.
Quarter One: January to March
The year opens with sales in some European markets, then splits. East Asia heads into its main holiday, and the Middle East may enter Ramadan.
| When | Market | What it means for campaigns |
|---|---|---|
| Second Wednesday of January | France | Winter sales run four weeks. They start on the second Wednesday of January, or the first Wednesday if the second falls after the 12th. In 2026 they ran January 7 to February 3 (Service-Public). By that rule, 2027 opens on January 6. |
| Night of January 5 to 6 | Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay | Children expect gifts from the Three Kings, so gifting does not end on December 25 (Wikipedia, "Three Kings' Day"). |
| February (moves) | China and East Asia | Lunar New Year, on February 6 in 2027 (HKO). Korea calls it Seollal, so a single label rarely fits every market. |
| Before Ash Wednesday (moves) | Brazil | Carnival runs up to Ash Wednesday, which falls on February 10 in 2027 (Wikipedia, "Ash Wednesday"). Campaign tone shifts to festive and local in the days before it. |
| Ramadan (moves) | Middle East and other Muslim-majority markets | Expected around February 8 in 2027 (The National). Daily routines shift, so move send times and social posting toward the evening and test them against your own data. |
| March (moves) | United Kingdom | Mothering Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent, March 7 in 2027, while the US celebrates in May (Wikipedia, "Mother's Day"). |
Quarter Two: April to June
Spring is crowded with gifting moments, and the same occasion lands on different dates in neighboring markets.
| When | Market | What it means for campaigns |
|---|---|---|
| April 29 and May 3 to 5 | Japan | Golden Week combines Showa Day, Constitution Memorial Day, Greenery Day, and Children's Day (Cabinet Office of Japan). Finish B2B sends before it starts, because many offices close. |
| May | Spain, Mexico, Brazil, US, Germany, Italy | Mother's Day is the first Sunday in Spain, a fixed May 10 in Mexico, and the second Sunday in Brazil, the US, Germany, and Italy (Wikipedia). Treat Spanish-language campaigns as three markets, not one. |
| Late spring | Mexico | Hot Sale is an online sales event run by the Mexican online retail association (AMVO), so plan its creative and landing pages with the same lead time as Black Friday. |
| May (moves) | Middle East | Eid al-Adha, expected May 16 or 17 in 2027 depending on the moon sighting. |
| June 12 | Brazil | Dia dos Namorados is Brazil's Valentine's Day, held the day before Saint Anthony's feast (Wikipedia, "Dia dos Namorados"). |
| June 18 | China | The 618 shopping festival began in 2010 as JD.com's anniversary sale (The World of Chinese). |
Mother's Day alone shows why a calendar built on language fails. Argentina celebrates it on the third Sunday of October, and Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE mark it on March 21.
Quarter Three: July to September
This is a quiet quarter in many European markets, which makes it a good window to prepare for the fourth. That is a planning judgment, so check your own seasonality data.
| When | Market | What it means for campaigns |
|---|---|---|
| First Monday of September | United States | Labor Day, September 6 in 2027 (OPM), marks the start of the fall campaign season. |
| September 15 to October 15 | United States | National Hispanic Heritage Month (hispanicheritagemonth.gov). Spanish-language content here should speak to US Hispanic audiences, not copy a Madrid or Mexico City campaign. |
| Mid-September (moves) | China and Korea | Mid-Autumn Festival, which Korea calls Chuseok, falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. In 2027 that is September 15, counting from the Hong Kong Observatory's table (HKO). |
Quarter Four: October to December
Peak season starts in October, and several of the biggest events fall close together, so overlapping localization queues are the main risk.
| When | Market | What it means for campaigns |
|---|---|---|
| October 1 | China | China's National Day holiday begins on October 1 and adds another multi-day break to plan around, so schedule B2B sends before it. |
| End of October to early November | Mexico | Day of the Dead honors deceased relatives. UNESCO lists it as intangible cultural heritage, so avoid Halloween styling (UNESCO). |
| Early November (moves) | India | Diwali, with Lakshmi Puja on November 8 in 2026 and October 29 in 2027 (Wikipedia, "Diwali"). |
| November 11 | China | Singles' Day, also called Double 11, became a shopping event on Tmall in 2009 (The World of Chinese). |
| November 13 to 17, 2026 | Mexico | El Buen Fin, built around the November 20 holiday weekend (El Buen Fin). |
| Day after Thanksgiving | United States | Black Friday is November 27, 2026, and November 26, 2027, followed by Cyber Monday. Many other markets run their own versions. |
| December 2 and 3 | United Arab Emirates | National Day, a two-day public holiday (UAE government portal). |
| December 5 and 6 | Netherlands and Belgium | Sinterklaas: gifts on the evening of December 5 in the Netherlands, and the morning of December 6 in Belgium (Wikipedia, "Sinterklaas"). |
Promotions in the European Union carry one compliance rule that touches every discount in this quarter. A price-reduction announcement has to show the prior price, and member states have applied the rule since May 2022.
The prior price means the lowest price applied by the trader during a period of time not shorter than 30 days prior to the application of the price reduction. Source: European Union, Directive (EU) 2019/2161, Article 6a of Directive 98/6/EC, 2019
A discount banner on a translated page has to match that rule in every language, so brief your reviewers before launch. Our guide to localizing Black Friday campaigns covers the market-by-market details.
Dates That Move Every Year
Moving dates deserve their own list because they break automated schedules. These are the next occurrences as of October 2026, shown as examples, and the sources say how each date is set.
| Occasion | How the date is set | Next occurrence (example) |
|---|---|---|
| Diwali | New moon in the Hindu lunisolar calendar | November 8, 2026, then October 29, 2027 (Wikipedia) |
| Lunar New Year | First day of the first lunar month | February 6, 2027, the year of the Goat (HKO) |
| Ramadan | Crescent moon sighting | Expected to begin around February 8, 2027 (The National) |
| Eid al-Fitr | End of Ramadan | Expected March 9 or 10, 2027 (The National) |
| Eid al-Adha | Tenth day of Dhul Hijjah | Expected May 16 or 17, 2027 (Khaleej Times) |
| Easter | First Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21 | March 28, 2027 (Wikipedia) |
The UAE's own portal states that Islamic holidays are set by moon sighting, and the Gulf press describes its figures as projections, not announcements (UAE government portal). So plan around a window of a day or two on either side, and keep creative free of a hard-coded date. "Ramadan Kareem" and "this Eid" survive a one-day shift, while "starts March 9" may not.
Even the zodiac sign is a localization trap, since English sources render it as goat, sheep, or ram. Mainland China publishes its holiday schedule late in the year, with make-up working days attached (China Briefing), so your plan for the next Lunar New Year may need adjusting in the fourth quarter.
Lead Times by Channel
The figures below are planning rules of thumb, not industry benchmarks. Start from the go-live date and subtract each step: source copy freeze, translation or transcreation, in-market review, design and QA, then the channel's own approval or print time. Add a buffer when the date moves.
| Channel | Start localizing | Why it takes this long |
|---|---|---|
| Print and packaging | 10 to 12 weeks ahead | Proofs, sign-off, and shipping |
| Website banners and landing pages | 6 to 8 weeks ahead | Design, development, QA, and SEO checks |
| Paid ads | 4 to 6 weeks ahead | Local keyword research and platform review |
| 4 weeks ahead | Subject-line testing and template builds | |
| Social | 3 to 4 weeks ahead | Native review and local community sign-off |
Teams that run email marketing and social media in several languages usually hit the same bottleneck. The source copy changes after translation has started. Freeze it first, and every other deadline gets easier.
Plan Once, Adapt Per Market
Write one master brief per moment, with the offer, the tone, and the legal wording, then adapt it for each market. The difference between translation, localization, and transcreation decides how much room each market gets to rewrite.
Plan by market, not by language. Spanish in Spain, Mexico, and the US Hispanic market works on three different calendars, as the Mother's Day dates show. A glossary and a short style guide keep the tone consistent while the dates diverge, and a native reviewer in each market catches what a date table cannot. The same discipline applies to content marketing, where a single editorial calendar quickly becomes six.
FAQ
Which holidays should I localize first?
Start with the two or three moments that already drive revenue in the markets where you sell. Check last year's sales by country, then add one new market at a time.
Why do sources disagree on the date of Ramadan or Eid?
Islamic months begin when the crescent moon is sighted, and countries may sight it, or calculate it, a day apart. That is why the dates above are expected dates with a range. Confirm against the official announcement in your target country.
How far ahead should I plan for a holiday that moves?
Plan from the earliest plausible date, not the likeliest one. Keep the creative date-free, and confirm the send date once the official announcement is out. The lead times in the table above start from that earliest date.
Does Black Friday matter outside the United States?
Many retailers outside the US run Black Friday promotions, but local events often matter more. Singles' Day shapes China, El Buen Fin and Hot Sale shape Mexico, and Sinterklaas shapes the Netherlands and Belgium. Check which events your customers already shop around before you copy a US plan.
If your campaigns need adapting for each of these markets, marketing translation from BeTranslated pairs native-speaking linguists with the marketing team's brief, so tone and dates are checked in each language before launch.
