December | Lao National Day

Venue: Nationwide

Lao National Day is held in Laos on December 2. The public holiday marks the end of the monarchy and the establishment of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic in 1975. This celebrates the victory of the proletariat over the monarchy with parades, speeches, etc. Lao national and communist hammer and sickle flags are flown all over the country.

Laos was a French protectorate for most of the 20th century and, following the end of World War II, resistance to French control grew, leading to the founding of the Pathet Lao resistance organization by the Indochinese Communist Party. The armed struggle that resulted is what is known as the First Indochina War, and it led to Laos gaining independence as a constitutional monarchy under King Sisavang Phoulivong in October 1953.
Laos’ path to becoming a communist republic started when, in 1975, the Pathet Lao, with the support of North Vietnam and the Soviet Union, overthrew the royalist Lao government and forced King Savang Vatthana to abdicate.

On the same day, the Pathet Lao government under Kaysone Phomvihane renamed the country the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.