Plan away, UAE! The year’s longest public holiday is less than four weeks away and may bring up to 9 days of rest for residents in April to mark the Islamic festival of Eid Al Fitr. It comes after the holy month of Ramadan and allows both private and public sector employees time off without affecting their annual leave.
The sighting of a crescent Moon on Sunday evening, March 10, disproved astronomical calculations indicating its first appearance in the Islamic Hijri calendar for a new month. Therefore, March 11 was the beginning of Ramadan. The period known as Ramadan among all months in Islam calendar takes either 29 or 30 days depending on when moon is seen. The Eid Al Fitr occurs on Shawwal 1st which is next month after Ramadan.
By way of holidays list released by UAE government for both public and private sectors; there will be break from Ramadan 29th to 3-days after Shawwal, so that they can observe Eid Al Fitr. If it is 30-day long month then, Eid falls on April 10th but if it’s 29-day then Islamic festival will be celebrated on April 9th.
This is how it will pan out for either case:
In case Ramadan lasts a whole 30 days; a huge gap starting Monday April 8th (Ramadan 29th) ending Friday April 12th (Shawwal 3rd), adding beforehand and succeeding Saturday-Sunday weekends this makes 9 days in total from Saturday April 6th through Sunday April 14th.
With such a scenario where Ramadan takes 29 days alone; locals will have 6 days celebrating with two other weekend days off too. From Monday morning on April 8th (the last day in Ramadan) until Thursday 11th, EID holidays will be realized. This gives one extra day after adding weekends, making it 6 working days from 6th to 11th of April.
The next upcoming holiday is Eid, the second one in the year after New Year’s Day. After that, residents can enjoy a public break for June’s Islamic Eid Al Adha which would be 4 days long excluding the weekend. This will then be followed by holidays for prophet Mohammed’s birthday in September and Islamic New Year on Muharram 1st in July. Finally, UAE National Day will fall on December 2nd and 3rd thereby making it the last public holiday of the year.
With Eid Al Fitr getting closer, it is expected that residents will have time off work to celebrate with their loved ones during this joyous period of tranquillity. Stay connected for more information and organize your feasts accordingly!
