UAE residents can expect a six-day holiday weekend
No sooner had the long weekend in the United Arab Emirates to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan than UAE residents were already promised a six-day holiday – on the occasion of the Eid al Adha sacrifice festival.
Eid al Adha is expected to start on Wednesday, June 28, and last until at least Friday, June 30. Given that Araf Day would then fall on 27 June, UAE residents can already start planning for an almost week-long summer weekend.
The exact dates of the holiday will be announced by the Moonwatching Committee. Eid al-Adha, also known as Kurban Bairam, is one of the main religious festivals of Muslims, a reminder of man’s devotion to God and the mercy of the Almighty. The holiday marks the end of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Islamic New Year will be celebrated on Friday, July 21. The Muslim year is shorter than the Gregorian year by 11-12 days, so the date is floating. The New Year is celebrated on the first day of the Islamic month of Muharram, also the first day of the Hijra. Hijra in Islam is the relocation of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622, which allowed the Prophet to escape persecutors and establish the first Islamic state.
The Prophet Muhammad’s birthday in 2023 will fall on 29 September. The holiday is celebrated on the 12th day of Rabi Al-Awwal, the third month in the Islamic calendar, and is called Mawlid Al-Nabi. It is only 300 years after the advent of Islam that the Prophet Muhammad’s birth is commemorated. As the exact date of the prophet’s birth is unknown, this commemoration was timed to coincide with the day of his death, the night of the 11th to the 12th of the third month. The date of the commemoration shifts 12 days each year.
The last long weekend of 2023 will be the days on which the UAE National Day will be celebrated: December 2 and 3. On 2 December 1971, the rulers of several emirates signed a union agreement to create a single state, the United Arab Emirates. The country will take on the colours of the UAE flag: shopping malls and skyscrapers, parks and beaches will be decked out in red, white, green and black. In the evening the residents enjoy the celebratory fireworks.
Source: Time Out Abu Dhabi
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