Holidays

NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

January 1^st and 2^nd –  New Year’s Day
March 8 – Women’s Day
May 9 – Victory over Fascism Day
May 28 –Republic Day (Founding of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan in 1918)
June 15 – Day of National Salvation of the Azerbaijani People
June 26 – Armed Forces Day
October 18 – Day of Independence
November 12 – Constitution Day
November 17 – National Revival Day
December 31 – World Azerbaijanis’ Solidarity Day

Memorial Days

January 20 – The Day of National mourning (known as Black January)
February 26 – The Khojali Genocide
March 31 – Genocide of Azerbaijanis

Holidays with flexible dates

Religious holidays

NOVRUZ (Novruz Bayramı ) – spring holiday

This Muslim holiday of welcoming the spring is the celebration of the Iranian New Year. It is connected with big preparations, which start month before the celebration and culminate on 20-24th of March (around March 20, vernal equinox occurs in the northern hemisphere). Celebration includes various rituals (sprouted wheat is grown as a symbol of abundance with magic abilities), singing songs, dancing, jumping over the fires, preparations of various traditional meals, painting eggs and visiting relatives. Many of them remind us of Easter.

The historical roots of Novruz Holiday in Azerbaijan go back to the very ancient times – to the 3^rd millennium. Besides Azerbaijan, Novruz is celebrated also in Iran, Albania, Afghanistan, Georgia and other countries in the Central Asia. In 2009, Novruz was officially registered in the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
In 2012, it is celebrated on March 20-24 (non-working days!).

RAMADAN (Ramazan Bayramı)

Traditional religious holiday of the Muslim world is Ramadan. Ramadan is the 9^th month of the year in the Islamic lunar calendar. According to the tradition, first verses of the Koran /Gur’an, the Holy book of Islam, were revealed to the prophet Muhammad that month.

During Ramadan, Muslims are fasting for 30 days, from sunrise to sunset. Islamic lunar year is 11-12 days longer than solar year. That is why Ramadan has no fixed date. This year it starts on August 19^th.

GURBAN (Qurban Bayramı) – the holiday of making sacrifice

Gurban is Islamic holiday – culminating event of the pilgrimage to Mecca. It is celebrated 70 days after Ramadan in the memory of Prophet Ibrahim’s sacrifice to God. The members of a family wear their best dresses and spend time praying and thanksgiving. They immolate a domestic animal (usually a goat or a sheep). This year it is celebrated on October 25-26^th (non-working days).

• New Year’s Day, Women’s Day, Victory Day over fascism, Republic Day, Day of National Salvation of the Azerbaijani People; Armed Forces Day, World Azerbaijanis‘ Solidarity Day, Novruz, Gurban and Ramadan holidays are nonworkdays.

• Working during holidays which are nonworkdays is allowed only on exclusive occasions defined in the present Code.

• Days to celebrate holidays like Novruz, Gurban and Ramadan for the next year are defined and made public by the relevant executive power authorities till the end of December of the current year.

• If days-off are coinciding with holidays, the said days-off are transferred as the next working day after the expiry of the holiday period.

• If holidays like Gurban and Ramadan are coinciding with other holidays or days-off, the next working day is deemed as a day-off.

• In case when holidays and days-off are following each other or vice versa, the following working days or days-off can be changed at the basis of the decision taken by the relevant executive power authorities in order to ensure the consistency of working days and days-off.