Festivals, public holidays and Ramadan in Oman

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Holidays and weekends differ fundamentally from European Christian customs.

The Omani weekend is on Friday and Saturday according to the European calendar.The Arabic "Sunday" therefore falls on Friday. Authorities and most state-run museums and fortresses are closed on Friday.

The only non-religious public holiday is National Day, which is always celebrated on 18 and 19 November (or a few days later).Days in advance, lampposts, motorway embankments, houses and souq alleys, expensive Cheeps and simple Toyotas are lavishly decorated with the white, red and green national flag and colourful fairy lights and curtains. Omanis love their ruler, who has done so much for the country - and celebrate the bank holidays and the achievements of prosperity and peace over the past decades with sincere happiness and gratitude. Honking motorcades and spontaneous celebrations in the middle of the motorway  - and the accompanying traffic chaos -  are to be expected in any case. Travellers spending the day in Oman can only be advised: Get infected, buy a chicken to wave too - Oman's clever politics are in many facets - culturally structured differently to Western systems - definitely worth a compliment!

All other festivals and public holidays are of religious origin and therefore tied to the Islamic calendar.

The Islamic calendar is based on the lunar year, which only lasts 354/355 days, and therefore shifts forward by around 11 days each year compared to the European calendar. A lunar month has only 29 or 30 days.

The Islamic calendar begins with the emigration (hedjra) of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Yatrib-Medina on 15/16 July of the year 622. The following formula is used to convert hedjra years into Christian or Gregorian years: Islamic dating minus 1/34 of it, plus 622 (beginning of the Islamic calendar) = year of the Christian calendar.

Birthday of the Prophet, a holiday on the 12th of Rabi’al-awal
Leilat al-Meiraj, the Ascension of the Prophet, a holiday on 27th Radjah
Id al-Fitr, four public holidays from 1 Shewal, end of Ramadan
Ramadan,month of fasting
Id al-Adha, five public holidays from 9th Dhu-l-Hiddia, traditional time of reflection and pilgrimage to Mecca (hadj) in the last month of the Islamic calendar year
New Year, a public holiday on the 1st of Muharram

Ramadan: During the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, i.e. they do not eat or drink during this time. In general, the time of Ramadan is a time of abstinence, people especially cultivate family ties, help each other, donate to the poor and live consciously, which also includes refraining from unhealthy habits such as smoking.

Read our explanations on the topic of travelling during Ramadan

here

The exact start of the month of fasting and the public holidays depends on the local moon observation and is therefore only announced at short notice. Due to its geographical location on the easternmost edge of the Arabian Peninsula, these holidays in Oman can sometimes be a day different than in the rest of the Arab world.