Anyone else counting down the days to the next long weekend?

Ramadan officially began in the UAE on Saturday April 2, and after the month of Ramadan comes the first Eid holiday of the year, to mark the occasion of Eid Al Fitr.

But how many days off will we get this year?

The Eid Al Fitr holiday is from Ramadan 29 until Shawwal 3, based on the Islamic calendar.

If Ramadan is 29 days, then the holiday will likely begin on Sunday May 1, with Monday May 2, Tuesday May 3 and Wednesday May 4 taking you to Shawwal 3. This would mean a five-day weekend for those that have Saturday and Sunday off normally.

However, if Ramadan is 30 days, the holiday would run until Thursday May 5, making it a six day weekend. Work would resume for one day only, Friday May 6, before the weekend rolls around again on Saturday May 7.

Like with the first day of Ramadan, we’ll only know the exact days of the holiday closer to the time, as it’s dependent on the sighting of the moon.

When is the next holiday after Eid Al Fitr?

After Eid Al Fitr, the next holiday will be for two occasions combined: Arafat Day and Eid Al Adha. Arafat day is expected to fall on July 8 and Eid Al Adha will likely be on July 9 in 2022. These dates, too are subject to the moon sighting but we should have Friday July 8 to Wednesday July 13 off work.

You can see the full list of UAE public holidays for 2022 here.