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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for The Gambia

The list of The Gambia bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2008, comes from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. Qualified professionals can license data for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

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04 Dec 2008 (The Gambia Journal-Banjul) The Supreme Islamic Council of the Gambia has declared that the Muslim feast of Eid-Al- Adha, otherwise known as Tobaski (or Feast of Sacrifice), will be celebrated on Tuesday, December 9, 2008, in The Gambia. • 12 Oct 2008 (African Press Agency-Banjul) Earlier today, Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh, declared Monday, October 13, 2008, as a one-off public holiday to "properly" celebrate the Gambian national football team's one-all draw against Senegal that qualifies Gambia for the African Cup of Nations and the World Cup Football elimination series. • 24 Jan 2008 (The Gambian Journal) A public holiday has been declared in The Gambia, on the occasion of today's Local Government Elections, in a move intended to discourage any voter apathy. • 30 Dec 2007 (Freedom Newspaper + The Gambia Journal) Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh has declared Monday, December 31, 2007, as a one-off public holiday to coincide with the official naming ceremony of his newly born son Muhammed Yahya Jammeh in Kanilai. • 21 Jul 2007 (The Gambia Journal) Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh has declared Monday, July 23, 2007, as a one-off day in lieu public holiday, as the 13th anniversary of the coup that brought him to power on July 22, 1994, falls on a sunday this year. • 29 Dec 2006 Sunday is the Tobaski Muslim Feast: A press release from the Supreme Islamic Council (SIC) has relayed that Eid Al Adha, locally known as Tobaski, is scheduled to take place on Sunday, 31st December. • 18 Dec 2006 President Jammeh declared today, December 18, 2006, a public holiday to celebrate his victory in the September elections. • 01 Dec 2006 Next legislative elections will be held on January 25, 2007. • 10 Nov 2006 The President of the Republic His Excellency Alhagie Dr. Yahya AJJ Jammeh has declared Friday 10th November 2006 as a National Day of Mourning throughout the country following the tragic fire incident at the Kanifing East Estate on Monday which claimed the lives of six of the 18 young men. • 23 Oct 2006 Both Monday October 23rd and Tuesday October 24th, 2006, have been declared public holidays, on the occasion of the Eid al Fitr. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the The Gambia public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Governing Law: Official public holidays in the Gambia were regulated by the Labour Act of 1990. However, since the 1994 coup, and the subsequent 1997 Constitution, the President, holds the executive powers under Section 76 sub-section 1, to declare all public holidays in the Gambia. Current President Jammeh, has made it a habit to declare one-off public holidays. • Eid al Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) and Eid al Fitr (End of Ramadan) have, in the past, been celebrated for more than 1 day each (eg. in 2006), however there are no extra days that are officially allocated, on a yearly basis, as public holidays. • Assumption Day, or Sang Marie, as it is called locally, became a public holiday in 1958 but was then dropped in 1976. President Yahya Jammeh restored it shortly after coming to power, in July 1994. • Tamharit (also known as Tamxarit): contrary to the information found in many sources, this is not the Islamic New Year (in the Gambia at least) and neither is it the same as Ashura. It is actually the eve before Ashura, and is not a public holiday in the Gambia. The Central Bank of the Gambia does, however observe a holiday that it calls Tamharrat on the first day of the Islamic New Year. • Other Sources of Information For information not covered here, see the following specialized websites: Central Bank of The Gambia (The Gambia central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (maps, demographic and economic statistics), Copp Clark (financial markets' trading hours, settlement holidays and currency non-clearing days), and the IFES Election Guide (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and past voter participation).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in The Gambia, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world.

Religious Holidays : Public holidays in The Gambia that are based on certain religious calendars may be subject to local variations due to differing interpretations between different religious authorities, or to seemingly arbitrary changes in the date a holiday is celebrated because it conflicts with another holiday that is based on another calendar, or because the day of the holiday is deemed inauspicious (bad luck). To find out more about these uncertainties, see the footnote below, if any, for each specific religion.

Muslim Holidays : Muslim bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for The Gambia were evaluated using the Umm al-Qura Calendar of Saudi Arabia which is used in Saudi Arabia and in most of the Persian Gulf States. Holidays may occur a day later in countries outside the Gulf region. The sunrises, sunsets, moon phases, moonrises and moonsets used in these calculations are based on the location of Mecca (latitude 21.42°N, longitude, 39.82°E, GMT+3 hours, no summer time rules). For more details on Muslim holidays, see Muslim Calendar Holidays. For Salat (prayer times) calculations, see our Freeware page.

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2008 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for The Gambia, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of The Gambia, before planning any trip to The Gambia. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.