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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for Iraq

The list of Iraq 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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24 Dec 2008 ( Iraqi Cabinet Statement) The Government of Iraq announced that Thursday, December 25, 2008, would be a public holiday to coincide with Christmas Day. Whether this is a one-off holiday, or will be recurring in the future was not clear from the press release. • 16 Dec 2008 (Diwaniyah News) The provincial council of Iraq's Diwaniyah province has declared that Wednesday, December 17, 2008, would be a public holiday for all for all official and semi-official government departments, on the occasion of the Eid Ghadir. • 10 Dec 2008 (Alsumaria TV Network-Baghdad) Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Al-Maliki, has called for making the anniversary of the signing of the U.S.-Iraq security agreement an annual public holiday in Iraq. • 05 Dec 2008 ( Iraqi Cabinet Statement) The Iraqi cabinet has announced a four-day public holiday on the occasion of Eidul Adha (Greater Bairam), to run from Monday, December 8 until Thursday, December 11, 2008. The Iraqi Stock Exchange (ISX) has also decided to cancel all sessions coinciding with the holiday period of Eidul-Adha. • 10 Nov 2008 (BBC News) Qazim Abudi, administrative director of the Iraq High Electoral Committee, announced that the long delayed provincial elections would be held on the same day, Saturday, January 31, 2009, in Baghdad and 14 or Iraq's 18 provinces. • 08 Apr 2008 (ABC News) For the 5th anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, April 9, 2008, the Iraqi government has declared a one-off nationwide public holiday (usually this date is only observed as a public holiday in Kurdistan). • 17 Mar 2008 (Aswat Aliraq) The Iraqi Cabinet has announced that the upcoming Prophet's Birthday public holiday would occur on Wednesday, March 19, 2008, rather than the expected date of Thursday, March 20, 2008. • 08 Feb 2008 (Asia Times) Iraq has overhauled its list of public holidays, removing 3 public holidays that were indirect reminders of Sadam Hussein, created a new national day on October 3, and added 2 new Shiite holidays. In addition, Iraq's parliament passed a law to change the national flag. • 08 Jan 2008 (Iraq's Secretariat of the Council of Ministers) Late tonight, the Secretariat of the Council of Ministers announced that tomorrow, Wednesday, January 9, 2008, will be the first day of the new Hijri year 1429, and as such an official public holiday in Iraq. • 20 Dec 2007 (Al-Mashriq-print edition) The Iraqi national press office released an announcement which extended the Eid al-Adha public holiday for civil servants by one extra day and declared the following day, December 25th a national holiday in Iraq for all government offices (national and provincial). • 07 Apr 2007 (Al-Ta'akhi-Baghdad) Iraq's Kurdistan Region's Council of Ministers had decided that April 9th, the day Iraq was "liberated", should henceforth be an official annual public holiday throughout Iraqi Kurdish areas. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the Iraq 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: On May 8, 2007, the Council of Ministers repealed the previous Holidays And Public Holidays No.110 of 1972, in particular canceling the February 8, and July 17, public holidays. • Weekends: Article 3 of the aforementioned cabinet decree instituded Fridays and Saturdays as weekends in Iraq. In addition most offices work only half days on Thursdays. • National Iraqi Day: This public holiday was created in early 2008 as a non-controversial date that would offend none of Iraq's sectarian groups. It commemorates the date when Iraq joined the League of Nations (the UN's predecessor) in 1932. • Eid al Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) is officially listed as a 2 day holiday by the U.S. Embassy but unofficially is celebrated for up to 5 days. It is listed as a 4 day holiday here since no official sources could be found that change it from when it was officially 4 days. • April 9 (anniversary of the fall of Baghdad and the regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003) or Baghdad Liberation Day was a public holiday in Iraq from 2004-2006 but was abolished, nationally in 2007. However, it remains an official public holiday in the Kurdish autonomous region, for all businesses, government offices, schools, universities and hospitals . • July 14: This public holiday, instituted in 2007, commemorates the 1958 revolution, led by Abdelkareem Qassem, who spearheaded the Free Officers Movement that turned Iraq from a monarchy into a republic. • Novruz: This is the new year celebrations which date back to Persian times and are held in various forms in Iran, Afghanistan and some former Soviet republics. Traditionally in Iraq the festival is marked by country gatherings where tradition reigns, from costumes to food to music and dance. Nouroz is considered one of the most important Kurdish festivals. In 2006, the government of the autonomous region of Kurdistan called a three day public holiday. • Caveats: Due to the lack of stability in the country, the consistency of public holidays will be in flux. Traditional Islamic public holidays will continue to be celebrated by various factions and will always be, regardless of what the long term government proclamations might be. In addition, many of the decrees related to Saddam-era holidays, are either ignored, or take many years to take effect (one glaring example, July 17, which the Governing Council voted to scrap in 2003, but which remained until 2007). • Other Sources of Information For information not covered here, see the following specialized websites: Central Bank of Iraq (Iraq 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 Iraq, 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 Iraq 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 Iraq 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 Iraq, 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 Iraq, before planning any trip to Iraq. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.