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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for Saudi Arabia

The list of Saudi Arabia 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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13 Nov 2008 (NCS) Saudi Arabia's deputy minister for labor affairs, announced yesterday that Saturday, December 6, 2008, would be a one-off public holiday, bridging the one-day gap between the Friday weekly day off and the previously announced Eid al Adha public holidays from December 7 to December 13, 2008. • 22 Sep 2008 (Arab News-Jeddah) Saudi Arabia's Labor Ministry announced that, in 2008, employees of the private sector are entitled to a minimum of four days for each of the Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha public holidays, to begin the day after the 29th of Ramadan, and on Arafat Day, respectively. • 24 Aug 2008 (Al Watan) Basing itself on Article 4 of the Vacations List issued by the Civil Service Council in 1426 AH (AD 2005), the Government of Saudi Arabia has declared Wednesday, September 24, 2008, as a one-off public holiday for the public sector, to bridge the 1-day gap between the National Day public holiday, and the beginning of the Eid al-Fitr holiday for the government and public service. • 11 Dec 2007 (Gulf News) Yesterday, Saudi Arabia's Supreme Judicial Councilannounced that Wednesday, December 19, 2007, would be the first day of Eid Al Adha (also known as the Feast of Sacrifice). • 17 Nov 2007 (Reuters) Due to security concerns, and to alleviate traffic, a two-day public holiday has been declared in Riyadh, for Saturday and Sunday, November 17 and 18, to coincide with the current OPEC Summit. • 18 Sep 2007 (ArabianBusiness.com) The Ministry of Civil Service of Saudi Arabia has issued an official announcement to state that Saturday, September 22, 2007, would not be a public holiday, despite the fact that Sunday, September 23, is the National Day public holiday and that weekends are Thursdays and Fridays. • 02 Sep 2007 (Gulf News) Leading Saudi businessmen and economists, including the Secretary General of the Eastern Province Chamber Commerce and Industry, have called for changing the weekends in Saudi Arabia from Thursday-Friday to Friday-Saturday. • 23 Mar 2007 (Gulf News) A directive was issued by King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz will make Tuesday and Wednesday, March 27 and 28, as a municipal public holiday in Riyadh, on the occasion of the Arab Summit. • 25 Dec 2006 According to a surprise last minute statement, bringing forward by one day of the beginning of the month of Dhu Al Hijja, issued by the Supreme Judicial Council in Saudi Arabia late on Wednesday night, the Islamic month of Dhu Al Hijja began on Thursday, December 21, and therefore Arafat day will fall on Friday, December 29, and the first day of Eid Al Adha on December 30 (instead of the expected December 31). • 19 Sep 2006 (Arab News-Jeddah) Ahmed Al-Zamil, Saudi Arabia's deputy minister for labor affairs, announced yesterday that Saturday, September 23, 2006, will be a holiday for employees working in the private sector to mark the Kingdom’s National Day. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the Saudi Arabia 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: The list and dates of the official public holidays in Saudi Arabia are set forth in Article 2 of the Constitution of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (adopted in March 1992 by Royal decree of King Fahd). • Weekends: Although many Muslim countries have changed their weekly days-off in 2005 and 2006, as of December 2008, weekends in Saudi Arabia are still Thursdays and Fridays . • According to the constitution: The state's only public holidays are Id al-Fitr and Id al-Adha. Its calendar is the Hegira calendar.. These two festivals are both observed by the Saudi government for 10 days each when all government and business offices are closed. It is best to avoid non-essential business travel around these times, especially as the dates can move back or forward by a few days, depending on the sighting of the moon. Business does contunue during Ramadan, but meetings are often scheduled for late evening, after the breaking of the fast. • Eid al-Fitr :the feast of the breaking of the fast of the month of Ramadan lasts for three days. However, the Eid al-Fitr holiday is customarily ten days long at the end of the month of Ramadan and the beginning of the month of Shawal. • Eid al-Adha: the Feast of Sacrifice lasts for four days. The holiday of Eid al-Adha is also a ten day holiday usually extending from the fifth to the fifteenth day of the month of Thul-Hijja. It is observed by the government and private sector for the performance of Hajj (the Islamic religious pilgrimage to Holy Makkah). • Private Sector: Most of the Saudi private sector observes the two public holidays for three and five days respectively. • Saudi National Day became a full public holiday in 2005, and is moved to the next working day when it falls on a Saudi weekend day. • Banks: Banks in Saudi Arabia observe the public holiday periods set by the governing administrations for private sector companies. • Other Sources of Information For information not covered here, see the following specialized websites: Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (Saudi Arabia 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 Saudi Arabia, 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. Aft=Afternoon, Arm=Armenian, Bah=Bahai, Bnk=Banks and most financial institutions, Bud=Buddhist, Cat=Catholic, Chr=Christian, Cop=Coptic, Eve=Evening, Gov=Government services and civil servants, Hin=Hindu, Jew=Jewish, Lin=Linguistic or ethnic groups, Mor=Morning, Mun=Municipal, Mus=Muslim, Orth=Orthodox, Othr=Miscellaneous partial observances (usually described in the Additional Information section of this page), Prt=Protestant, Reg=Regional, Rel=Other Religion, Sch=Schools and universities, Sik=Sikh.

Religious Holidays : Public holidays in Saudi Arabia 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 Saudi Arabia 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 Saudi Arabia, 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 Saudi Arabia, before planning any trip to Saudi Arabia. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.