Holidays

National holidays

Tajikistan's biggest annual celebration is the spring festival of Navruz, literally "New Day". Navruz marks the beginning of the Persian New Year, which starts at the spring equinox. (The exact date of the celebration depends on the timing of the equinox). The roots of the festival are Zoroastrian - the fire-worshipping religion that the Persians followed before they converted to Islam.

Islamic Holidays

There are also two annual Islamic holidays:

Eid-i-Ramazon is a three day festival marking the end of Ramazon, the Muslim month of sunrise to sunset fasting. (Ramazon is called Ramadan in many Muslim countries, and Eid-i-Ramazon is called Eid-al-Fitr in Arabic).

Eid-i-Kurbon, the feast of sacrifice, is celebrated about 70 days after the end of Ramazon. Kurbon commerorates Abraham's sacrifice of a sheep in place of his son, Ishmael. (This festival is called Eid-al-Adha in Arabic).

As the Islamic calendar is lunar calendar, the dates of these festivals move back by around ten days every year. The dates given below are approximate, as the exact date of the festival is dependent on the sighting of the full moon.