Holidays

Public holidays in The Gambia are declared by the President, at times a few hours before they take place.

Here are some extracts from emails circulated among staff here, to illustrate the extent of the uncertainty that surrounds these days.

Sent: Wednesday 02 November 2005 15:41
This is to inform everyone that we are yet to receive confirmation from both State House and GRTS that tomorrow should be Id El Fitr and thus a holiday. The communications team have made numerous enquiries to the relevant authorities but no one can confirm as this depends on the sighting of the moon which normally happens around late evening.

Sent: Friday 28 October 2005 11:59
We've just had confirmation that tomorrow will not be Set Settal (national cleaning day).
Also, for those of you who made enquiries regarding the Lailatul Qadr (Night of Power) holiday, may I suggest that you listen to the national news and if it is announced that Monday, October 31st is a Public Holiday, then it is.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Perhaps I can help explain some of the uncertainty surrounding these holidays. At least as far as the Islamic ones are concerned, they are based on a lunar calendar which is shorter than the Gregorian (solar) calendar hence, annual holidays occur at different times every year. Also in many parts of the world the date is confirmed based on sightings of the moon the night before and obviously that can be affected by a host of things including a cloudy night when the moon just isn't visible! - Ash
Fri Nov 04, 11:07:00 am
Anonymous said…
hello mona..i see you are surprised about this Eid..i'll expakin it to you.hijri calendare(not ours.the arabian one)is based on the movment of moon.and it is not a definate calendare.everything is always changing.and for being sure about the Eid Al fetr.someone should see the moon with naked eyes(am i right??i mean whitout using a telescope or something ilke that..)
and when it is cloudy and rainy(like the weather we had in tehran!!)we should fast one more day..lol..but our calendar is based on the movment of earth around the sun and it is the best calendar(:ddddd)
be well and enjoy
love
Somayeh
Sun Nov 06, 05:55:00 pm
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