Manama: Authorities in Saudi Arabia said that the Eid Al Adha holidays in October will be 11 days.
“The holidays will start on Thursday, the fifth day of Dhul Hijja, the 12th month in the Islamic lunar calendar, (October 10), and will end on the 15th of Dhul Hijja (October 20),” the civil service ministry said.
Saudis tend to use long holidays to travel out of the country, either overland to neighbouring Gulf cities, mainly Manama, Dubai, Doha and Kuwait, or by air, mainly to Turkey, Malaysia or Europe.
Plans for a four-day holiday in about two weeks have been dampened by the ministry when it insisted that it was not declaring Sunday, September 22, a day off following claims that the day would be a holiday as it falls between Saturday, the second day of the weekend, and Monday, the official National Day holiday.
Saudis looked forward to a long weekend that would allow them to make travel plans, either within the kingdom or abroad.
However, despite the clarification from the authorities, several Saudis said that they were ready to skip Sunday.
“I live far away from my family,” a blogger said. “I will not report to work on Sunday and I will thus enjoy four days with my family. I understand that it is an official day off, but they should appreciate that I have a chance to be with my family,” the blogger posted.
Another blogger said that he did not lose hope a decision by King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud to declare Sunday off would be announced soon.
“We do have hope that the king will give us this chance to have a long weekend as we celebrate the National Day,” he said.
Until 2004, Saudi Arabia did not give a day off on National Day and the practice was introduced in September 2005 by King Abdullah, one month after he became the ruler of the country.
Prior to that date, conservative forces in the country had successfully argued that only two religious occasions – Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha should be celebrated. No other religious, social or patriotic occasion could be marked, they said.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar have traditionally given public sector employees the longest holidays in the Gulf, particularly around the two major Islamic celebrations.