Hijri New Year public holiday will be Thursday October 15
Next weekend is a long one for all public and private sector workers in the UAE, because even though Hijri New Year will fall on Wednesday October 14, the government has moved the holiday to Thursday October 15.
“Any public holiday can be moved to the beginning or to the end of a week if it falls between two working days,” state the government rules.
That’s right, that will mean a three day weekend! Standard working hours will resume on Sunday, October 18.
It will be a dry day from 6pm on Wednesday October 14 until 7pm on Thursday October 15.
Dean Murphy, who works in operations for Jumeirah Restaurant Group, says their restaurants will remain open on Wednesday night, however their bars, including Koubba Bar, Uptown, Bahri Bar, 360, Beach Lounge, Alta Badia Bar, Harry Ghattos and The Agency will be closed.
So if you’re planning on going for somewhere that could be considered a bar next Wednesday night, call ahead first to make sure they’re open.
Hijri New Year, also known as Islamic New Year, marks the beginning of a new Islamic calendar year. A new ‘day’ in the Islamic calendar is defined as beginning at sunset, and the Islamic calendar is lunar, and so the New Year falls on a slightly different day every year.
The first Islamic year began in 622 AD, when Prophet Mohammed migrated from Mecca to Medina, meaning October 14 is the beginning of the year 1437.