A UAE astronomer has given his prediction…

We are now well into the swing of Ramadan, but when will the Eid Al Fitr holidays begin?

A UAE astronomer has predicted that the first day of Eid Al Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, will fall on Wednesday June 5, reports Gulf Business.

That means that Ramadan, which began on Monday May 6, is expected to last 30 days this year.

Of course, this is just an estimation because both the start and end date of the Holy Month depend on the sighting of the new moon. We won’t know for sure until the sighting (or not) on Tuesday June 4.

“There will be difficulty in observing the moon after sunset on June 3, so we can expect the month of Shawwal to start on different dates in different countries,” local daily Gulf News quoted Ebrahim Al Jarwan, general supervisor at Sharjah Planetarium as saying.

“But in the UAE, we can make an educated guess that Ramadan will be 30 days long this year,” he added.

ALSO READ: 14 short haul Eid break deals from Dubai

So, how many days off will we get?

Well, for the first time this year, both public and private sector workers will get equal holidays. Typically, we’re given two days off for this holiday, but when the UAE government unified the public holidays for 2019, the announcement stated that the Eid Al Fitr public holiday would be from Ramadan 29 (the 29th day of Ramadan) to Shawwal 3.

If this is the case, and Ramadan ends on Tuesday June 4, we could enjoy an additional four days off. But as always, we’ll need to wait for official confirmation.

Here is the full list of public holidays, as advised by the UAE government:

What is Eid Al Fitr?

Called ‘The Festival of the Fast Breaking’, Eid Al Fitr marks the beginning of the Islamic month of Shawwal, which always follows Ramadan.

Just before Eid Muslim families donate food to the poor, and on the first day of Eid they gather at mosques for the early morning prayer at around 5am. This prayer is often performed outside.

After the prayer people usually spend time with family and friends to celebrate the end of the month of fasting, giving children gifts to celebrate the occasion.

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