Public holidays in Turkmenistan

Public holidays in Turkmenistan fall into three main categories: (a) holidays commemorating historical events (the defense of the Geok Teppe fortress in 1881, World War II in 1941-45) and landmarks since the declaration of Turkmenistan's independence in 1991 (Independence Day, Neutrality Day, State Flag Day, Day of Revival and Unity); (b) traditional and religious holidays revived since independence (Nowruz Bayram, Kurban Bayram, Oraza Bayram); and (c) new holidays introduced to honor and reinforce cultural traditions of the Turkmen people (harvest, water conservation, folk singers, Turkmen carpets, and the Turkmen racing horse).

List of Public Holidays in Turkmenistan (as of 2009):

• January 1 – New Year's Day
• January 12 – Memorial Day (honoring those who fell on 12 January 1881 defending the Geok Tepe fortress against the Russian troops)
• February 19 – State Flag of Turkmenistan Day
• March 8 – Turkmen Woman's Day (coincides with International Woman's Day)
• March 20-21 – Nowruz Bayram, national spring holiday
• First Sunday in April – "A Drop of Water—A Grain of Gold" Festival
• Last Sunday in April – Turkmen Racing Horse Festival
• May 8 – Day of Commemoration of the National Heroes of the 1941-1945 World War
• May 9 – Victory Day (World War II)
• May 18-19 – Day of Revival, Unity, and the Poetry of Magtymguly
• Last Sunday in May – Carpet Day
• June 27 - Day of Turkmen Workers of Culture and Art (introduced in 2009)
• Third Sunday in July – Galla Bayramy (celebration of the wheat harvest)
• Second Sunday in August - Turkmen Melon Day
• Second Saturday in September – Day of the Workers in the Oil, Gas, Power, and Geological Industry
• Second Sunday in September – Turkmen Bakhshi Day (celebrating the Turkmen folk singers)
• October 6 – Day of Commemoration and National Mourning (commemorating the victims of the 1948 earthquake that destroyed Ashgabat)
• October 27-28 – Independence Day
• First Saturday in November – Health Day
• Last Sunday in November – Harvest Festival (celebration of the cotton harvest)
• First Sunday in December – Good Neighborliness Day
• December 12 – Day of Neutrality and Student Youth Day. The day celebrates the status of permanent positive neutrality recognized by the UN General Assembly Resolution on Permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan on December 12, 1995.
• First day of the lunar month of Bayram (Shawwal) – Oraza Bayram (the Muslim holiday of Eid ul-Fitr), breaking of the fast at the end of the lunar month of Oraza (the ninth month in the Islamic calendar)
• Moving holiday (3 days) – Kurban Bayram (the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha)

References

• Independent Neutral Turkmenistan: 10 Glorious Years of the Epoch of Turkmenbashi the Great, Ashgabat, 2001, pp. 49-51 (Russian).
• Turkmenistan to the Heights of the Golden Age, Ashgabat, 2005, p. 44.
• Statistical Yearbook of Turkmenistan 2000-2004, National Institute of State Statistics and Information of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, 2005, pp. 6-7.

External links

• Public holidays in Turkmenistan, Turkmenistan: The Bradt Travel Guide, 2006, pp. 48-51, on Google Books
• Holidays in Turkmenistan