Egypt runs three calendars at once, and its public holidays come from all of them. The Gregorian calendar supplies the national and revolutionary anniversaries; the Islamic lunar calendar supplies Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, the Islamic new year and the Prophet's birthday, all moving eleven days earlier each year; and the Coptic calendar — a direct descendant of the ancient Egyptian one — supplies Coptic Christmas on 7 January and Sham El-Nessim, which is at least 4,500 years old and is celebrated by Muslims and Christians alike.
The Egyptian Holiday Calendar
| Date | Holiday | Description |
|---|---|---|
| January 7 | Coptic Christmas | Celebrated by Coptic Christians; national holiday since 2003 |
| January 25 | Revolution Day (2011) | Commemorates the start of the Egyptian revolution |
| March 20-22 | Eid al-Fitr (approx.) | 3-day celebration marking end of Ramadan; family gatherings and sweets |
| April 13 | Coptic Easter Monday (Sham el-Nessim) | Ancient spring festival celebrated by all Egyptians; picnics and salted fish |
| April 25 | Sinai Liberation Day | Commemorates the return of Sinai from Israel in 1982 |
| May 1 | Labor Day | Workers' holiday |
| May 27-30 | Eid al-Adha (approx.) | 4-day Festival of Sacrifice; families sacrifice animals and share meat |
| June 17 | Islamic New Year (approx.) | Start of the Islamic calendar year |
| June 30 | June 30 Revolution Day | Commemorates the 2013 protests leading to the removal of President Morsi |
| July 23 | Revolution Day (1952) | Commemorates the Egyptian Revolution of 1952; the most important national day |
| August 16 | Mawlid al-Nabi (approx.) | Birthday of Prophet Muhammad; festivals and candy (halawet el-moulid) |
| October 6 | Armed Forces Day | Celebrates the 1973 crossing of the Suez Canal in the October War |
Sham El-Nessim Is Pharaonic
Sham El-Nessim, meaning the smelling of the breeze, falls on the Monday after Coptic Easter and is the oldest continuously observed holiday in Egypt. Its origins are usually traced to Shemu, an ancient Egyptian spring festival attested from around 2700 BCE.
It is entirely secular in practice, celebrated by Egyptians of every religion. Families spend the day outdoors — in parks, along the Nile, on the corniche in Alexandria — and eat a specific menu: feseekh, salted fermented grey mullet, along with spring onions, lettuce and coloured eggs.
The feseekh causes reliable annual public health warnings, and food poisoning cases spike every year. The Ministry of Health issues advisories, and the tradition continues regardless.
Because its date is fixed to Coptic Easter, which follows the Julian computus, Sham El-Nessim moves through April and early May and usually falls after Western Easter.
The Coptic Calendar
Coptic Christmas falls on 7 January and is a public holiday for everyone in Egypt, not only for the Coptic Orthodox population of perhaps 10% of the country.
The Coptic calendar has thirteen months — twelve of thirty days plus a short month of five or six — and counts years from the Era of Martyrs, dated to the accession of Diocletian in 284 CE, under whom the heaviest persecution of Egyptian Christians occurred. It is the direct descendant of the ancient Egyptian civil calendar, with month names derived from Egyptian deities.
Egyptian farmers still use it for agricultural planning, because it tracks the seasons in the Nile valley more usefully than the Islamic lunar calendar does. Almanacs printed with Coptic month names are sold in rural markets.
Coptic Easter and Western Easter
Coptic Orthodox Easter is calculated on the Julian computus and usually falls a week or more after the Western date, occasionally on the same day and sometimes over a month later.
It is not itself a national public holiday, because it falls on a Sunday, but the following Monday — Sham El-Nessim — is, which means the whole country takes a day off attached to a Christian feast without either the feast or the holiday being framed religiously.
Coptic Christians also observe a 55-day fast before Easter, the longest in any Christian tradition, during which observant Copts eat no animal products. Egyptian restaurants and supermarkets stock accordingly, and vegan food is unusually easy to find in Cairo during Lent.
Revolution Day, Twice
Egypt has two revolution anniversaries and both are public holidays. 23 July marks the 1952 Free Officers coup that deposed King Farouk and brought Nasser to power, ending the monarchy and, within four years, British military presence.
25 January marks the 2011 uprising that removed Hosni Mubarak after eighteen days of protests centred on Tahrir Square. The date was chosen because it was already National Police Day, and the protests were called to mark it in a spirit its designers had not intended.
The two are commemorated very differently. 23 July has the military parade and the state ceremony; 25 January is officially observed as Police Day with revolution commemoration attached, and the balance between the two framings has shifted with the political situation.
The Islamic Holidays
Eid al-Fitr runs for three or four days and Eid al-Adha for four, both determined by moon sighting confirmed by Dar al-Ifta, Egypt's official fatwa body. The Islamic new year and the Prophet's birthday, Mawlid al-Nabi, each get one day.
Mawlid in Egypt has a particular character. Sufi orders hold large processions and all-night gatherings, and a sugar doll called arousit el-mawlid is sold specifically for the occasion — a tradition attributed to the Fatimid period.
Egypt is around 90% Muslim, overwhelmingly Sunni, and Al-Azhar in Cairo, founded in 970, is among the most influential institutions in Sunni Islam. Its rulings carry weight well beyond Egypt.
Sinai Liberation Day
25 April marks the completion of the Israeli withdrawal from Sinai in 1982, under the terms of the 1979 peace treaty that followed the Camp David Accords.
Sinai had been occupied since the 1967 war. The 1978 accords, negotiated by Sadat and Begin under Carter, made Egypt the first Arab state to recognise Israel, cost Egypt its Arab League membership for a decade and cost Sadat his life — he was assassinated at a military parade on 6 October 1981.
Taba, the last small disputed strip, was returned in 1989 after international arbitration, which is why some Egyptian sources give a later date for the completion of the return.
Armed Forces Day
6 October marks the launch of the 1973 October War, in which Egyptian forces crossed the Suez Canal and breached the Bar Lev Line — the operation that, whatever the war's eventual military outcome, made the subsequent negotiations possible.
It is the largest military commemoration of the year, with a parade and a national address. The 6 October Bridge in Cairo, 6th of October City in the desert west of Giza, and the October War Panorama museum all take their names from it.
Sadat's assassination during the eighth anniversary parade in 1981 has meant the ceremony's format has changed since; the mass parades of the 1970s are not repeated in the same form.
Labour Day and Revolution Day of 30 June
1 May is a public holiday, as in most of the region. 30 June was added after 2013, marking the mass demonstrations that preceded the removal of President Mohamed Morsi by the armed forces.
Its holiday status has varied by year and it is treated differently from the other anniversaries. Its inclusion in the calendar is one of the clearer markers of the current government's account of recent Egyptian history.
Egypt also has a set of non-holiday national days including Evacuation Day on 18 June, marking the British withdrawal from the canal zone in 1956, and Martyrs' Day on 9 March.
Ramadan Changes the Working Day
Ramadan is not a public holiday — it is a month of fasting during which normal work continues — but Egyptian labour law and government practice shorten the working day.
Public sector hours are reduced, typically by two hours, and many private employers follow. Traffic patterns shift dramatically: the roads empty just before iftar, the sunset meal, and fill again late into the night, with shops and cafes open until dawn.
Cairo's Ramadan streetscape — the fanous lanterns, the mesaharaty waking people for the pre-dawn meal, the charity tables offering free iftar — is one of the more distinctive urban phenomena anywhere, and it lasts a month without a single day off.
The Weekend Is Friday and Saturday
Egypt's weekend is Friday and Saturday, with Friday the day of congregational prayer. Banks and government offices close both days; many private businesses close Friday only.
Schools follow the Friday-Saturday weekend, and the working week runs Sunday to Thursday. Egypt shares this pattern with most of the Arab world, though the UAE moved to a Saturday-Sunday weekend with a half-day Friday in 2022 and Saudi Arabia uses Friday-Saturday.
Statutory paid annual leave in Egypt is 21 days after six months of service, rising to 30 after ten years or for workers over 50. Combined with around fourteen public holidays, that is a reasonably generous entitlement by regional standards. For related context, see the countries where Arabic is official and the count of countries in Africa.