Eid al-Adha

Eid al-Adha begins on 10 Dhu al-Hijjah during the Hajj season and recalls Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice in obedience to God. The Day of Arafat on 9 Dhu al-Hijjah precedes it and is the culminating day for pilgrims standing at Arafat. In 2026 Egypt’s official calendar placed Arafat on Tuesday, May 26 and the first Eid day on Wednesday, May 27, subject to the country’s authoritative lunar process.

After communal prayer, households able to do so may arrange an udhiya sacrifice and distribute portions to relatives, neighbours and people in need. Others participate through donations, meals, greetings or visits; owning an animal is not a condition of belonging. Egypt regulates slaughterhouses, livestock markets, sanitation and waste because informal street slaughter can create animal-welfare and public-health problems, and travellers should distinguish domestic festival practice from the rites performed by pilgrims in Saudi Arabia.

Article 129 of Labour Law 14 of 2025 entitles private-sector workers to fully paid leave on official holidays designated by the competent minister. If work is necessary, the worker receives the ordinary wage for the day plus twice that wage, or—on a written request—a substitute day off. Ministry of Labour Decree 294 of 2025 lists the recurring paid holidays and permits the minister to move one to the beginning or end of the working week. Public employees are covered through the Prime Minister’s dated decisions. There is therefore no automatic weekend-substitution formula: the announced date for the year controls, while examinations and essential services may follow separately published schedules. Cabinet Decision 1516/2026 made May 26–31 paid leave for government and public-sector bodies, and the Labour Minister separately aligned workers covered by Labour Law 14/2025 for all six days. Scheduled examinations could continue. These dated decisions, not a permanent six-day entitlement, control this calendar.