Eid al-Adha

Eid al-Adha recalls Ibrahim’s willingness to submit to God and coincides with the Hajj season. Ghanaian Muslims have participated in pilgrimage networks for generations, while contemporary Hajj organisation involves the National Hajj Taskforce and religious authorities. The holiday is nationwide, not a northern or Zongo-only occasion, although local languages and community histories shape its expression.

Congregational prayer is followed, for households able to undertake it, by udhiya or qurbani sacrifice and distribution of meat to relatives, neighbours and people in need. Sacrifice is not a condition for respectful participation, and animal welfare, sanitation and affordability matter. The Interior Ministry confirmed Wednesday, May 27 for 2026 without shifting the midweek religious holiday.

Eid al-Adha is in the First Schedule to the Public Holidays and Commemorative Days Act, 2001 (Act 601), as amended most recently by Act 1142 of 2025. Section 4 generally prohibits opening a shop or engaging in business on a public holiday, but exempts food and grocery shops, pharmacies, licensed restaurants and hotels, food markets, licensed liquor premises and essential services including health care, utilities, aviation, fuel, telecommunications and public transport. Labour Act 651 section 72 preserves workers’ remuneration; temporary and casual staff who work receive the additional payment specified by section 77. Weekend or midweek movement is not automatic: it requires an Executive Instrument, and the 2025 rules contain stated exclusions, so the Ministry’s annual notices control the actual closure date.