Eid al-Fitr

Eid al-Fitr in Sudan marks the beginning of Shawwal and the completion of Ramadan's month of fasting. Its religious core is the communal Eid prayer, thanksgiving and zakat al-fitr, the charity due before the prayer so people in need can share the feast. The Gregorian date moves because the Islamic calendar is lunar and the competent religious and public authorities confirm the festival for each year.

Sudanese Eid customs developed through many regional, urban and family traditions rather than one national template. Households may prepare ka'ak and other biscuits for guests, visit relatives or cemeteries, and dress carefully for prayer. War, displacement and acute food insecurity have sharply constrained these practices; neighbourhood takaaya and emergency-response volunteers have also sustained traditions of communal feeding under dangerous conditions.

For 2026, the Council of Ministers announced a six-day state-employee closure from Thursday, March 19 through Tuesday, March 24, with work resuming Wednesday, March 25. That range includes preparation and post-festival days and should not be mistaken for six separate religious feast days. The formal status described here comes from the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers associated with Sudan's state administration. Since war began between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023, territorial control, public administration and access to workplaces have been fragmented; an RSF-aligned parallel authority has also been announced for areas outside the central government's control. A government notice therefore establishes the intended state-service calendar where that administration operates, not proof of uniform closure by every private employer, school, bank or service across Sudan. The notices direct the Central Bank to regulate banking separately, and no reliable general rule was found that automatically substitutes every Friday- or Saturday-weekend holiday.