Qurban Bayram, also known as Eid al-Adha, is one of, if not the most, highly anticipated holidays of the year celebrated in Türkiye. Not only does the holiday hold high significance for the devout, but it also doubles as the longest public holiday here in Türkiye.

Referred to as "Kurban Bayramı" in Turkish, which translates as the Feast of Sacrifice, the theme of this holiday is giving charity, paying family visits, and hosting festive meals as well as gift-giving. The bayram’s religious significance is that it honors the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to Allah. The way it plays out in practice is that households, businesses or organizations may sacrifice a farm animal, such as a sheep or cow, and then distribute that meat to family and community members as well as gift a portion to the less fortunate. There are other ways to fulfill this holiday’s religious customs, rather than sacrificing an animal and divvying up the meat, such as donating to charities or the needy.

Eid holiday dates

This national holiday is the second most important holiday observed in Islam, following Ramadan Bayram or Eid al-Fitr, aka Feast of Sweets, and in Turkish Şeker Bayramı, which is a three-day holiday that took place in April this year and celebrates the conclusion of the holy month of Ramadan. The Feast of Sacrifice holiday is a four-day holiday making it the longest celebration of the year when including the weekends and additional time off offered by the government. This year for many it could be as long as nine days, starting Saturday.

The religious dates of the bayram are as follows: Tuesday, June 27 will be the "arife," which refers to the day before a religious holiday. It is intended for people to clean and prep their homes for visits and to get any bureaucratic or other such chores from businesses completed before the holiday truly begins. In practice, this means that businesses remain open up until mid-day on the "arife." Wednesday, June 28 will be the first day of the bayram, Thursday June 29 the second, Friday June 30 the third, and Saturday, July 1 be the final and fourth day, according to the customary religious calendar.

However, what can be confusing for foreign visitors is that not only do the dates of Islamic religious holidays change each year, with a variation of approximately 12 days due to their conception being based on the lunar calendar, but based on their timing, the government can use their own incentive to extend the public holidays in the days leading up to the weekends.

With this year’s Feast of Sacrifice falling at the start of summer, it has recently been decided to extend the dates to connect with this weekend as well as next weekend, which for some means a whopping nine-day holiday. However, this is an option offered to public servants and is not the case for everyone. So, public servants, and in other words all public offices, will be closed next week in their entirety starting from Monday, June 26. With the holiday ending on Saturday coupled with the inclusion of the weekend that precedes it, this makes for the potential for many people to take a nine-day holiday. Private business staff have also been offered the extra day of Sunday, July 2, which means their holiday begins this Tuesday afternoon, which is June 28, and will run through the weekend to comprise a five-and-a-half-day holiday.

What to know about it?

One of the most widely practiced customs surrounding this holiday is that people pay visits to their families, which could also mean returning to their homeland in the country or using the opportunity to enjoy their summer vacation. What this means is that many people here in Türkiye will be out and about and going places short or long distances and by public transport or private vehicles. And so, not only will these dates be the most in-demand time for vacation accommodation, but travel and getting around even in the cities can be chaotic. It is also per custom that many public transportation services will operate free of charge. That said, a lesser-known fact for foreigners is that these dates are used by many professionals as their yearly summer vacations and are actually one of the best times of the year to visit the big cities, especially the normally extremely crowded Istanbul.

A word of caution, however, for those heading down south as not only will most accommodation be booked, but they will be priced at the highest level of the year simply due to demand. Thus, if you are browsing prices on the web or planning a trip to Türkiye, then just know the prices shown for this week are not reflective of the cost of accommodation as a whole. In other words, this week's accommodation will be especially hard to find as many will already be at full capacity, but it will also cost much higher than normal. The same can be said for restaurants, which may be fully booked prior and so it’s best to plan a vacation accordingly, especially if you have your heart set on dining or staying anywhere special. While it may be too late at this stage, to plan ahead for next year, the Feast of Sacrifice in 2024 will transpire over the dates of Sunday, June 16 to Wednesday, June 19.

Dark side of holiday

The single-most important fact to be aware of is that as most of the country will be on the roads: driving during this time can be dangerous. The traffic leading into the major metropolises on the days preceding and following the holiday is infamous for being excruciating with long lines of cars trying to enter holiday towns making the headlines. But unfortunately, along with the increased crowds on the streets comes the increased threat of collision and so the other major headline that tends to surface at this time is the "balance sheet" of those who lost their lives in car accidents. So be careful, and drive safely. Be sure to keep your cool since for many this is the most highly anticipated time of year, and they will want to be reaching their destination as fast as possible.