Like most countries, Morocco has its own share of holidays. Public, religious and bank holidays will vary from one country to another. This being the case, a country will have to have a system whereby they create their own holidays. For example, in Morocco, public holidays are regulated using articles 217 – 230 of the third chapter of the new labor code of Morocco.

These articles are further backed up by the decree which corresponds to such holidays. With this in mind, weekends are normally on Saturdays and Sundays. However, the government is considering adding Fridays as part of the weekends. When holidays occur on weekends, the system used for such a holiday is quite different. Any public holiday that will occur during a weekend will remain on that date. This means that unlike some other countries, the holiday will not be moved to another date. The same rules and regulations will apply for religious holidays. Though this is the case, the 2 Eids and the Prophet’s Birthday are taken or given as 2 days. Employees of foreign embassies, educational institutions and the civil service are given or take the holiday in this way. Private institutions can decide to give a one or two day holiday depending on their preferences. Since King Mohammed the VI entered the throne, there have been discussions about reducing the holidays in Morocco. Of these discussions, three recurring holidays have come up as possible cancellations. They fall on August 14th and 20th. The third holiday to be cancelled is on November 6th. The discussion are still underway as there hasn’t been any official statement to confirm their cancellation. With this in mind, it is possible that the holidays may be canceled before the end of the year or be scheduled to be removed in the following year’s calendar.

Morocco holidays 2012 currently look like this:

Morocco

Morocco

January has two holidays which are:

  • Sunday January 1st – New Year’s Day
  • Wednesday January 11th – Independence Manifesto Day

February also has 2 holidays for 2012 namely:

  • Sunday February 5th – Prophet’s Birthday Aîd el Maoulid Annabaoui
  • Sunday February 6th – Holiday Aîd el Maoulid Annabaoui

In morocco, March and April do not have public holidays. Unlike other countries which celebrate the Easter holidays during this time, Morocco is a Muslim based country. As a result, it does not have the Easter weekend as part of its public holidays and therefore it is not present in any of their calendars.

Morocco Hotel

Morocco Hotel

May has one holiday:

  • Tuesday May 1st – Labor Day. This is a holiday that is celebrated on the same day by most countries in the world.

June does not have a holiday in Morocco and therefore remains blank.

July has a single holiday:

  • Monday July 30th – Throne Day

August in Morocco is a very busy month. It has five holidays and that is why there have been discussions about removing at least two of these holidays. However, since they have not yet been implemented, they remain part of Morocco holidays 2012. Holidays for this month are:

  • Tuesday August 14th – Oued Ed-Dahab Day
  • Sunday August 19th – End of Ramadan Aïd al Fitr
  • Monday August 20th – Holiday Aïd al Fitr
  • Monday August 20th – Revolution Day which was started in 1953.
  • Tuesday August 21st – Fete de la Jeunesse which is also known as HM Mohammed VI’s birthday.

September does not have a holiday in the Moroccan calendar 2012.

October has two holidays.

  • Friday October 26th – Feast of sacrifice better known as Aïd al Adha
  • Saturday October 27th – Aïd al Adha Holiday

November has 3 holidays which are:

  • Tuesday November 6th – Green March Day
  • Thursday November 15th – Islamic New Year better known as 1er Moharrem
  • Sunday November 18th – Independence Day

December does not have any holidays in Morocco.

If you are a visitor to this country, there are some things that you may like to keep in mind. To start with, one should consider the religion of their business contacts. If their business contact is of a different religion than Muslim, it may be prudent to consult their relevant calendars as they may not be celebrating religious holidays of the country’s calendar. Instead, they may tend to be on holiday when you assume that they are working. Make sure that you do not have any business trips which coincide with other religious holidays which are not common in Morocco. It might be better to make sure you know the religion of your business contacts before you schedule a date for a business trip. Using this method will ensure you do not encounter any disappointments. At the same time, it is advisable to consult religious calendars of different religions. Public holidays which happen in Morocco based on certain religious calendars may also experience local variations. This might be a result of the dates coinciding with another public holiday or the difference in the interpretation between the religious authorities of the country. Coinciding of dates may lead to arbitrary changes that you may need to consult. In some cases holidays that fall on certain dates have to be changed as they are deemed as bad luck or inauspicious. Such information should be confirmed before a person plans any business in Morocco.

One of the religious holidays that have been made common knowledge on their interpretation is the Muslim holidays. For this case, the Umm al-Qura calendar based in Saudi Arabia is used to delegate the dates religious holidays will use. The same calendar is also used in most states present on the Persian Gulf. Based on this information, it is not uncommon for the same holiday to occur a day later in countries that are not present in the Gulf region.  Moonsets, moon phases, moonrises, sunsets and sunrises result in calculations which are based on the location of Mecca. With this in mind, it is important for one to check for any updates and changes that may happen as there may be changes for Morocco holidays 2012.

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