Culture calendar
Every date that matters
Nineteen dates, and they are not all the same kind of thing. Filter by what they are, jump to a month, open the ones you want. Every date and its legal status is checked against Azerbaijani state sources, linked at the foot of the page.
January
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1 and 2 New Year Yeni il bayramı Read more Close
two non-working days
New Year is the biggest secular celebration of the Azerbaijani year, and a far bigger deal than Christmas is in most of Europe. Families gather, the table is enormous, and the television runs holiday concerts nobody entirely watches.
For students abroad it is the hardest date to miss, which is part of why Solidarity Day sits on 31 December.
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20 Day of National Mourning Qara Yanvar, Black January Read more Close
non-working day
On the night of 19 to 20 January 1990, Soviet troops entered Baku to put down the growing independence movement. More than a hundred civilians were killed and hundreds wounded. The Soviet Union itself was gone within two years.
It is a day of national mourning. People walk up to Martyrs' Lane, the memorial on the hillside above the bay in Baku where the victims are buried, and lay red carnations. At noon the country stops for a minute of silence.
Abroad it is marked quietly. If we do something, expect a small gathering and no music.
February
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26 Khojaly Remembrance Day Xocalı soyqırımı günü Read more Close
declared by the Milli Majlis, February 1994
Azerbaijan commemorates the killing of civilians in the town of Khojaly on the night of 25 to 26 February 1992, during the first war over Karabakh. The Azerbaijani parliament designated the date in 1994.
It is observed as a day of mourning, with a minute of silence at noon and commemorations at embassies and student associations abroad. Flags fly at half mast.
March
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8 Women's Day Qadınlar günü Read more Close
non-working day
Widely and warmly celebrated, and not a token gesture. Flowers sell out across Baku, and every mother, grandmother, sister and female colleague gets called.
It lands twelve days before Novruz, so the second half of March in Azerbaijan is essentially one long stretch of celebration.
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20 to 24 Novruz Novruz bayramı Read more Close
five non-working days, set annually
Novruz is the new year of the spring equinox. Far older than any modern border, celebrated in different forms across the region, and listed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. In Azerbaijan it is the warmest holiday of the year and the one people fly home for.
The four Tuesdays before it each belong to an element: water, fire, wind, earth. On the table sits a xonça, a tray holding səməni, the sprouted wheat that is the whole point of the holiday, along with painted eggs and the sweets every grandmother is quietly judged on. Şəkərbura. Paxlava. Qoğal. Children knock on doors and leave a hat behind to be filled with sweets. Everyone jumps over a bonfire so last year's troubles stay on the other side of it.
It is the easiest way into Azerbaijani culture for people who know nothing about it, which is why Novruz is the event to drag your housemates to.
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31 Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis Azərbaycanlıların soyqırımı günü Read more Close
presidential decree, March 1998
The date commemorates Azerbaijanis killed in the massacres of March 1918 in Baku and other regions, at the end of the Russian empire and in the turmoil that followed. President Heydar Aliyev designated it by decree in 1998.
Marked with official statements and commemorations rather than public events.
May
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9 Victory Day over Fascism Faşizm üzərində qələbə günü Read more Close
non-working day
Marks the end of the Second World War in Europe. Around 600,000 people from Azerbaijan served and a large share never came back. Baku's oil fuelled much of the Soviet war effort, which is a point of real historical pride.
Not to be confused with Victory Day on 8 November. Different war, different date.
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28 Independence Day Müstəqillik Günü Read more Close
non-working day
On 28 May 1918 the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was declared. A secular parliamentary republic, one of the first in the Muslim world, and among the earliest states anywhere to give women the vote. It lasted twenty three months before the Red Army ended it in April 1920. The tricolour it flew is the flag Azerbaijan uses today.
For decades the date was called Republic Day. A law passed in October 2021 renamed 28 May as Independence Day, and gave 18 October the name Day of Restoration of Independence. If you see the old name, it is this same day.
June
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15 Day of National Salvation Milli Qurtuluş Günü Read more Close
non-working day
Marks Heydar Aliyev's return to lead the country on 15 June 1993, during a period of severe instability and internal conflict in the first years of independence.
A state holiday with official ceremonies.
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26 Armed Forces Day Silahlı Qüvvələr Günü Read more Close
non-working day
The date goes back to 26 June 1918, when the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic formed its national army. Modern Azerbaijan revived it as the army's founding day.
Expect a parade in Baku in years with something to mark.
September
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27 Remembrance Day Anım Günü Read more Close
presidential decree, December 2020
Established after the 2020 war over Karabakh, to honour the servicemen and civilians who died in it. The date is the day the fighting began.
Observed with a minute of silence at noon and commemorations at memorials and diplomatic missions. Thousands of soldiers were killed, most of them about the age of the students reading this, which is why the day lands heavily among Azerbaijanis abroad.
October
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18 Day of Restoration of Independence Müstəqilliyin Bərpası Günü Read more Close
a holiday in law, but a working day
On 18 October 1991, as the Soviet Union came apart, Azerbaijan's parliament passed the constitutional act restoring independence. The wording was deliberate. Not a new country, a restored one, picking up where 1918 left off.
Together with 28 May it makes a pair. One date for the republic that was lost, one for the day it came back.
November
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8 Victory Day Zəfər Günü Read more Close
non-working day
Marks the end of the 2020 war over Karabakh, known in Azerbaijan as the 44 day war. Azerbaijani forces took the city of Şuşa on 8 November 2020, and a ceasefire agreement ended the fighting two days later.
In Azerbaijan there are ceremonies and flags, and there is remembrance. For a lot of families, including families in this community, the day carries grief alongside everything else. What we do reflects both.
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9 State Flag Day Dövlət Bayrağı Günü Read more Close
non-working day
The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic adopted the tricolour on 9 November 1918. Blue stands for Turkic heritage, red for progress and a modern society, green for Islam, with a crescent and an eight pointed star in the middle. Banned throughout the Soviet period, it returned as the state flag when independence was restored in 1991.
Flag Day was set by decree in 2009 on the anniversary of that adoption. It falls the day after Victory Day, so the two run together as one long moment in early November when the flag is on everything.
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12 Constitution Day Konstitusiya Günü Read more Close
a holiday in law, but a working day
The constitution of independent Azerbaijan was adopted by referendum on 12 November 1995. Marked officially rather than celebrated, and everybody works as normal.
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17 National Revival Day Milli Dirçəliş Günü Read more Close
a holiday in law, but a working day
Marks the mass demonstrations that began in Baku's central square in November 1988, in the closing years of Soviet rule, and grew into the independence movement.
A working day, marked with official statements.
December
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31 Day of Solidarity of World Azerbaijanis Dünya Azərbaycanlılarının Həmrəyliyi Günü Read more Close
non-working day
Established in 1991, this day is about the ties between Azerbaijanis everywhere, including the tens of millions who live outside the country. It runs straight into New Year's Eve.
For a student association abroad it is arguably the most fitting date on the whole list. A holiday about being Azerbaijani somewhere else, marked by people being Azerbaijani somewhere else.
Lunar year
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Moves Ramazan holiday, Eid al-Fitr Ramazan bayramı Read more Close
two non-working days, announced each year
The end of the month of fasting. The dates shift by roughly eleven days a year against the Western calendar, so they are announced annually rather than fixed.
Azerbaijan is a secular state with a majority Muslim population, and the holiday is widely kept as a family occasion whether or not people fasted.
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Moves Gurban holiday, Eid al-Adha Qurban bayramı Read more Close
two non-working days, announced each year
The feast of sacrifice, the other major Islamic holiday on the Azerbaijani calendar. Meat is shared with relatives, neighbours and people who need it.
Like Ramazan, the government sets the exact dates each year, usually the preceding December.
The dates come from
- Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, holidays , which reproduces article 105 of the Labour Code
- azerbaijan.az, official holidays
- Office of the President, commemorative dates
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs, statement on 31 March
Novruz, Ramazan and Gurban move, and when a holiday lands on a weekend the Labour Code adds a day, so the exact days off shift every year. The government publishes the next year's calendar each December. If something here is wrong or badly put, tell the board. We would rather fix it than defend it.