How May 9 is Celebrated: Holidays and Non-Working Days in Kyrgyzstan

Transfer of May Holidays

According to the decision of the Cabinet, the day off on April 28, 2018, is moved to the working day of April 30, 2018.

This makes sense because April 28 is a Saturday, and the 30th is a Monday. Following that is May 1 - a public holiday (International Workers' Day), which falls on a Tuesday. Thus, there will be three consecutive days off - April 29, 30, and May 1.

However, with the subsequent holidays - Constitution Day and Victory Day (on May 5 and 9 respectively) - things get strange.

The government decided that Kyrgyz citizens will have days off on May 5 and 6, but will need to go to work on May 7. According to the Labor Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, if a holiday falls on a weekend, it is moved to Monday, as it could have been with May 5. But it’s not that simple. On May 7, everyone will go to work, only to have another day off... on September 3. Why? After all, Kyrgyz citizens already get three consecutive days off: August 31 (Friday), September 1 and 2 (Saturday and Sunday). Why make September 3 a day off as well?

And here we have an unexpected answer: because it is... the day of the opening of the III World Nomad Games.