HOLIDAYS IN THE MALDIVES
Clarence Maloney and Nils Finn Munch-Petersen wrote in the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “Festivals in Maldives, though religious, also increase the sense of unity among Maldivians, as they involve communal worship, festivities, and entertainment. Weather is keenly observed, along with fishing seasons and agricultural festivals. The new-moon festival that came from Sri Lanka has now almost disappeared.” Islamic religious days are observed.Ramadan fasting is almost universally practiced, There is a lot of feasting at night though. |~|
Holidays in the Maldives
January 1 — New Year's Day
January 7 — National Day
July 26 and 27… Independence Day
August 12 — Huravee Day
November 3 — Victory Day
November 11 and 12 — Republic Day
December 10 — Fisherman’s Day
Islamic Holidays in the Maldives
Ramadan (variable, set according to the Muslim calendar)
Id al-Fitr (variable, set according to the Muslim calendar)
Id al-Adha (variable, set according to the Muslim calendar)
Hijra New Year (variable, set according to the Muslim calendar)
Mawlid an Nabi (variable, set according to the Muslim calendar)
Calendars and Expression of Time in the Maldives
Maldivians have five calendar systems: 1) an Indian zodiacal calendar (naksatra); 2) an Indian solar calendar; 3) an Arab solar calendar; 4) an Islamic religious calendar, ten days shorter than the solar year; and 5) the “English” calendar. Most Islamic holidays are based on the Islamic lunar calendar. There are agricultural festivals set according to the Indian zodiac calendar. Other festivals are observed with their respective calendars. [Source: Clarence Maloney and Nils Finn Munch-Petersen, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Paul Hockings, 1992 |~|]
Many businesses outside the tourist world operate on the Islamic week, with a Friday-Saturday weekend and a work week that runs from Sunday to Thursday. Friday afternoon prayers is a time when people gather and socialize. Many businesses also closed for 10 to 15 minutes five times a day during the Islamic prayer times. Many tour companies and dive shop are best contacted in the evening. During the day the owners are out on trips.
Life Cycle Events in the Maldives
Important life cycle celebrations include giving a name about a week after birth, circumcisions of boys, symbolic circumcision of baby girls (less practiced than it used to be) and girl’s puberty ceremony. Marriage is less important as a life ceremony. [Source: Clarence Maloney and Nils Finn Munch-Petersen, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Paul Hockings, 1992 |~|]
According to the “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”: A Maldivian baby is usually given an Arabic name on the seventh day after the birth. The naming ceremony is accompanied with ritual prayers followed by a celebration with close friends and relatives. Food is also frequently given to the poor. In some of the islands, it is also customary to shave a baby's hair on the day of naming. [Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”, Thomson Gale, 2006]
“Circumcision of boys between the ages of 7 to 10 is another rite of passage common in Maldives. The local doctor, known as the hakeem, performs this rite. In Malé this is normally done in a hospital. The circumcision ceremony takes place in the boy's home, which is decorated and visible to the community. The public is attracted to the celebrations by traditional drum music and dances; they are also treated to delicious food. This goes on while the boy lies in the middle of the room on a bed surrounded by relatives, who massage his feet and generally attempt to keep him comfortable. The boy also receives gifts. The festivities, typically a week, last until the boy is healed.”
Secular Holidays
Independence Day is celebrated on July 26th. It marks the day that the Maldives became independent in 1965. The highlight of the day is the official celebrations held in the evening at the Republic Square. The event begins with a march past by the National Security Service and the National Cadet Corps. This is followed by drills, traditional dances and modern drills performed by hundreds of school children in colourful attire. These events are interceded by the passing of floats and processions depicting traditional and modern themes. March 29, 1976, the day the last British troops left the Maldives, used to celebrated as Maldives Independence Day.
National Day on January 7th celebrates the great victory of Mohamed Thakurufaanu over the Portuguese in 1573. It used to be celebrated on the 1st of Rabee ul Awwal, the third month in the Islamic Calendar. Republic Day on November 11th marks the day in 1968 that the Maldives became a Republic for the second time. The day is celebrated every year with parades and marches. . Victory Day on November 3 commemorates the defeat of the Sri Lankan Tamil mercenaries who tried to overthrow the government.
Secular Holidays in the Maldives
January 1 — New Year's Day
January 7 — National Day
July 26 and 27… Independence Day
August 12 — Huravee Day
November 3 — Victory Day
November 11 and 12 — Republic Day
December 10 — Fisherman’s Day
Islamic Holidays in the Maldives
The two main Islamic festivals are: 1) the Bodu Eid (Id al-Adha), or the Feast of Sacrifice; 2) and the Kuda Eid (Id al-Fitr), the feast celebrating the end of the Ramadan fast. Kudaeid celebrates the sighting of the new moon at the end of Ramadan. The Prophet Mohamed's birthday (Milad an-Nabi) is also celebrated. The two Eïd festivals are important, and the Prophet's birthday is celebrated by special foods.
Islamic Holidays in the Maldives
Ramadan (variable, set according to the Muslim calendar)
Id al-Fitr (variable, set according to the Muslim calendar)
Id al-Adha (variable, set according to the Muslim calendar)
Hijra New Year (variable, set according to the Muslim calendar)
Milad an-Nabi (Mawlid an Nabi, Prophet’s Birthday) (variable, set according to the Muslim calendar)
According to the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: Maldivians celebrate” the main Muslim “festivals in the same way as Sunni Muslims elsewhere do, except on some Maldivian islands, where water is splashed on celebrants during Bodu Eid. Traditional music and traditional dances play a unique role in these holiday celebrations. [Source: Clarence Maloney and Nils Finn Munch-Petersen,“Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Paul Hockings, 1992 |~|]
The Prophet’s Birthday (Milad an-Nabi) is celebrated in Maldives with less enthusiasm than Bodu Eid or Kuda Eid and is not celebrated at all in a lot of Muslim countries. As with all Muslims, Maldivians celebrate the Prophet’s Birthday. The prophet’s Birthday is 12th day of Rabee-ul-Awwal in the Islamic Calendar. Families invite one another to their homes to share the special dishes prepared for the day.
Ramadan and Eid in the Maldives
Ramadan is the ninth month in the Muslim calendar, a month during which Muslims mark 30 days of fasting. During Ramadan, Muslims fast during the daylight hours. Cafés and restaurants are closed during the day, and working hours are limited. The exact occurrence of Ramadan varies each year because it depends on the lunar cycle. Ramadan begins with the new moon and ends with the sighting of the next new moon. [Source: Helen Chapin Metz, Library of Congress, 1994]
Ramadan fasting is almost universally practiced, There is a lot of feasting at night though. Maldivians are very intent about observing the Ramzan restrictions, which are enforced by the state. But at night in Ramzan the food is abundant. The working hours altered for the month, the government offices being open from 9.00a.m. to 1.30p.m. and the private sector also closing for the day at 3.00 in the afternoon.
Isaac Henry Victor, “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”“During the month of Ramadan, islanders fast during the daytime, and restaurants are closed. Working hours are also limited. Selling food during the daytime in the month of Ramadan is a punishable crime in Maldives. In addition to abstaining from food and drink, Maldivians also abstain from worldly pleasures such as listening to music or dancing. Yet at night and until dawn, the fast is broken, and the Koran and special prayers are recited. [Source:Isaac Henry Victor, “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”, Thomson Gale, 2006]
Kuda Eid is a period of feasting that follows the end of Ramadan and is the first day of the month of Shawaal in the Islamic Calendar. Early in the morning men and women gather at the mosque to perform prayer. At each house a feast in prepared and family, friends and neighbours are invited. Kuda Eid is celebrated for a period to three days during which public holiday period is observed. Those who are well off are expected to be generous to those less fortunate than themselves
Eid-ul Al’h’aa
Eid-ul Al’h’aa falls on the 10th day on Zul Hijja in the Islamic Calendar. It is held at the end of the Hajj — the annual pilgrimage to Mecca — and is a time for celebrations and feasting. This is the longest holiday during the year, People make preparations well in advance to visit their friends and relatives in other islands. The holiday period is between five to seven days. All over the Maldives the period is one of celebrations. Traditional sports, music and dance go hand in hand with modern sports and music. The young, old, male and female take part in the celebrations
Eid-ul Al’h’aa — Eid ul Adha (10 Dhul-Hijja), The Festival of Sacrifice — is celebrated on the tenth day of the last month of the Muslim year. Over 4000 years ago on this day, Muslims believe, the prophet Abraham had a vision in which God told him to sacrifice his son Ismael. Abraham took his son to a hill in Palestine (the site of the present-day Temple of the Rock in Jerusalem) as God told him to do, and just as Abraham was about to sink the knife into his son's chest, God appeared and told Abraham that he was only testing his faith, and for Abraham to sacrifice a sheep instead.
To commemorate this moment all Muslims who can afford to must sacrifice a sheep, goat, camel or cow in memory of the great sacrifice and Abraham's submission to the will of God. Men usually do the killing and butchering and women hose blood and guts. Sometimes children blow up the lungs like balloons.
Eid ul Adha remembers the prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son when God ordered him to. According to the BBC: “God appeared in a dream to Ibrahim and told him to sacrifice his son Isma'il. Ibrahim and Isma'il set off to Mina for the sacrifice. As they went, the devil attempted to persuade Ibrahim to disobey God and not to sacrifice his beloved son. But Ibrahim stayed true to God, and drove the devil away.As Ibrahim prepared to kill his son God stopped him and gave him a sheep to sacrifice instead. [Source: BBC, September 7, 2009 |::|]
Funerals in the Maldives
Maldivian funerals are in accordance with Islamic practices and generally have very simple ceremonies, with funeral prayers offered to the soul of the dead. After the katibu is informed of a death a conch shell is blown. The body is washed and shrouded in accordance with Islamic traditions and laid in a coffin or a leaf box. The grave is dug by family members of friend and the corpse is laid in with the head facing Mecca while passages form the Koran are read. [Source: Clarence Maloney and Nils Finn Munch-Petersen, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Paul Hockings, 1992 |~|]
The death ritual is important but ittle emotion is displayed. Question about life after death are not matters of great concern. According “Countries and Their Cultures”: In accordance with the Islamic faith, the people of Maldives believe that people go to heaven or hell after death, depending on how faithfully they adhered to the five tenets of Islam while still alive. Believers are considered worthy to enter heaven if they were faithful to repeat the creed "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah"; fast during the month of Ramadan; pray five times every day; give alms to the poor; and, if possible, make a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca sometime during their lifetime. [Source: “Countries and Their Cultures”, The Gale Group Inc., 2001]
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, Republic of Maldives Department of Information, the government site (maldivesinfo.gov.mv), Ministry of Tourism Maldives (tourism.gov.mv), Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC, visitmaldives.com), The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Wikipedia and various books, websites and other publications.
Last updated February 2022