Kurban Bayrami the Festival of the Sacrifice begins on the afternoon of Sunday 7th December, 70 days after Ramazan, and will run through until Thursday 11th December.

During this time all banks, government offices, schools and some private businesses in Turkey will close.

In practice, because the festival ends on Thursday many organisations may choose to close for the whole week.

Supermarkets will remain open during the whole holiday period but may restrict opening hours just like they would in the UK during Christmas.

The regular markets may also close or at least run at a smaller size than normal.

You should expect all roads and public transport to be very busy from the Friday 5th December as people either head to their families for the week or maybe take a well earned break. Likewise the same will occur the following Wednesday or Sunday as people return home.

Next year, 2009, the festival will begin on the afternoon of Friday November 27th and will run for 4 days until Tuesday 1st December.

We’ll run an article explaining the Festival of the Sacrifice and what to expect shortly.