Holidays and everyday etiquette

Public holidays follow that year’s decision

This is a reading of public pages. It is not legal advice and it is not a Wang Fu price. Figures, fees, and documents follow the linked page on the day you open it.

Paid public holidays are set by a prime-minister decision each year. They are not a calendar this book can freeze.

www.cabinet.gov.eg/

The three items below are 2025 decisions. They show the mechanism. They are not the 2026 table.

• 7 January 2025, Coptic Christmas:

cabinet.gov.eg/News/Details/78223

• 25 January 2025, the 25 January Revolution and Police Day:

www.cabinet.gov.eg/News/Details/78314

• Sham el-Nessim on 21 April 2025, Sinai Liberation Day moved by that decision to 24 April because the 25th was a Friday, and Labour Day on 1 May:

www.cabinet.gov.eg/News/Details/81031

The State Information Service page names the 23 July Revolution, the October 1973 victory, and Police Day. Whether a given calendar day is a day off still follows that year’s cabinet decision:

sis.gov.eg/section/10/876?lang=ar

Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, the Islamic New Year, and Mawlid move on the civil calendar. Match any social-media calendar against the cabinet text.

Everyday manners (custom, not a statute)

The lines below are common custom, not a fine schedule.

• A handshake is enough. If someone of the other gender does not offer a hand, smile and nod.

• At a home or a mosque, take off your shoes if that is what people at the door are doing.

• Pass food and cards with the right hand.

• Around Friday noon many people are at prayer and shops slow down. That is not a statute that closes the city.

• In Ramadan, step aside rather than eat in front of someone who is fasting. The day’s start and end follow that day’s call to prayer. This page states no clock time.

• Before you photograph, look for a no-photo sign, especially in government offices and inside some monuments.

Prayer times have their own feature on this site. Do not copy a clock time out of this guide.