4-day weekend awaits Filipinos

Time to start packing, book your flight and make that hotel reservation. For the less adventurous, it’s time to draw up a list of the things you’ve long been planning to do at home.

Malacañang has declared Aug. 30, which falls on a Tuesday, a regular holiday to allow the nation to celebrate the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting for Muslims.

Aug. 30 follows another regular holiday—Aug. 29, National Heroes’ Day—which means a long, four-day weekend for Filipinos two weeks from now.

The Palace on Monday released Proclamation No. 234 which President Benigno Aquino III issued to celebrate Eid’l Fitr. This was in keeping with Republic Act No. 9177, which declared Eid’l Fitr as a regular holiday throughout the country.

Eid’l Fitr is a three-day Muslim festival that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of fasting. Muslims all over the world celebrate this feast by attending prayer services, giving gifts to loved ones and reconciling with one another.

During the celebration, Muslims put on colorful clothes and feast on traditional dishes, which they also share with the less fortunate.

The holiday was declared “to promote cultural understanding and integration” and allow “the entire Filipino nation (to) have the full opportunity to join their Muslim brothers and sisters in the observance of Eid’l Fitr,” according to the proclamation issued on Aug. 11. Reports from Christine O. Avendaño and Inquirer Research