What are international days?
International days are yearly observances set by the United Nations or one of its agencies, such as UNESCO, the World Health Organization or FAO, to raise awareness of an issue or honour a group of people. Each has a fixed Gregorian date: World Teachers’ Day is always 5 October and Arabic Language Day is always 18 December.
The matching Hijri date and the weekday change every year, because the Hijri year is about 11 days shorter than the Gregorian one. The table above therefore shows each day’s next date on both calendars, in Riyadh time.
Days marked at Saudi schools
Schools and universities mark several of these days every year, among them:
- World Teachers’ Day — 5 October.
- International Day for Tolerance — 16 November.
- World Children’s Day — 20 November.
- Arabic Language Day — 18 December.
- International Day of Education — 24 January.
- World Health Day — 7 April and World Book Day — 23 April.
For actual days off and term dates see the school calendar and public holidays.
Boss’s Day and Mother’s Day are not on the UN list
Two often-searched occasions are not UN international days, so they are not in the table:
- Boss’s Day on 16 October, which began in the United States in 1958.
- Mother’s Day on 21 March in Egypt and several Arab countries; other countries use other dates. The UN marks the Global Day of Parents on 1 June.
How are the days left counted?
The page counts whole days from today’s date in Riyadh time to the observance; when a day falls today the table shows “Today”. The list updates every day and a day that has passed moves to its date next year. To count down to any other date, use the countdown.
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