Eid al-Adha is 3 days long and starts on the 10th day of the month of Dhul Hijja of the lunar Islamic calendar. This is the day after the pilgrims in Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide, descend from Mount Arafat. It happens to be approximately 70 days after the end of the month of Ramadan.
Eid ul-Adha in the Gregorian calendar
While Eid ul-Adha is always on the similar day of the Islamic calendar, the date on the Gregorian calendar varies from year to year since the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar and the Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar. The Lunar calendar is approximately 10 days shorter than the solar calendar. Each year, Eid ul-Adha (like other Islamic holidays) falls on one of two different Gregorian dates in different parts of the world, due to the fact that the boundary of crescent visibility is different from the International date line.
- 2008: December 20
- 2008: December 8
- 2009: November 27
- 2010: November 16
- 2011: November 6
- 2012: October 26
