National and State Holidays

The Law on Holidays divides official celebrations into several categories. Republic Day has the status of Kazakhstan's national holiday. State holidays include New Year, International Women's Day, Constitution Day, Nauryz Meiramy, Unity of the People of Kazakhstan Day, Defender of the Fatherland Day, Victory Day, Capital City Day and Independence Day. Days on which national and state holidays are celebrated are non-working days.[1]

Professional and other commemorative holidays form a separate category. Their presence on an official list does not give them the same legal status as national and state holidays or automatically make them days off. This distinction is useful when interpreting calendars that contain many officially recognized professional observances.[1]

Republic Day and Independence Day

Republic Day is the country's national holiday. It commemorates the adoption of the Declaration on State Sovereignty, which established political and legal foundations for Kazakhstan's sovereignty and addressed principles including territorial integrity, culture, languages and national identity.[1][4]

Independence Day is a state holiday commemorating the formal establishment of Kazakhstan's independence. Although both occasions relate to the country's development as a sovereign state, they have distinct historical meanings and different classifications under the holiday law.[1][5]

Nauryz and the Spring Holiday Tradition

Nauryz Meiramy is one of Kazakhstan's most important traditional celebrations and is established in law as a multi-day state holiday. Government cultural guidance describes Nauryz as a festival of spring and renewal rooted in an ancient seasonal calendar.[1][6]

Celebrations commonly feature yurts, public festivities, traditional games and shared food. Nauryz kozhe is a characteristic ceremonial dish, while hospitality, visiting relatives and neighbours, reconciliation and wishes for prosperity form part of the broader tradition. The holiday therefore combines statutory time off with a substantial body of living cultural practices.[6]

Qurban Ait and Orthodox Christmas

Two religious observances have a special position in Kazakhstan's working calendar. The Labour Code designates the first day of Qurban Ait, observed according to the Muslim calendar, and Orthodox Christmas as days off regardless of the applicable work regime or shift schedule.[2]

They are not classified in the Law on Holidays in the same way as Republic Day or the state holidays. This distinction has a practical consequence: official government calendar guidance states that the ordinary holiday-transfer mechanism does not extend these two religious days off when they coincide with another rest day.[2][3]

Qurban Ait's placement in the Gregorian calendar changes because it follows the Muslim calendar. Its exact date should therefore be taken from the applicable official calendar rather than copied from an earlier year.[2][3]

What Happens When a Holiday Falls on a Weekend

Kazakhstan has a statutory substitution rule for national and state holidays. When a day off coincides with one of these holidays, the day off moves to the next working day after the holiday. A holiday falling on an ordinary weekend can therefore create an additional weekday off.[1][3]

There is also a separate scheduling mechanism. Labour legislation allows the authorized labour authority to transfer rest days to other working days for the rational use of working time around holidays. These transfers can alter the pattern of working and non-working days in a particular year, so the published annual calendar remains the best source for exact scheduling.[2][3]

The first day of Qurban Ait and Orthodox Christmas are exceptions to the ordinary extension arrangement. Although they are statutory days off, official guidance specifies that they do not generate an additional transferred day off when they coincide with another rest day.[2][3]

Working on Weekends and Holidays

As a general rule, work on weekends and holidays requires the employee's written consent or may take place at the employee's request under an employer's act, subject to statutory exceptions. Different provisions apply to employees working under shift or rotational schedules and to exceptional circumstances defined by labour law.[2]

An employee who works on a weekend or holiday may request another day of rest or receive increased payment. Government labour guidance states that holiday and weekend work must be paid at the rate established by the employment or collective agreement or employer's act, but not below the statutory minimum calculated from the employee's daily or hourly rate.[2][7]

Planning Around Kazakhstan's Holiday Calendar

For employers and travellers, it is important to distinguish permanent rules from the arrangement of a particular year's calendar. The holiday names and legal categories are established by legislation, but weekend coincidences, transferred rest days and the Gregorian placement of Qurban Ait can change the actual sequence of working and non-working days.[1][2][3]

A statutory holiday also does not determine the operating hours of every private business or transport service. Retail, hospitality and transport providers may continue operating under their own schedules, while organizations following a conventional working week may close. For administrative appointments, journeys and time-sensitive services, check both the official annual holiday calendar and the relevant organization's published hours.