Martyrs' Day and Ahmad Shah Masoud Day in Afghanistan
Martyrs' Day and Ahmad Shah Masoud Day in Afghanistan is held on September 9. This event in the first decade of the month September is annual. Help us
Martyrs' Day or Masood Day in Afghanistan was adopted by the country's National Assembly and has been observed since 2012 as "a new national holiday to honor the national hero Ahmad Shah Masood and those who died fighting for the country. Ahmad Shah Masood was an Afghan warlord from the Panjshir Valley. He was a leader of the Taliban and the resistance against the Soviet invasion. He was killed in a terrorist attack on September 9, 2001. The holiday is known as Haftai Shahid or "Martyrs' Week" and Masood Day.
Afghan culture is very collectivistic and people generally put their family's interests before their own. This means that family responsibilities tend to hold a greater importance than personal needs. Loyalty to one's family also generally supersedes any obligations to one's tribe or ethnicity.
Similar holidays and events, festivals and interesting facts
The Prophet's Birthday or Mawleed al Nabi on September 4 (or Mawlid al-Nabi. There is not a single verse in the Qur'an OR a Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) forbidding the celebration of Prophet's birthday);
Yalda Night on December 21 (شب يلدا Shab-e Yalda, Shab-e Chelle - Persian festival held on the longest and darkest night of the year. Celebrated in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan);
Liberation Day in Afghanistan on February 15 (withdrawal of the Soviet occupation forces);
Baloch Culture Day on March 2 (Balochistan);
Mother's Day in Albania on March 8 (also Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Kosovo, Laos, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan);
Eid al-Fitr on March 30 (also called the "Festival of Breaking the Fast", is a religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of Ramadan)