Laylat al-Raghaib
10 December 2026 · movable holiday — May the light of the kandil fill your home. A blessed night!
Laylat al-Raghaib is the first of the holy nights of the „three holy months“ – Rajab, Sha’ban and Ramadan. In Turkey these nights are called “kandil” (from the Arabic word for an oil lamp). It is observed on the night leading into the first Friday of the month of Rajab, the seventh month of the Islamic lunar calendar. The tradition is well known from Ottoman times, when minarets were decorated with lights. Believers spend the night in prayer, reading the Quran and reflecting on family and forgiveness, and many fast the following day. It is customary to share sweets and kandil simidi, ring-shaped sesame bread rolls given to neighbours and friends. The link with the sky is direct: an Islamic month traditionally begins with the first thin crescent after the new moon. In Turkey the dates are calculated astronomically in advance. As a result, the night falls about 10–11 days earlier in the common calendar each year. Details of the night vary between communities, and some scholars regard it more as a popular tradition than a prescribed observance.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver oil lamp drawn from pale points of light and thin lines, like a constellation, with a softly glowing flame at its top, drifting slowly across the night sky
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