Mongolians will get a two-day holiday on Thursday 8^th and Friday 9^th of November in order to celebrate the birthday of Chinggis Khaan. Every year, the country marks the birth of the founder of the nation on the first day of winter according to the traditional Mongolian calendar as a national holiday – also known as National Pride Day, although in a very different sense from the “pride” events of other countries! This year, the 856th birthday of the nation’s hero – the “Man of the Millennium”, and a symbol of Mongolian pride and unity – will be celebrated on Thursday, 8 November. According to Mongolian law, National Pride Day will be a public holiday nationwide. Earlier today (31 October), the Mongolian government announced the two-day holiday and transferred the working day of 9 November to Saturday (17 November).

Originally, the government was set to mark the date on 14 November  each year according to the Gregorian calendar. However, scholars have different views about the exact birth date of Chinggis Khaan as it is hard to set an exact date according to this western calendar.

According to tradition, Temujin, who was to grow up to unite the Mongol tribes, taking the name of Chinggis Khaan and create the world’s largest ever land empire, was born in the year 1162 at Deluun Boldog near Dadal in what is now the Khentii Province.