Republic Day (North Macedonia)

Republic Day (Macedonian: Ден на Републиката, romanized: Den na Republikata) or Ilinden (Macedonian: Илинден) is a national holiday in North Macedonia. It is celebrated on 2 August, which is also a religious holiday – Ilinden (Macedonian: Илинден; St. Elijah day; the day is reckoned as 20 July according to the Julian Calendar). It commemorates two major events in the establishment of the statehood of the country which took place on this date:

• The Ilinden Uprising of 1903 which was organized by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization against the Ottoman Empire, and during which a short-lived Kruševo Republic was proclaimed;
• The First Session of ASNOM of 1944, during the National Liberation Struggle, which laid the foundation of the SR Macedonia.

Macedonians have traditionally celebrated this day, also called Ilinden, because of its religious significance which has its roots in the Christian St. Elijah (Macedonian: Св. Илија, romanized: Sv. Ilija). It was proclaimed as a national holiday in the first session of ASNOM on 2 August 1944. Major gatherings are held in the monasteries, and there is a march of horsemen from Skopje, the capital, to Kruševo, where during the Ilinden Uprising the Kruševo Republic was established. The main celebrations take place in Kruševo, in the area called Mečkin Kamen (Bear's Rock), where a major battle with the Ottoman Army took place in August 1903, and in the ASNOM Memorial Center.