| Republic Day Ден на Републиката | |
|---|---|
 The Macedonium monument inKruševo commemorating the Ilinden Uprising of 1903 | |
| Also called | Ilinden St. Elijah Day |
| Observed by |  North Macedonia |
| Type | National |
| Significance | The day North Macedonia proclaimed its statehood in 1944 The day of theIlinden Uprising and the proclamation ofKruševo Republic in 1903. |
| Date | 2 August |
| Next time | 2 August 2026 (2026-08-02) |
| Frequency | annual |
Republic Day (Macedonian:Ден на Републиката,romanized: Den na Republikata)[1] orIlinden (Macedonian:Илинден) is a national holiday inNorth Macedonia. It is celebrated on 2 August,[2] which is also a religious holiday – Ilinden (Macedonian: Илинден;St. Elijah day; the day is reckoned as 20 July according to theJulian Calendar). It commemorates two major events in the establishment of the statehood of the country which took place on this date:
Macedonians have traditionally celebrated this day, also calledIlinden, because of its religious significance which has its roots in the Christian St. Elijah (Macedonian:Св. Илија,romanized: Sv. Ilija).[3] It was proclaimed as a national holiday in the first session of ASNOM on 2 August 1944.[4] The day was proclaimed asRepublic Day in Democratic Federal Macedonia. The Prohor Pčinjski Monastery started hosting official commemorations since August 1969 after an agreement between the monastery's governing body and the Socialist Republic of Macedonia's State Secretariat for Education, Science and Culture on 26 May 1969, which permitted the Macedonian side to use the facilities of the monastery, in return for a financial compensation.[5] In the early 1990s, during thebreakup of Yugoslavia,Serbian nationalists began preventing delegations from the newly independent Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) from visiting the monastery for the holiday. In 1998, they also removed plaques commemorating the event. TheSerbian Orthodox Church also did not allow access to the monastery for official commemorations due to the dispute with theMacedonian Orthodox Church. Due to this, the Macedonian state built theASNOM Memorial Center in the village ofPelince.[6] The memorial center contains a replica of the room where the first session was held.[7] The monastery was off-limits until the resolution of the dispute between the churches in 2022.[6]
Major gatherings are held in the monasteries, and there is a march of horsemen fromSkopje, the capital, toKruševo, where during the Ilinden Uprising the Kruševo Republic was established.[citation needed] The main celebrations take place inKruševo, in the area called Mečkin Kamen (Bear's Rock), where amajor battle with theOttoman Army took place in August 1903, and the ASNOM Memorial Center.[8] Although it is a national holiday, ethnic Turks in the country have not related with it, seeing it as an expression of ethnic Macedonian identity.[9]
