The second of August has been an important date in the Macedonian calendar for centuries as it is a major religious holiday – Ilinden, or St. Elijah’s Day, marking the prophet Elijah’s ascension into heaven.
Macedonia had come under the control of the Ottoman Empire in the 14th century. On August 2nd 1903, an uprising against the Ottomans was led by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO). The Ilinden uprising resulted in the liberation of the town of Krushevo, where the first republic in the Balkans was proclaimed. The republic was short-lived, lasting only 10 days before the Ottomans took back Krushevo.
On August 2nd 1944, during the second world war, the Anti-Fascist Assembly for the National Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) proclaimed the People’s Republic of Macedonia as part of the People’s Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
On Republic Day shops will close but restaurants and bars will remain open. The main formal celebrations take place in Krushevo at the area called Mechkin Kamen (Bear’s Rock), where the battle with the Ottoman army took place during the Ilinden uprising.