Revival, Unity and Magtymguly Poetry Day is annually celebrated in Turkmenistan on May 18.
It is a public holiday.
Originally May 18 was Revival and Unity Day, that celebrated the adoption of the Constitution in Turkmenistan.
The next day the Turkmen commemorated Magtymguly, a spiritual leader and philosophical poet of Turkmenistan, who made significant efforts to secure independence and autonomy of the state in the 18th century.
Magtymguly is considered to be the founder of the Turkmen poetry, literature and language.
He influenced on the changes of the Turkmen poetic language making it closer to colloquial language.
Magtymguly also replaced the traditional for the Turkmen literature Arab and Persian metric system with the syllabic system.
Since two holidays are important for the Turkmen people, President Saparmurat Niyazov decided to unite them into one celebration.
