List of multinational festivals and holidays

A wide variety of multinational festivals and holidays are celebrated around the world, whether within particular religions, cultures, or otherwise. Celebrations listed here are celebrated in at least two or more countries; for a list of national holidays, see List of holidays by country.

January

Christianity

• Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God: 1 January
• Feast of the Circumcision: 1 January
• Saint Basil's Day: 1 January – In Greece, traditionally he is the Father Christmas figure.
• Twelfth Night (Epiphany Eve): 5 January
• Epiphany: 6 January – the arrival of the Three Magi.
• Armenian Apostolic Christmas: 6 January
• Orthodox Christmas: 7 January – in churches using dates corresponding to the old Julian calendar, 7 January is equivalent to 25 December in the Gregorian calendar

Judaism

• Tu BiSh'vat

Secular

• New Year's Day: 1 January – First day of the Gregorian Year.^[1] & ^[2]
• Freezingman: 11 January – A Burning Man inspired event held in Colorado as a Winter Arts and Music Festival.^[3]
• Old New Year: 14 January: New Year's Day according to the "old" Julian calendar. Includes a winter ritual of strolling and singing that was later incorporated into the Christmas carol

Punjabi

• Lohri: 13 January

February

Christianity

• Candlemas: 2 February – Feast of the Presentation of the Lord; 40 days after Christmas; end of Christmas/Epiphany Season
• Valentine's Day: 14 February

Historical

• Lupercalia: 15 February – the Roman end-of-winter festival

Paganism

• Imbolc: 1 February – first day of spring in the Celtic calendar

Secular

• Groundhog Day: 2 February
• Darwin Day: 12 February
• International Condom Day: 14 February

March

Christianity

• Saint Patrick's Day: 17 March – the fixed date to honor Saint Patrick has sometimes been moved by Church if it coincides with Holy Week, but the secular world usually always celebrates it on 17 March

Judaism

• Purim

Secular

• International Women's Day: 8 March
• World Kidney Day: second Thursday of March

Secular and multiple religions

• Nowruz: spring equinox (on or near 21 March) – originally the Iranian New Year, celebrated as a secular holiday in Iran and many neighboring countries and as a religious holiday by Alawites, Alevis, Baha'is, Bektashis, Zoroastrians, and some Shi'a Muslims.

April

Judaism

• Passover: late March or in April Festival celebrating the Hebrews captivity in Egypt at the time when God commanded Moses to ask for the Hebrew people to be released. As a result of being denied 10 plagues came open Egypt. One being the Angel of death coming and the first born son of each home dying. But God commanded the Hebrews to apply lambs blood to the door posts as a sign for the Angel to pass that house. Jewish

Secular

• April Fools' Day: 1 April
• Earth Day: 22 April

May

Judaism

• Yom HaShoah
• Yom HaZikaron & Yom HaAtzmaut
• Lag BaOmer

Paganism

• May Day: 1 May – a traditional spring holiday in many cultures.

Secular

• International Workers' Day/Labor Day: 1 May

June

• Inti Raymi: late June – festival of the Sun in Quechua, winter solstice festival in areas of the former Inca Empire, still celebrated every June in Cusco.
• We Tripantu

Judaism

• Shavuot

Secular

• World Environment Day: 5 June
• World Humanist Day: 21 June

July

• Yulefest/Midwinter Christmas: late June or July – Australian New Zealand winter 'Christmas/Yuletide'

August

Christianity

• Assumption of Mary: 15 August
• Saint Bartholomew's Day: 24 August

Judaism

• Tishah B'Av

Secular

• International Friendship Day: 2 August
• International Lefthanders Day: 13 August

September

Judaism

• Selichot
• Rosh Hashanah: usually September, sometimes early October
• Yom Kippur: late September, early October
• Sukkot: sometimes late September, usually October

Secular

• Labor Day/Labour Day: first Monday of September (US/Canada)
• International Talk Like a Pirate Day: 19 September
• International Day of Peace: 21 September

October

Christianity

• All Hallows' Eve (Halloween): 31 October – a Christian-titled holiday that is often celebrated with traditions originating from a mixture of secular and Celtic pagan influences.

Judaism

• Selichot

Hinduism

• Diwali: mid-October–mid-November – known as the Festival of Lights, this Hindu holiday celebrates the victory of good over evil. The five-day festival is marked by ceremonies, fireworks and sweets.

Paganism

• Samhain: 31 October–1 November – first day of winter in the Celtic calendar (and Celtic New Year's Day)

Secular

• Columbus Day: October 12 or the second Monday in October
• Dia de los muertos (Day of the Dead): 31 October–2 November

November

Christianity

• All Saints Day: 1 November – in Western Christian churches

el dia de los muertos. Day of the dead.^[4]

• Nativity Fast: forty days leading to Christmas – also St Philip's fast, Christmas fast, or winter lent or fast (Eastern Christianity).

Secular

• Thanksgiving: fourth Thursday of November (US); second Monday of October (CAN)^[5]
• Calan Gaeaf: 1 November – the first day of winter in Wales
• Guy Fawkes Night: 5 November – celebrated in the UK commemorating the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot
• Armistice Day (also (Remembrance Day or Veterans Day): 11 November: memorial day honoring the war dead

Punjabi/Hindu Diwali

December

Buddhism

• Bodhi Day: 8 December – Day of Enlightenment, celebrating the day that the historical Buddha (Shakyamuni or Siddhartha Gautama) experienced enlightenment (also known as Bodhi).

Christianity

• Advent: fourth Sunday preceding 25 December
• Krampusnacht: 5 December – The Feast of St. Nicholas is celebrated in parts of Europe on 6 December. In Alpine countries, Saint Nicholas has a devilish companion named Krampus who punishes the bad children the night before.
• Saint Nicholas' Day: 6 December
• Saint Lucia's Day: 13 December – Church Feast Day. Saint Lucia comes as a young woman with lights and sweets.
• Longest Night: A church service to help those coping with loss, usually held on the eve of the Winter solstice.
• Christmas Eve: 24 December
• Christmas Day: 25 December – one of the most celebrated holidays around the world, increasingly celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike.^[6][7][8][9]
• Anastasia of Sirmium feast day: 25 December
• Twelve Days of Christmas: 25 December–6 January
• Las Posadas: 16–24 December – procession to various family lodgings for celebration & prayer and to re-enact Mary & Joseph's journey to Bethlehem^[10]
• Saint Stephen's Day: 26 December
• Saint John the Evangelist's Day: 27 December
• Holy Innocents' Day: 28 December
• Saint Sylvester's Day: 31 December

Fictional or parody

• Feast of Winter Veil: 15 December–2 January – A holiday in World of Warcraft. This holiday is based on Christmas. Cities are decorated with lights and a tree with presents. Special quests, items and snowballs are available to players during this time. The character of "Greatfather Winter", who is modeled after Santa Claus, appears.^[11][12]
• Feast of Alvis: in the TV series Sealab 2021.^[13] "Believer, you have forgotten the true meaning of Alvis Day. Neither is it ham, nor pomp. Nay, the true meaning of Alvis day is drinking. Drinking and revenge."–Alvis^[14]
• Hogswatch: a holiday celebrated on the fictional world of Discworld. It is very similar to the Christian celebration of Christmas.
• Festivus: 23 December – a parody holiday created by Daniel O'Keefe and made popular by Seinfeld as an alternative to Christmas.
• Decemberween: 25 December – a parody of Christmas that features gift-giving, carol-singing and decorated trees. The fact that it takes place on December 25, the same day as Christmas, has been presented as just a coincidence, and it has been stated that Decemberween traditionally takes place "55 days after Halloween". The holiday has been featured in the Homestar Runner series.
• Wintersday, the end-of-the-year celebration in the fictional universe of the Guild Wars franchise, starts every year mid December and ends the next year on early January.

Hinduism

• Pancha Ganapati: 21–25 December – modern five-day festival in honor of Lord Ganesha, celebrated by Hindus in USA.

Historical

• Malkh: 25 December
• Mōdraniht: or Mothers' Night, the Saxon winter solstice festival.
• Saturnalia: the Roman winter solstice festival
• Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (Day of the birth of the Unconquered Sun): 25 December – late Roman Empire

Judaism

• Hanukkah: Ḥănukkāh, usually spelled חנוכה, pronounced [χanuˈka] in Modern Hebrew; a transliteration also romanized as Chanukah or Chanukkah), also known as the Festival of Lights, Feast of Dedication, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the re-dedication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire of the 2nd century BC. Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar.

Paganism

• Yule: Pagan winter festival that was celebrated by the historical Germanic people from late December to early January.
• Yalda: 21 December – The turning point, Winter Solstice. As the longest night of the year and the beginning of the lengthening of days, Shabe Yaldā or Shabe Chelle is an Iranian festival celebrating the victory of light and goodness over darkness and evil. Shabe yalda means 'birthday eve.' According to Persian mythology, Mithra was born at dawn on 22 December to a virgin mother. He symbolizes light, truth, goodness, strength, and friendship. Herodotus reports that this was the most important holiday of the year for contemporary Persians. In modern times Persians celebrate Yalda by staying up late or all night, a practice known as Shab Chera meaning 'night gazing'. Fruits and nuts are eaten, especially pomegranates and watermelons, whose red color invokes the crimson hues of dawn and symbolize Mithra.

Secular

• Human Rights Day: 10 December
• Zamenhof Day: 15 December – Birthday of Ludwig Zamenhof, inventor of Esperanto; holiday reunion for Esperantists
• Soyal: 21 December – Zuni and Hopi
• HumanLight: 23 December – Humanist holiday originated by the New Jersey Humanist Network in celebration of "a Humanist's vision of a good future."^[15]
• Newtonmas: 25 December – As an alternative to celebrating the religious holiday Christmas, some atheists and skeptics have chosen to celebrate December 25 as Newtonmas, due to it being Isaac Newton's birthday on the old style date.
• Quaid-e-Azam's Day: 25 December
• Boxing Day: 26 December – Day after Christmas.
• Kwanzaa: 26 December–1 January – Pan-African festival celebrated in the US
• Watch Night: 31 December
• New Year's Eve: 31 December – last day of the Gregorian year
• Hogmanay: night of 31 December–before dawn of 1 January – Scottish New Year's Eve celebration
• Dongzhi Festival – a celebration of Winter

Unitarian Universalism

• Chalica: first week of December – A holiday created in 2005, celebrated by some Unitarian Universalists.^[16]

Movable date

The following festivals have no fixed date in the Gregorian calendar, and may be aligned with moon cycles or other calendars.

Chinese

• Chinese New Year: late January–mid February – considered the end of winter in the traditional Chinese calendar

Persian

• Sadeh: A mid-winter feast to honor fire and to "defeat the forces of darkness, frost and cold". Sadé or Sada is an ancient Iranian tradition celebrated 50 days before Nowruz. Sadeh in Persian means "hundred" and refers to one hundred days and nights left to the beginning of the new year celebrated at the first day of spring on March 21 each year. Sadeh is a midwinter festival that was celebrated with grandeur and magnificence in ancient Iran. It was a festivity to honor fire and to defeat the forces of darkness, frost, and cold.
• Chahar Shanbeh Suri: Festival of Fire, Last Wednesday of the Iranian Calendar year. It marks the importance of the light over the darkness, and arrival of spring and revival of nature. Chahārshanbe–Sūri (Persian: چهارشنبه‌سوری), pronounced Chārshanbe–Sūri (Persian: چارشنبه‌سوری) is the ancient Iranian festival dating at least back to 1700 BCE of the early Zoroastrian era.[1] The festival of fire is a prelude to the ancient Norouz festival, which marks the arrival of spring and revival of nature. Chahrshanbeh Soori, is celebrated the last Tuesday night of the year.

Judaism

• Hanukkah – based on the Jewish calendar (usually falls anywhere between late November and early January).

Slavic

• Malanka caps off the festivities of the Christmas holidays
• Maslenitsa in Slavic mythology, a celebration of the imminent end of the winter

Christian

• Easter: the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon/the first full moon after the vernal equinox--shortly after Passover; typically in April, but sometimes in March or May
• Good Friday: Good Friday is a Christian religious holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of Passover. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Black Friday, or Easter Friday, though the last term properly refers to the Friday in Easter week.

Religion

Many religions whose holidays were formulated before the worldwide spread of the Gregorian calendar have been assigned to dates according to either their own internal religious calendar, moon cycles, or otherwise. Even within Christianity, Easter is a movable feast and Christmas is celebrated according to the older Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian by some sects of the religion.

See also

• List of holidays by country
• Lists of holidays

References

1. Common Eracite
2. Gregorian calendar
3. Archived 28 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
4. Wikipedia
5. Thanksgiving (United States)
6. Christmas as a Multi-faith Festival–BBC News. Retrieved 2008-09-30.
7. "In the U.S., Christmas Not Just for Christians". Gallup, Inc. 2008-12-24. Retrieved 2012-12-16.
8. Why I celebrate Christmas, by the world's most famous atheist – DailyMail. December 23, 2008. Retrieved 2014-12-13.
9. Non-Christians focus on secular side of Christmas – Sioux City Journal. Retrieved 2009-11-18.
10. "Las Posadas". Mexconnect.com. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
11. "World of Warcraft". Eu.battle.net. 5 December 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
12. "Feast of Winter Veil". WoWWiki. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
13. Archived 21 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
14. ""Sealab 2021" Feast of Alvis (TV Episode 2002)". IMDb. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
15. "Home". Humanlight.njhn.org. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
16. Skinner, Donald E. "Chalica, new weeklong UU holiday, slowly gains adherents". Retrieved 2012-12-12.