Calendar-Based Observances

Easter falls on the first Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon on or after 21 March. In the Gregorian calendar Western...

Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, begins the first month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar at a new moon falling between...

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is celebrated on 1 and 2 Tishrei, in September or early October. The Hebrew calendar's...

Passover begins on 15 Nisan, the night of the full moon of the first spring month, and lasts seven days in Israel and eight...

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed with fasting from dawn to sunset. Because the Hijri year is about 11...

Nowruz, the Persian new year, begins at the moment of the March equinox and opens the Solar Hijri year in Iran and Afghanistan...

Diwali, the festival of lights, centres on the new moon night of the lunar month Kartika in the amanta reckoning, called Ashvin...

Churches keeping the Julian calendar, including the Russian, Serbian and Georgian churches, celebrate Christmas on 25 December...

The festival of breaking the fast falls on 1 Shawwal, the month after Ramadan, and is celebrated with communal prayer, feasting...

The Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the Jewish year, runs from sunset on 9 Tishrei to nightfall on 10, a 25 hour fast with...

The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the full moon of the eighth Chinese lunar month, in September or early October, when families...

Buddhists across South and Southeast Asia mark the birth, enlightenment and passing of the Buddha on the full moon of the lunar...