For several years now, I have posted as a reference overviews for many of the religious observances for Bahai'ism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, neo-Paganism, Sikhism and Wicca. This is intended to allow those teaching or otherwise following a semester academic calendar to accommodate students, faculty and staff who wish to observe them.As September approaches again, we are now coming upon the start of the cycle of holidays once more. For many of these holidays (those from religions that follow calendars that differ from the Gregorian calendar), the dates in the secular year will differ but the main content of the posts should not.
To that end, I would like to give the dates for the holidays in the next few months paralleling the Fall semester in most US universities (I am, after all, a professor in the United States).
I have noted only holidays to which I have already written a post. These are those holidays that I would argue are the most important holidays within their religion. Admittedly, there are others which may be of strong importance to those who observe them. Thus, I have not included, for example, the Christian holiday of Advent Sunday on December 1. This does not, however, mean that such holidays are unimportant to those who wish to observe them, which should be kept in mind for religious accommodation purposes.
Similarly, I have left out some holidays that are regionally of importance within a religion but not of such significance beyond the regional context.. For example, I have left out the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12) which is primarily observed among Mexican Catholics. Likewise excluded is Onam (this year on September 7) which is primarily observed among Hindus from Kerala state in India.
Note also that observance varies according to practice. For example, Reform and Reconstructionist Jews may observe a holiday for one day that Orthodox and Conservative Jews observe for two days. Some streams of Hinduism may observe Diwali for five full days, while others may do so for one, two or three days. While all Muslims recognize Ashurah as a holiday, it holds much greater significance in Shi'a tradition than in most other branches of Islam. Because of this, two people of the same faith may observe the same holiday for different lengths. These are explained for each holiday in the connected blog post. The main point here, though, is that we should recognize such differences in practice as legitimate.
I have noted only holidays to which I have already written a post. These are those holidays that I would argue are the most important holidays within their religion. Admittedly, there are others which may be of strong importance to those who observe them. Thus, I have not included, for example, the Christian holiday of Advent Sunday on December 1. This does not, however, mean that such holidays are unimportant to those who wish to observe them, which should be kept in mind for religious accommodation purposes.
Similarly, I have left out some holidays that are regionally of importance within a religion but not of such significance beyond the regional context.. For example, I have left out the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12) which is primarily observed among Mexican Catholics. Likewise excluded is Onam (this year on September 7) which is primarily observed among Hindus from Kerala state in India.
Note also that observance varies according to practice. For example, Reform and Reconstructionist Jews may observe a holiday for one day that Orthodox and Conservative Jews observe for two days. Some streams of Hinduism may observe Diwali for five full days, while others may do so for one, two or three days. While all Muslims recognize Ashurah as a holiday, it holds much greater significance in Shi'a tradition than in most other branches of Islam. Because of this, two people of the same faith may observe the same holiday for different lengths. These are explained for each holiday in the connected blog post. The main point here, though, is that we should recognize such differences in practice as legitimate.
FALL 2014 RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS
The list below gives the date for 2014, the name of the holiday, the main religion observing the holiday and the previous David Victor Vector post on that holiday.While the dates on the links may be from an earlier year, most of these are regularly updated, and all are corrected for the date when it changes.
September 24 sunset through September 26 sunset
Rosh HaShanah
Judaism
September 23
Autumnal Equinox/Mabon
Wicca, Neo-Paganism, Neo-Druidism
September 30-October 4
Durga Puja
Hinduism
http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2011/10/durga-puja.htmlOctober 3 sunset through October 4 sunset
Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement
October 4 sunset through October 5 sunset (depending on the sighting of the moon)
Eid al-Adha/Festival of the Sacrifice
Islam
October 8 sunset through October 15 sunset
Sukkot/Festival of Booths/Festival of Tabernacles
Judaism
http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2011/10/sukkot-hoshanah-rabah-shemini-atzeret.htmlOctober 16 sunset through October 17 sunset
Shemini Atzeret
JudaismOctober 17 sunset through October 18 sunset
Simchat Torah
Judaism
October 20
Birth of the Bab
Bahai’ism
October 23-27
Devali
Hinduism, Jainism, SikhismOctober 31 sunset through November 1 Samhain
Wicca, Neo-Paganism, Neo-Druidism
November 1
All Saints Day
Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, Methodism
http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2011/10/samhain-all-saints-day-dia-de-los.htmlNovember 1
Reformation Day
Lutheranism, some Protestant sects
November 2
All Souls Day/Día de los Muertos
Roman Catholicismhttp://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2011/10/samhain-all-saints-day-dia-de-los.html
November 3 sunset through November 4 sunset (depending on the sighting of the moon)
Ashura
Islam, especially Shi’ahttp://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2012/11/ashura-2012.html
November 12
Birthday of Bahá'u'lláh
Bahai'ism
December 8
Bodhi Day
BuddhismDecember 16 sunset through December 24 sunset
Chanukah
December 21Yule/Winter Solstice
Wicca, Neo-Paganism, Neo-Druidism
http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2012/12/yule.html
December 25Christmas
Western Christian faiths (Roman Catholicism, Protestantism)
http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-day.html
A FEW CLOSING REMARKS
Before I go on, I should note that all holidays in Islam begin with the actual sighting of the moon. Therefore, the dates given for Eid al-Adha and Ashura are the likely dates for the holiday depending on the sighting conditions. Some debate exists regarding where the moon sighting should occur (e.g., locally or in Mecca). This may also cause observance to fall on a day before or after that indicated in this list. The date given here does not intend to suggest that one or the other interpretation is correct; this date is merely intended to be information for the date most widely observed in North America.
In all likelihood, I have overlooked a holiday or observance. Please feel free to share this with me.
While the links to many of the holidays above were posted in earlier years, they are regularly updated as the holiday approaches for this year. The dates in this post are (to the best of my knowledge) correct for 2014.
Finally, I would like to ask you to spread the word about this blog. If you are not formally a follower, please do add your name to the list through your Google, Twitter, AIM, Netlog or Yahoo account.
Thanks so much!
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