Fall 2015 Religious Holidays

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 Fall Semester starts 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 Bathukamma  (this year on September 19) which is primarily observed among Hindus from Telangana 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 2015 RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS

The list below gives the date for 2015, 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 13 sunset through either September 14 sunset (for most Reform and Reconstructionist Jews) or September 15 (for Conservative and Orthodox Jews)

Rosh HaShanah

            Judaism

            http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2012/09/rosh-hashanah-2012.html

September 22

Autumnal Equinox/Mabon

Wicca, Neo-Paganism, Neo-Druidism

 http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2012/09/autumnal-equinox.html

September 22 sunset through September 23 sunset

Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement

Judaism
            http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2012/09/yom-kippur.html

September 22 sunset through September 23 sunset (depending on the sighting of the moon)

Eid al-Adha/Festival of the Sacrifice

Islam

             http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2011/11/eid-al-adha.html

September 27 sunset through October 4 sunset

Sukkot/Festival of Booths/Festival of Tabernacles 

Judaism

           http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2015/09/sukkot-hoshanah-rabah-shemini-atzeret.html

October 4 sunset through October 5 sunset

        Shemini Atzeret

        Judaism

        http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2015/09/sukkot-hoshanah-rabah-shemini-atzeret.html

October 5 sunset through October 6 sunset

Simchat Torah

Judaism

            http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2015/09/sukkot-hoshanah-rabah-shemini-atzeret.html

October 18-23

Durga Puja

Hinduism

http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2011/10/durga-puja.html

October 20

Birth of the Bab

Bahai’ism

http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2012/10/birth-of-bab.html

October 22 sunset through October 23 sunset (depending on the sighting of the moon) or for some traditions in North America October 23 at sunset through October 24

Ashura

             Islam, especially Shi’a
             http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2012/11/ashura-2012.html

October 31 sunset through November 1 Samhain

Wicca, Neo-Paganism, Neo-Druidism

http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2011/10/samhain-all-saints-day-dia-de-los.html

November 1

  All Saints Day

  Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, Methodism

  http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2011/10/samhain-all-saints-day-dia-de-los.html

November 1

Reformation Day

Lutheranism, some Protestant sects

http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2011/10/samhain-all-saints-day-dia-de-los.html

November 2

All Souls Day/Día de los Muertos

Roman Catholicism
http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2011/10/samhain-all-saints-day-dia-de-los.html

  November 11-15

          Devali

          Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism

          http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2011/10/divali.html

November 12

Birthday of Bahá'u'lláh

Bahai'ism

http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2011/11/birthday-of-bahaullah.html

December 6 sunset through December 14 sunset

Chanukah

Judaism
            http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2011/12/chanukah.html

December 8  

Bodhi Day

Buddhism

http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2011/12/bodhi-day.html

December 21
Yule/Winter Solstice
Wicca, Neo-Paganism, Neo-Druidism
http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2012/12/yule.html


December 25
Christmas
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 2015.

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!