Fall 2017 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 October 1) 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 2017 RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS

The list below gives the date for 2016, 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, all of these are regularly updated, and all are corrected for the date when it changes.

       Monday, September 11
             Enkutatash /Ethiopian New Year (Return of the Queen of Sheba from Jerusalem) and    
             Ethiopian Tewahedo Churches 
             Nayrouz /Coptic New Year (commemoration of the martyrs)
             Coptic Orthodox Church

Wednesday, September 20 at sunset through either sunset Thursday, September 21 (for most Reform and Reconstructionist Jews) or sunset Friday, September 22 (for Conservative and Orthodox Jews)

           Rosh HaShanah
           Judaism

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

Thursday, September 22

Autumnal Equinox/Mabon

Wicca, Neo-Paganism, Neo-Druidism http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2012/09/autumnal-equinox.html

Tuesday, September 26 - Saturday, September 30

Durga Puja

Hinduism

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

Friday September 29 at set through Saturday, September 30  

Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement

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

Friday, September 29 at sunset through Saturday, September 30 at sunset (depending on the sighting of the moon) or for some traditions in North America the following day   

Ashura

             Islam, especially Shi’a for whom this is a major observance

             http://davidvictorvector.blogspot.com/2015/09/ashura-2015.html

Wednesday, October 4 at sunset through Wednesday, October 11 sunset
Note: The first two days are major observance days for most Conservative and Orthodox Jews)

           Sukkot/Festival of Booths/Festival of Tabernacles 

           Judaism

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

Wednesday, October 11 at sunset through Tuesday, October 12 sunset

Shemini Atzeret

Judaism

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

Thursday, October 12 sunset through Friday, October 13 sunset

Simchat Torah

Judaism

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


Friday, October 20

Birth of the Bab

Bahai’ism

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

Thursday, October 18 through Saturday, October 21
Note: Many Hindus of South Indian tradition begin a day earlier on October 19

Devali

Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism  

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

Tuesday, October 31

Reformation Day

Lutheranism, some Protestant sects

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

Tuesday, October 31 sunset through Wednesday, November 1 
Samhain

Wicca, Neo-Paganism, Neo-Druidism

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

  Wednesday, November 1

  All Saints Day

  Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, Methodism

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

Thursday, 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

Sunday November 12

Birthday of Bahá'u'lláh

Bahai'ism

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

Friday, December 8  

Bodhi Day

Buddhism

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

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

Tuesday, December 12 sunset through Wednesday, December 20 sunset

Chanukah

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

Sunday, December 25
Christmas

Western Christian faiths (Roman Catholicism, Protestantism)

      Orthodox Christmas 
            Eastern Orthodox/ Ethiopian Tewahedo/Coptic Christian faiths

            Sunday, January 7 (2018)

            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 2017.

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!