New Year’s Day

In many countries the New Year begins on January 1. However, this wasn’t always the case. In fact, for centuries, other dates marked the start of the calendar, including March 25 and […]

Corpus Christi

Feast of Corpus Christi, festival of the Roman Catholic Church in honour of the real presence of the body (corpus) of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. A movable observance, it is observed on the Thursday (or, in […]

Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev

On 16 June 1606, the Mughal Emperor Jahangir ordered that Guru Arjan Dev Ji, the fifth Sikh Guru be tortured and sentenced to death after the Guru had refused to stop preaching his message of God as started by Guru […]

Father’s Day

Father’s Day, in the United States, holiday (third Sunday in June) to honour fathers. Credit for originating the holiday is generally given to Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, whose father, a Civil War veteran, raised her and her five […]

Independence Day (Fourth of July)

The Fourth of July—also known as Independence Day or July 4th—has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941, but the tradition of Independence Day celebrations goes back […]

Islamic New Year

The Islamic New Year takes place during the first month of the Hijrī, or Muslim lunar calendar. Though majority-Islamic countries are governed by the solar Gregorian calendar, the lunar calendar […]

Bastille Day

Bastille Day, in France and its overseas départements and territories, holiday marking the anniversary of the fall on July 14, 1789, of the Bastille, in Paris. Originally built as a medieval fortress, the Bastille eventually came to be used as […]

Nelson Mandela International Day

We celebrate Nelson Mandela International Day every year to shine light on the legacy of a man who changed the 20th century and helped shape the 21st. This is a […]

Asalha Puja

Asalha Puja Day, also referred to as Dharma Day, is one of the most important holy days for Buddhists. This day of celebration and new beginnings typically falls in July, […]

Pioneer Day

Completing a treacherous thousand-mile exodus, an ill and exhausted Brigham Young and fellow members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints arrived in Utah’s Great Salt Lake Valley […]