Nineteen-Day Fast

Bahá’u’lláh designated a nineteen-day fast period each year during which adult Bahá’ís fast from sunrise to sunset each day. This period coincides with the Bahá’í month of Alá—meaning Loftiness—from 2 […]

Khordad Sal

Khordad Sal is the birthday of Zoroaster (Zarathustra), the prophet and founder of Zoroastrianism. The holiday usually falls sometime after Nowruz and is often called “Greater Nowruz.” Celebrants pray, hang […]

Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter, observed in commemoration of Jesus Christ’s institution of the Eucharist during the Last Supper. The name is thought to be a Middle English derivation taken from a Latin anthem sung in Roman Catholic churches on that day: […]

Laylat al-Qadr

Laylat al-Qadr, (Arabic: “Night of Power”) Islamic festival that commemorates the night on which God first revealed the Qurʾān to the Prophet Muhammad through the angel Gabriel (Jibrīl). It is believed to have taken place on one of the final 10 nights of Ramadan in 610 CE, though the exact night is unclear. The date of the annual commemoration thus varies throughout the Islamic world but is most commonly observed on […]

Rama Navami

Rama Navami celebrates the birth of Lord Rama who is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. This festival is celebrated during the time of March-April (the 9th day of the first […]

Maidyozarem

The mid-spring festival of Maidyozarem is the year’s first Gahambar (festival). It falls on the 41st to 45th days of the year, usually April 30 to May 4.  Maidyozarem honors heaven and the creation of the stars. Zoroastrians observe six seasonal festivals that celebrate the sanctity of God’s universal creations. Each Gahambar lasts five days and […]

Feast of the Sacred Heart

The Feast of The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of the most widely practiced and well-known devotions in the Roman Catholic Church.  It takes the physical heart of […]

Eid al Adha 2024

Eid al-Adha, (Arabic: “Festival of Sacrifice”) also spelled ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā, also called ʿĪd al-Qurbān or al-ʿĪd al-Kabīr (“Major Festival”), Turkish Kurban Bayram, the second of two great Muslim festivals, the other being Eid al-Fitr. Eid al-Adha […]

Maidyoi-shema

Believers observe the midsummer festival of Maidyoi-shema on days 101 to 105 of the year, typically June 29 to July 3. It celebrates the creation of water, the spring harvest’s […]

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 […]