Mahayana New Year

Mahayana Buddhists celebrate the new year by honoring and praying for Buddha and other deities. Every Buddhist is expected to visit a nearby temple to light candles which are believed […]

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras is a Christian holiday and popular cultural phenomenon that dates back thousands of years to pagan spring and fertility rites. Also known as Carnival or Carnaval, it’s celebrated […]

Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday, the day immediately preceding Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent in Western churches). It occurs between February 2 and March 9, depending on the date of Easter. Shrove, derived from shrive, refers to the confession of […]

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is one of the most popular and important holy days in the liturgical calendar. Ash Wednesday opens Lent, a season of fasting and prayer. Ash Wednesday takes place […]

Magha Puja

Magha Puja is an important religious festival celebrated by Buddhists on the full moon day of the third lunar Month for more than 2,600 years. It marks the four auspicious […]

Ayyám-I-Ha

The Persian phrase “Ayyam-i-Ha” – which simply means “the days of Ha” – describes the four or five intercalary days in the annual Baha’i calendar when Baha’is rejoice, do charitable […]

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 […]