World Autism Awareness Day

Throughout its history, the United Nations family has celebrated diversity and promoted the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities, including learning differences and developmental disabilities. In 2008, the Convention […]

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 […]

International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda

On 7 April, UNESCO commemorates the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, which was established by the United Nations General Assembly  in 2003. The date marks the beginning of the genocide perpetrated against members of the Tutsi minority by the Hutu extremist-led government. Within just over 100 days, more […]

World Health Day

April 7 of each year marks the celebration of World Health Day. From its inception at the First Health Assembly in 1948 and since taking effect in 1950, the celebration has aimed to create awareness of a specific health theme to highlight a priority area of concern for the World Health Organization. Over the past […]

Eid al-Fitr

Eid al-Fitr, (Arabic: “Festival of Breaking Fast”) also spelled ʿĪd al-Fiṭr, also called al-ʿĪd al-Ṣaghīr, Turkish Ramazan Bayramı (“Ramadan Festival”), first of two canonical festivals of Islam. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting, and is celebrated during the first three days of Shawwāl, the 10th month of the Islamic calendar (though the Muslim use of a lunar calendar means that it […]

Vaisakhi (Baisakhi)

Vaisakhi is one of the most important dates in the Sikh calendar. Vaisakhi is a spring festival which happens on the 13 or 14 April every year. It is a day to celebrate 1699 - the year when Sikhism was born as a collective faith.   Vaisakhi has been a harvest festival in Punjab - […]

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 […]

Mahavir Jayanti

Celebrated by the Jain community to observe peace, harmony and to spread the teachings of Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism, Mahavir Jayanti marks the birth anniversary of the founder of Jainism […]

The Festival of Ridvan

For 12 days at the end of April and beginning of May, Baha'i communities around the world celebrated their most holy festival: Ridvan. This annual festival marks the anniversary of the days Baha'u'llah spent along the River Tigris in Baghdad. In 1863, Baha'u'llah stayed in a garden on the banks of the Tigris River for […]

Earth Day

Every year on April 22, Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. In the decades leading up to the first Earth Day, Americans were consuming vast amounts of leaded gas through massive and inefficient automobiles. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of the consequences […]