Mahayana New Year

3/01*

Buddhist New Year

Communities: Buddhism

Birthday of Guru Gobind Singh Ji

5/01

The 10th and final Sikh master. Created the Khalsa (the Community of the Pure) and declared the Scriptures (Guru Granth Sahib) to be the Sikh's Guru from that time on.

Communities: Tamil, Hinduism, Sikh

Pongal

13/01 - 16/01**

Multi-day Hindu harvest festival celebrated by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka. Dedicated to the Hindu sun god Surya.

Communities: Tamil, Hinduism

International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust

27/01

Memorial for the six million Jews killed by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945.

Communities: Judaism

Lunar New Year, Tết (Vietnamese Lunar New Year), Seollal (Korean New Year)

17/2**

Celebration of the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new year on the lunisolar calendar.

Communities: Chinese, Filipino, Indonesian, Korean, Malaysian, Vietnamese

International Mother Language Day | United Nations

21/2

Promoting awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and promoting multilingualism.

Communities: All

Losar/Tibetan New Year

18/2-04/3**

Three-day festival where people visit monasteries, make offerings, receive blessings, and take part in various activities symbolising purification and welcoming in the new.

Communities: Buddhism

Ramadan

20/2-22/3**

A period of fasting and spiritual growth and is one of the five “pillars of Islam”.

Communities: Islam

Holi

3/3-4/03**

A joyous Hindu festival known as festival of colour, spring, and love.

Communities: Hinduism

International day to combat Islamophobia

15/03

(The unreasonable dislike or fear of, and prejudice against Muslims.) International observance to commemorate the incidents of ethnic cleansing and suppression of Muslims through history. Including the anniversary of the mosque attacks in Christchurch.

Communities: All

Eid Al-Fitr or ul-Fitr

19/03-20/03**

An important religious holiday that celebrates the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. Also known as the festival of the ‘Breaking of the Fast’.

Communities: Islam

Naw-Rúz

20/3-21/3**

Naw-Rúz is the first day of the Baháʼí calendar year and one of 11 holy days for adherents of the Baháʼí Faith.

Communities: Baháʼí

Nowruz

21/3**

Nowruz is a two-week celebration that marks the beginning of the New Year in Iran's official Solar Hijri calendar.

Communities: Iranian, Persian

Race Relations Day

21/3

Race Relations Day is celebrated annually on the same day as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination | United Nations.

Communities: All

Pesach/Passover

1/04- 9/04

An eight-day festival for families and communities to remember the time when Hebrew slaves were led by Moses out of Egypt to freedom.

Communities: Judaism

Easter

3/04–6/04**

For Christians, Easter is the oldest Christian festival, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.

Communities: Christian

Theravada New Year

13/04-15/04*

The Buddhist New Year depends on the country of origin or ethnic background of the people.

Communities: Buddhism

Vaisakhi

14/04**

Solar New Year Festival.

Communities: Sikhism, Hinduism, Punjabi, Tamil

Girmit Day

15/05

Commemorating the first Indian settlers in Fiji. Girmit Remembrance Day commemorates the plight of the Girmitiyas, who were taken from India to Fiji by the British colonisers in the 19th century.

Community: Fijian Indians

Shavuot

21/05-23/05**

Shavuot, also known as Feast of Weeks, commemorates the anniversary of the day God gave the Torah and Commandments to the nation of Israel assembled at Mount Sinai. Marks the end of Pesach.

Communities: Judaism

Africa Day

25/05

Annual commemoration of the foundation of the Organisation of African Unity.

Community: Members of the African Union

Ascension of Baha'ullah

29/05

Baha’is observe the anniversary of the death in exile of Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i faith, on May 29, 1892, outside Akko (now northern Israel).

Communities: Baha'i

Vesak

31/05*

Celebrating the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha.

Communities: Buddhism

Islamic New Year

16/06

The Islamic New Year, known as Al-Hijra, marks the beginning of Muharram, the first month of the Muslim lunar calendar.

Al-Hijra means the ‘migration’ of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina.

Communities: Islam

Dragon Boat Festival

19/06**

Takes place on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month each year (i.e. late May or June).

Communities: Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Singaporean, Vietnamese

World Refugee Day | United Nations

20/06

Organised by the United Nations. Designed to celebrate and honour refugees from around the world

Communities: All

Eid al-Adha

26/06-30/05**

Honours the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismail as an act of obedience to God's command.

Communities: Islam

Onam Festival

16/08-28/08**

An annual harvest and cultural festival related to Hinduism that is celebrated mostly by the people of Kerala. A major annual event for Keralites.

Communities: Hindu - Malyali Community

Raksha Bandhan

28/08**

A Hindu festival celebrating the bond between brothers and sisters. Sisters tie a rakhi (sacred thread) around their brothers' wrists, symbolising protection and care.

Communities: Hinduism

Rosh Hashanah

11/09-13/09**

Jewish New Year festival, marked by the blowing of the horn (shofar) which begins the 10days of penitence culminating in Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). It is the beginning of the holiest time of the year for Jews, and the anniversary of the creation of the world.

Communities: Judaism

Moon Festival

25/9

Harvest festival. Also known as Mid-Autumn Festival.

Communities: Chinese, Cambodian, Filipino Chinese, Indon Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Singaporean, Vietnamese

Sukkot

25/9-2/10

Also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, is both an agricultural festival of thanksgiving and a commemoration of the forty-year period during which the children of Israel wandered in the desert after leaving slavery in Egypt, living in temporary shelters as they travelled.

Communities: Judaism

Dussehran

20/10

This is the tenth and final day of the Hindu festival of Navaratri, usually in October. In India it especially commemorates the victory of the god Rama over the demon king Ravana.

Communities: Hinduism, Gujrati

Diwali and Mahavira Nirvana

8/11

Diwali, also known as Festival of Lights, is one of the most celebrated Hindu festivals, commemorating the victory of good over evil.

Communities: Hinduism

Birth of the Báb

10/11

The anniversary of the birth in 1819 CE in Shiraz, Persia (now Iran), of Siyyid ‘AliMuhammad, who later took the title of ‘the Bab’, meaning ‘the Gate’. The Bab was the herald of the Baha’i faith.

Communities: Baha'i

Guru Nanak’s Birthday/Guru Purabh/Guru Nank Prakash Utsav

24/11

This day celebrates the birth of the first Sikh guru, Guru Nanak.

One of the most celebrated and important Sikh gurus and the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak is highly revered by the Sikh community.

This is one of the most sacred festivals in Sikhism.

Communities: Sikh

International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People - Question of Palestine (un.org)

29/11

Solemnly commemorating the adoption by the Assembly, on 29 November 1947, of resolution 181 (II), which provided for the partition of Palestine into two States.

Communities: Arabs/Middle Eastern

Hanukkah (Chanukah)

4/12-12/12**

Celebrates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem after it was retaken by the Maccabees.

Communities: Judaism

Christmas

25/12

The annual Christian festival celebrating Christ's birth, held on 25 December in the Western Church.

The Eastern Church celebrates Christmas on 8 January each year.

Communities: Christian