Lists of holidays
Lists of holidays by various categorizations.
For a list of holidays by country, see List of holidays by country. For a list of multinational holidays by date, see List of multinational festivals and holidays.(Feast of Unleavened Bread – 7 or 8 days of consumption of matzo with wine and avoidance of leavened foods)
Chag HaMatzot
(Feast of Dedication; Also called the Festival of Lights – Commemoration of the rededication of the Jerusalem Temple)
Hanukkah
Pesach
Lag BaOmer
(Feast of Lots – Deliverance of Jews in Persia from extermination by Haman)
Purim
(Feast of Firstfruits – Collecting and waving of grain bundles (barley or wheat); Occurs during the 7 days of unleavened bread after the Sabbath)
Reishit Katzir
(Jewish New Year – First day of Tishrei every year)
Rosh Hashanah
(The 7th Day Sabbath – The day of rest and holiest day of the week, Saturday)
Shabbat
Sukkot
Shemini Atzeret
(Day of Atonement – A day of fasting and repentance of one's sins from the past year)
Yom Kippur
(the longest night and shortest day of the year) or Yule (Winter solstice, around 21–22 December in the Northern Hemisphere and 21–22 June in the Southern Hemisphere) – The solstice celebrations are traditionally marked with anything that symbolizes or encourages life. Decorating evergreens with bright objects and lights, singing songs, giving gifts, feasting and romantic events are often included. For Neopagans this is the celebration of the death and rebirth of the Sun and is one of the eight sabbats on the Wheel of the Year.
Winter Solstice
(24 December) – Day before Christmas. Traditions usually include big feasts at night to celebrate the day to come. It is the night when Santa Claus delivers presents to all the good children of the world.
Christmas Eve
(25 December) – Christian holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus. Traditions include gift-giving, the decoration of trees and houses, and Santa Claus folktales.
Christmas Day
(25 Kislev–2 Tevet – almost always in December) – Jewish holiday celebrating the defeat of Seleucid forces who had tried to prevent Israel from practicing the Jewish faith, and also celebrating the miracle of the Menorah lights burning for eight days with only enough olive oil for one day supply. In Hebrew, "Hanukkah" means "dedication" or "to dedicate".
Hanukkah
or Second Day of Christmas (26 December) – Holiday observed in many European countries.
Saint Stephen's Day
(26 December or 27 December) – Holiday observed in many Commonwealth countries on the first non-Sunday after Christmas.
Boxing Day
(31 December) – Night before New Year's Day. Usually observed with celebrations and festivities in anticipation of the new year.
New Year's Eve
The following holidays are observed to some extent at the same time during the Southern Hemisphere's summer, with the exception of Winter Solstice.
– (31 October, especially in the UK and former British colonies, including the United States, Canada, and Australia). Also called All Hallows' Eve, it is a highly secularized outgrowth of Christian All Hallows' Day on 1 November, and pagan Celtic Samhain (halfway point between autumn equinox and winter solstice).
Halloween
– (19 November in Canada, Australia, India, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, Singapore, South Africa, and Malta)
International Men's Day
– (8 March, particularly in Australia, former Soviet bloc countries and mainland China)
International Women's Day
Labor/Labour Day, or International Workers' Day – (1 May in many European and South American countries. The United States and Canada both celebrate on the first Monday in September)
May Day
– (5 or 6 December in the Netherlands, Belgium, Lebanon, and other countries)
Saint Nicholas Day
– (17 March in Ireland, the United States, Canada, and other countries by people of Irish descent or heritage)
Saint Patrick's Day
– (14 February in the United States, Canada, and many other countries as a day to celebrate love and affection)
Saint Valentine's Day
– (4th Thursday in November in the United States, 2nd Monday in October in Canada). Generally observed as an expression of gratitude, traditionally to God, for the autumn harvest. It is traditionally celebrated with a meal shared among friends and family in which turkey is eaten. In Canada, since the climate is colder than in the US, the harvest season begins and ends earlier.
Thanksgiving Day
In the People's Republic of China, the and National Day are week-long holidays in the mainland territory known as Golden Weeks.
Spring Festival
In , in the holy week there are consecutive holidays Jueves Santo (Holy Thursday) and Viernes Santo (Holy Friday) with variable dates in March or April.
Colombia
In The Netherlands, is celebrated on 4 May from 19:00 and Liberation Day on the 5th. This way Remembrance of the Dead and Liberation Day constitute one remembrance: for both Victims and Liberation.
Remembrance of the Dead
In Ireland, can occasionally occur in Holy Week, the week before Easter; in this case the three holidays (Saint Patrick's Day, Good Friday, and Easter Monday) plus three days' leave can result in a 10-day break. See Public holidays in the Republic of Ireland.
Saint Patrick's Day
In Poland during holidays on 1 and 3 May, when taking a few days of leave can result in holidays; this is called The Picnic (or Majówka).
9-day-long
In Japan, lasts roughly a full week. Then, in 2007, the law was amended so that if any 2 public holidays occur both on a weekday and are separated by a day, then that intermediate day shall also be a public holiday, thus creating a 3-day-long public holiday.
golden-week
In Australia, New Zealand, Africa, Canada, Ireland, Poland, Russia, the British Virgin Islands and the UK, a public holiday otherwise falling on a Sunday will result in observance of the public holiday on the next available weekday (generally Monday). This arrangement results in a .
long weekend
In the British Virgin Islands, the Emancipation Festival is celebrated from the first Monday in August and ends on the Wednesday of that week for a three-day holiday in celebration of the emancipation from slavery on 1 August 1834.
[1]
(1 April)
April Fools' Day
– (30 June, global). Founded in 2014 (initiated after the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor air burst) and recognized in 2016 by the United Nations to mark the 30 June 1908 Tunguska event and raise awareness about the hazards of asteroid impacts.
Asteroid Day
(23 December)
Festivus
(first Sunday in August)
Friendship Day
(occurs every 633.7 days, starting 2 October 1608)
Galactic Tick Day
[3] (Tuesday following Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the United States)
Giving Tuesday
(third Thursday of May)
Global Accessibility Awareness Day
(19 September)
International Talk Like a Pirate Day
(local name in Boston for Patriot's Day)
Marathon Monday
(10 April)
Memon Day
(30 October)
Mischief Night
(23 October)
Mole Day
(14 December)
Monkey Day
(first Sunday in June)
National Cancer Survivors Day
(31 January)
National Gorilla Suit Day
(21 January)
National Hugging Day
(29 January)
National Puzzle Day
(first Friday of May)
No Pants Day
(25 January) (day where you do everything opposite)
Opposite Day
(14 March)
Pi Day
(third Saturday of April)
Record Store Day
(10 March)
Mario Day
(15 February)
Singles Awareness Day
(20 February)
International Pipe Smoking Day
(4 May) "May the Fourth be with you"
Star Wars Day
(third Saturday in October)
Sweetest Day
Tax Freedom Day
(14 March)
White Day
(4 October)
World Animal Day
(31 March)
World Backup Day
(21 September)
World Peace Day
(27 March)
World Theatre Day
These are holidays that are not traditionally marked on calendars. These holidays are celebrated by various groups and individuals. Some are designed to honor or promote a cause or a historical event not officially recognized, while a few others are both celebrated and intended as humorous distractions.