Category: Cultural Diversity

May gets off a strong start with one of the biggest secular holidays of the year taking place on May 1st – International Workers’ Day. This holiday can trace it roots back to European pagan fire festivals celebrating the return of the sun at the end of winter. Nowadays however, any red on May day […]

This year, April showers us with some important holidays. Without a doubt, Easter dominates the month. It’s almost three weeks later than it was last year, and if you celebrate Orthodox Easter you will have to wait another week. The reasons for the shifting dates are covered below. Other notable festivals this month are the […]

Whether or not February is a busy month for holidays and festivals rather depends on the phases of the Moon. For instance, in 2020, the second new moon after 21st December takes place on 25th January, which means February loses the prestigious Lunar New Year holidays that will dominate the first week of February this […]

January is ushered in with New Year’s Day, which is celebrated with a public holiday for 90% of the world’s population, making it the most widely observed holiday of the year. January is notable for the lack of national days; clearly January wasn’t a good time to ask your colonial powers for your independence. Indeed […]

After the diversity of religious festivals and notable national days during the previous few months, December is undeniably dominated by one holiday – Christmas. This month we take a deeper look at the day when over two billion people (over a third of the world’s population) will celebrate the birth of Christ. Month info: The tenth […]

November is a month of harvest festivals, some of the oldest holidays that date back to when ancient farming communities gathered to give thanks for a good harvest, essential in surviving the imminent harsh winter. This year, November has a very notable event on 11th, as many countries will mark the 100th anniversary of the […]

In Malta’s Budget on 22 October 2018, it was announced that one additional day of vocational leave will be granted to all workers in 2019 in order to compensate for the number of public holidays falling on a weekend. In 2018, four of the 14 Maltese public holidays fell on a Saturday or Sunday. In […]

October is a month full of holidays, though it doesn’t have any blockbuster holidays. Chinese National Day is probably the most notable event as one-fifth of the world’s population will have a week off this year. The main US holiday in October is Columbus Day. While it may be a federal holiday, it has taken a […]

An interesting event takes place each year on September 15th. This day marks the independence of the entire Central America from Spanish rule in 1821, this led to five seperate holidays in the countries that formed part of Central America. This event also marks the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, which is observed in the USA. […]