Category: Cultural Diversity

This year, April showers us with some important holidays. The month starts with Easter Monday, though if you celebrate Orthodox Easter Monday you will have to wait until May 6th. The reasons for the shifting dates are covered below. Ramadan ends with the Islamic festival of Eid al-Fitr. Other notable festivals this month are the […]

March is a month of rebirth and renewal as spring starts to push back winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Over 300 million people will mark Spring with Persian New Year on March 21st; and Balinese New Year, and the Hindu festival of Holi also brings color and life to this month. Month info: March gets its […]

Whether or not February is a busy month for holidays and festivals rather depends on the phases of the Moon. For instance, this year, the second new moon after December 21st takes place on February 10th, which means that February hosts the prestigious Lunar New Year holidays that will dominate the middle of February this […]

February 2: Groundhog Day February 2nd each year brings the most-watched weather forecast of the year—and the only one led by a rodent. February 4: Sri Lankan National Day The holiday primarily celebrates Sri Lanka’s independence from British rule on this day in 1948 but is also a day to remember Sri Lanka’s struggle for […]

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 […]

December 1: Romania Grand Union Day The National day of Romania and celebrates the Union of Transylvania with Romania in 1918. December 2: UAE National Day National Day commemorates formal nationalisation from the British Protectorate Treaties on 2 December 1971. December 5: Thailand Thailand’s National Day commemorates the birthday of the late King of Thailand, […]

After the diversity of religious festivals and notable national days during the previous few months, the focus of December is undeniably 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 […]

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. In addition to American Thanksgiving, this year November also hosts the birthday of the founder of one of the world’s […]

October is a month full of holidays, though it arguably 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 to mark the 72nd anniversary of the People’s Republic. The main U.S. holiday in October is Columbus Day. While […]

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 separate 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. […]