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 8 days earlier than it was last year, though 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 Solar […]

Put a spring in the step of your April video conferences by adding a background celebrating the key holidays and festivals during the month. April 1: Cypriot National Day Also known as ‘EOKA Day‘, this holiday commemorates the start of the insurgence against the British in 1955 April 4: Senegalese National Day Celebrates independence and […]

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 […]

March 1st: St. David’s Day The National Day of Wales is St. David’s Day and is always observed on March 1st, the traditional date of his death in 589 AD. March 3: Bulgarian Liberation Day This holiday is Bulgaria’s national day and honours the Bulgarian volunteers who, during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 with the […]

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 January 22nd, which means that February misses out on the prestigious Lunar New Year holidays. Month info: February gets it name from […]

January: New Year’s Day New Year’s Day is a public holiday in all countries that observe the Gregorian calendar, with the exception of Israel January 6: Epiphany Epiphany is an important and widely-observed Christian festival that marks the visit of the Magi (the three wise men) to the infant Jesus. January 7: Orthodox Christmas The […]

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, 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 […]