Dussehra (Vijaya Dashami, Dasara, or Dashain) is a Hindu festival that celebrates the victory of good over evil. It specifically commemorates when Lord Rama killed Ravana, as told in the Hindu epic Ramayana. It is a gazetted holiday in India, which is marked on the 10th and last day of Navratri, according to the Hindu […]
In 1977 participants at the United Nations International Conference on Discrimination against Indigenous Populations in the Americas proposed that Indigenous Peoples’ Day replace Columbus Day. Indigenous Peoples’ Day recognizes that Native people are the first inhabitants of the Americas, including the lands that later became the United States of America. And it urges Americans to […]
Wherever they live, Baha’is gather every 19 days for what we call a Feast. This is a members-only event comprising three parts: 1. A spiritual portion that’s the time for prayer and reflection; 2. A business portion for consultation about administrative issues (plans for forming classes, organizing to perform community service, observing holy days, or […]
Sukkot is a seven-day festival marking the fall harvest in ancient Israel. This holiday is also a time in which Jews commemorate forty years of wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. Celebrated by the building of a sukkah (or temporary dwelling) outdoors, where families and friends spend time throughout the holiday. Work is traditionally prohibited […]
Commemorating the transfer of Guruship from human form to the Word, Shabad. The installation of Guru Granth Sahib, the ultimate compilation containing the Guru’s wisdom, is celebrated with great joy. The last and eternal Guru for the Sikhs is Guru Granth Sahib. It is respected not like a book, but like a true King. All […]
Coming at the conclusion of Sukkot are the two holidays of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah . In Israel and among more liberal Jews they are combined into one holiday on the day after the conclusion of Sukkot . Among more traditional Jews outside of Israel, they are observed separately from one another on two consecutive days. Shemini Atzeret means the “Eighth Day […]
Coming at the conclusion of Sukkot are the two holidays of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah . In Israel and among more liberal Jews they are combined into one holiday on the day after the conclusion of Sukkot . Among more traditional Jews outside of Israel, they are observed separately from one another on two consecutive days. Shemini Atzeret means the “Eighth Day […]
Jashan-e Abangan is a celebration ceremony, a Jashan, performed on Avan day of Avan month, in honor of Abangan or Avan, a Pehlavi name derived from the ancient Avestan term “Ardvi Sura”. Avan means Water. Water, a life-giving element for all creation in our world, is highly revered by Zoroastrians, and we consider it our […]
Over the course of three days, 8,000 – 17,000 Sikhs were killed and about 50,000 were displaced after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was killed by her two Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984. Upon public knowledge of her death, Indian citizens (primarily Hindu nationalists) determinedly murdered, raped, burned, and tortured innocent Sikhs in more than […]
Samhain is celebrated October 31st. This is the third harvest when all crops should be in. Anything not harvested was left in the fields. Samhain is a Gaelic word that means “Summer’s End”, so Samhain was the beginning of winter. For the Celtic people of Europe and the British Isles, this was the end of […]