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Seasons Greetings!!
The holiday season is upon us! Because you asked when does the “Holiday Season “ starts as well as the religions and cultures that have celebrations this time of year, I have compiled an extensive list for you. But first I would first like to say glad you asked.
There are different takes on when the “Holiday Season” begins here are some of the accepted ones:
*The holiday shopping season starts the Friday after Thanksgiving, known as "Black Friday".
*The holiday season corresponds to the winter season to cover the diverse cultural and religious celebrations, and therefore 3.5 months November, December, January and into February
The most complete list of religious / cultural celebrations I have been able to compile in my readings etc for an all inclusive holiday season, as follow in alphabetic order:
*Advent: approximately November 27th, four weeks before Christmas, is a Christian celebration the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ.
*Alban Arthan: a Welsh Celtic celebration, some believe the Welsh Druids celebrated this day as King Arthur Day, it corresponds with the Winter Solstice.
*Armenian Christmas: January 6th, an Armenian Apoststolic celebration of the birth of Christ
*Ashura: January Muslim celebration
*Bhai Duj: November Hindu celebration
*Bohi Day: December 8th, is a Buddhist celebration also known as “Enlightenment Day which celebrates the day that Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha) reached enlightenment or Nirvana.
*Boxing Day: December 26th, more of a retailers celebration or shopping celebration now it had
*Candle Mass: February 2nd, aka “Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple” a Christian celebration
*Chinese New Year: celebrated late January early February and is based on the Chinese moon calendar.
*Christmas Eve: December 24th, a Christian celebration on the eve of Jesus the Christ’s birth
*Christmas: December 25th, a Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ
*Christmas 12 days of: December 25th thru January 6th, a Christian celebration that used to include 12 days of feasting and celebrations for the birth of Jesus the Christ.
*Diwali: October – November, Hindu, Sikh, Islamic, Jainism Festival of Light celebrations
*Dong zhi: is a Chinese celebration that corresponds closely to the Winter Solstice and is based on an early 24 period solar calendar.
*Eastern Orthodox Christmas: January 7th, celebration of the birth of Christ.
*Eid ul-Adha: November – December based on the Islamic calendar is a Muslim celebration
*Epiphany : January 6th, a Christian, primarily Catholic and Orthodox celebration
*Feast of the Immaculate Conception: Dec 8th, Christian Celebration
*Feast of Fools: January 1st, a Christian European celebration following New Years Eve which was a mock or spoof (in good humour) of the Catholic church.
*Groundhog Day: February 2nd, secular celebration
*Hanukkah: December, based on the Hebrew calendar is a Jewish celebration
*Hogmanay: Dec 31st - January 1st, Scottish New years eve / New years day celebration
*Holy Innocents’ day: December 28th, Catholic celebration honoring the children first massacred in order to kill the baby Jesus
*Human Light: December 23rd, is a Humanist celebration
*Imbolic: First Day of Spring and thereby marking the end of the holiday or winter season, is a Celtic, Wiccan, Pagan celebration.
*Kwanzaa: December 26th – January 1st, is a secular, Pan-African celebration
*Lohri: January 13th, Sikh celebration
*Modranect Night: aka “Mothers Earths Night”, a Saxon winter solstice celebration, Saxon Druid observance.
*Muharram: Islamic New Year, December, Muslim celebration
*New Years Eve: December 31st, is a secular celebration
*New Years Day: January 1st, is a secular celebration
*Poushra Navratri: Late December – Early January determined by the Hindu Lunar Calendar
*Purim: February, based on the Hebrew calendar is a Jewish celebration
*Samhain: First day of winter in the Celtic and Druidic calendar, corresponding roughly to November 1st, for some Celts this also marks the New Year. Samhain is also celebrated by; Wiccans, and western Pagans.
*Saint Basil Day: January 1st, Greek Orthodox celebration.
*Saint Nicholas Day: December 6th, a Catholic and Orthodox Christian saint that Santa Claus is modeled after.
*Saint Stephen’s Day: December 26th, Catholic, December 27th, Orthodox.
*Saint Sylvester Day: December 31st, celebrated as Pope who formally created the “Roman Catholic Church
*Tu Bishvat: January, based on the Hebrew calendar is a Jewish celebration
*Twelfth Night: aka Eve of Epiphany, January 5th, a Christian, primarily Catholic and Orthodox celebration
*Valentine’s Day: aka “Saint Valentine Day”, February 14th, a Christian celebration, turned commercial and celebrated worldwide now.
*Watch Night: Dec 31st, Christian celebration
*Winter Solstice: December 21st/22nd, is a Celtic, Druid, worldwide Pagan celebration.
*Winterval:
*Yule: December 21-22nd, The Winter Solstice a Celtic, Druid, Wiccan, Pagan and Neo-Pagan celebration
*Yuletide: December 25th, a secular, Pagan and Neo-Pagan celebration
You will note that I do not include Halloween or Thanksgiving as these dates would appear to mark the end of the fall season and therefore following them is the start of the winter holiday season.
And if you are interested here are a number of fictional holiday celebrations that fall between November and February:
Festivus | Decemberween | Hogswatchnight | Chrismukkah | Chrismahanukwanzakah | Winters day | Freezingman | Winter-een-mas
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According to Wikipedia, the holiday season is the "2 to 4 month festive period that surrounds the Christmas holiday as well as other varying holidays." However, 2 to 4 months is a broad range, it can probably be tightened to 1 to 3 months.
Traditionally holidays in the holiday season included:
Christmas Eve - December 24, the day before the Christmas remembrance of the birth of Jesus.
Christmas Day - December 25, Christian holiday that is held each year in commemoration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
Boxing Day (Canada and U.K.) - December 26, named because of the traditional giving of Christmas boxes on the day after Christmas.
New Year's Day - January 1, the first day of the year.
Three Kings Day or Epiphany - January 6, Christian holiday celebrating the baptism of Jesus and the arrival of the Three Wise Men, or Magi, to bring the Christ child gifts.
In addition to this, more recently added to this list include the holidays:
Yule or Yule-tide - December 25, winter festival celebrated by historical Germanic peoples as a pagan religious festival.
Hanukkah or Chanukah, late December, a Jewish holiday and festival of lights that lasts for 8 nights.
Kwanzaa - December 26 to January 1, a seven day festival celebrating the African American people, their culture and their history.
Thanksgiving - Second Monday in October in Canada and the 4th Thursday in November in America, celebrated with a feast.
Black Friday - The day after Thanksgiving, a retail industry holiday for deals and discounts.
Stretching this even further you can add the following holidays:
Halloween - October 31, costumes and candies, trick or treat, also known as All Hallow's Eve
Cyber Monday - Monday after Black Friday, the Internet equivalent, an online shopping day
Hajj - It's a pilgrimage to Mount Arafat in Mecca, required once in a Muslim’s lifetime, is filled with ceremonies symbolizing the core concepts of the Islamic Faith.
Eid-ul-Adha - Islamic holiday celebrating Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son to God. Muslims dress their finest and attend a mosque to perform the Eid prayer.
Bodhi Day - December 8 or the Sunday before, a Bhuddist holiday
New Year's Eve - The evening before New Year's Day, when people celebrate the new year.
Chinese New Year - two-week long traditional Chinese holiday celebrated on the first day of the first moon of the lunar calendar.
So, a comprehensive list should be as follows:
Halloween
Thanksgiving
Black Friday
Cyber Monday
Yule
Hanukkah
Hajj
Eid-ul-Adha
Christmas
Kwanzaa
Bodhi Day
New Year's Eve
New Year's Day
Chinese New Year
Source(s):
http://www.sixwise.com/Newsletters/2008/December/17/What-Are-the-Other-Reli...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_and_holiday_season
Tags: holidays
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easyeboy
In December we must wait until the kids get out of school. That is certainly their most important holiday except for Christmas. The last day of the year is important since that is my son's birthday. He was a tax break baby.
Jan 1 is the last day until November that my wife's family gathers at our house, so that is a very important day. Whewwww.
Finally, around Jan 10, my wife takes her mother and sometimes her sister to Honolulu for her mother's birthday. So I have the house alone. That is the last important holiday of the holiday season.
Source(s):
Three guesses
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For Christians, the Holidays usually signifies the period starting on Christmas Eve, December 24, and ending on New Years Day, January 1. However, some extend it to include the Nativity of Christ on January 6 or 7 (depending on the denomination). A list of Christian holidays during this season is as follows.
- Christmas (Eve and Day)
- Feast of the Holy Family (December 27, Catholic)
- Holy Innocents (December 28)
- Watch Night and New Years Eve (December 31)
- New Years Day, Mary Mother of God (Catholic) & Feast of St Basil (Orthodox) (January 1)
- Twelfth Night (January 5)
- Epiphany, Feast of the Theophany (Orthodox), Nativity of Christ (Armenian), Dia de los Reyes or Three Kings Day (Hispanic Christian) (January 6)
- Nativity of Christ (January 7, Orthodox)
African Americans as well as some Africans worldwide, celebrate Kwanzaa from December 26 to January 1. According to the official Kwanzaa website (http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/index.shtml ) Kwanzaa is intended to be a cultural celebration, not a religious one. Thus, Christian African Americans can celebrate the religious aspects of Christmas, without the European cultural parts (e.g. Santa Claus) and celebrate their own cultural heritage through observation of Kwanzaa.
For Jews, the Holidays signifies the period starting on Rosh Ha'Shana, the Jewish new year, celebrated on Aleph Tishrei (the first day of the month of Tishrei, which usually falls sometime in September). This period ends 22 days later on Simchat Torah. This holiday's name means literally, celebration of the Torah, where the Torah is the first part of the Bible, known to Christians as the Old Testament, and which is comprised of the five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (see http://www.jewfaq.org/torah.htm ). Jews read the Torah during prayers throughout the year, reaching the end of Deuteronomy on Shmini Atzeret and restarting Genesis the following day on Simchat Torah. The complete list of Jewish holidays of this season is as follows.
- Rosh Ha'Shana - Jewish New Year.
- Yom Kippur - Day of Atonement (Jews must seek forgiveness of all against whom they've transgressed, and of God for their sins).
- Sukkot - Tabernacles (Jews are required to eat and sleep in makeshift structures where the sky can be seen through the ceiling).
- Shmini Atzeret (celebration of completion of another annual cycle of reading the Torah)
- Simchat Torah (beginning of the new annual cycle of reading the Torah starting with Genesis).
Many Christians believe the Jewish Holiday Season is Hannuka (with various alternative spellings), as that Jewish holiday falls nearest the Christian Holiday Season. Hannuka, also called the Festival of Lights due to the lighting of the 9-candle Menorah, is indeed an important Jewish holiday, commemorating the rescue of the ancient Jewish Temple in Jerusalem from the ancient Hellenistic Syrians led by Antiochus IV and its reconsecration in 165 BCE (see e.g. http://web.macam.ac.il/~bev/Book/2%20hanukkah.htm ). However, it is not a significant religious holiday when compared to Rosh Ha'Shana, Yom Kippur, or Simchat Torah.
In Islam there is no special holiday during the last week of December. The two main holidays are Eid Al Adha and Eid Al -Fitr. Eid Al Adha (November 27 in 2009) celebrates the end of Hajj season during which Mulsims perform the pilgrimage to Mecca required at least once in a lifetime for observant Muslims (for more information see http://islam.about.com/od/hajj/tp/hajjinfo.htm ). Eid Al -Fitr (September 10 in 2010) celebrates the end of the month-long daytime fasting of Ramadan (see http://islam.about.com/od/ramadan/Ramadan_Eid_alFitr.htm ).
An interfaith calendar of Holidays can be found at http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/Fullyeararchive2009.htm for 2009, and at http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/2010.htm for 2010. Definitions for interfaith terms are given at http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/calendardefinitions.htm
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We do have Australia Day on January 26th, but it's not seen as part of the holiday season. January 26th was the date on which the First Fleet of transported convicts weighed anchor at Sydney Cove and posession of the land was claimed.
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Answered Question
M$4.50
November 06, 2009 05:24 PM
What holidays are included in the Holiday Season?
When does the "holiday season" start and end, and which religions, groups and countries have holidays and celebrations during this period? What are those celebrations all about?
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Interesting: bunnyphuphu M$1.00, buddawiggi M$0.25, island_druid M$0.25
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Best Answer Chosen by Asker
| November 08, 2009 03:49 AM |
The holiday season is upon us! Because you asked when does the “Holiday Season “ starts as well as the religions and cultures that have celebrations this time of year, I have compiled an extensive list for you. But first I would first like to say glad you asked.
There are different takes on when the “Holiday Season” begins here are some of the accepted ones:
*The holiday shopping season starts the Friday after Thanksgiving, known as "Black Friday".
*The holiday season corresponds to the winter season to cover the diverse cultural and religious celebrations, and therefore 3.5 months November, December, January and into February
The most complete list of religious / cultural celebrations I have been able to compile in my readings etc for an all inclusive holiday season, as follow in alphabetic order:
*Advent: approximately November 27th, four weeks before Christmas, is a Christian celebration the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ.
*Alban Arthan: a Welsh Celtic celebration, some believe the Welsh Druids celebrated this day as King Arthur Day, it corresponds with the Winter Solstice.
*Armenian Christmas: January 6th, an Armenian Apoststolic celebration of the birth of Christ
*Ashura: January Muslim celebration
*Bhai Duj: November Hindu celebration
*Bohi Day: December 8th, is a Buddhist celebration also known as “Enlightenment Day which celebrates the day that Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha) reached enlightenment or Nirvana.
*Boxing Day: December 26th, more of a retailers celebration or shopping celebration now it had
*Candle Mass: February 2nd, aka “Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple” a Christian celebration
*Chinese New Year: celebrated late January early February and is based on the Chinese moon calendar.
*Christmas Eve: December 24th, a Christian celebration on the eve of Jesus the Christ’s birth
*Christmas: December 25th, a Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ
*Christmas 12 days of: December 25th thru January 6th, a Christian celebration that used to include 12 days of feasting and celebrations for the birth of Jesus the Christ.
*Diwali: October – November, Hindu, Sikh, Islamic, Jainism Festival of Light celebrations
*Dong zhi: is a Chinese celebration that corresponds closely to the Winter Solstice and is based on an early 24 period solar calendar.
*Eastern Orthodox Christmas: January 7th, celebration of the birth of Christ.
*Eid ul-Adha: November – December based on the Islamic calendar is a Muslim celebration
*Epiphany : January 6th, a Christian, primarily Catholic and Orthodox celebration
*Feast of the Immaculate Conception: Dec 8th, Christian Celebration
*Feast of Fools: January 1st, a Christian European celebration following New Years Eve which was a mock or spoof (in good humour) of the Catholic church.
*Groundhog Day: February 2nd, secular celebration
*Hanukkah: December, based on the Hebrew calendar is a Jewish celebration
*Hogmanay: Dec 31st - January 1st, Scottish New years eve / New years day celebration
*Holy Innocents’ day: December 28th, Catholic celebration honoring the children first massacred in order to kill the baby Jesus
*Human Light: December 23rd, is a Humanist celebration
*Imbolic: First Day of Spring and thereby marking the end of the holiday or winter season, is a Celtic, Wiccan, Pagan celebration.
*Kwanzaa: December 26th – January 1st, is a secular, Pan-African celebration
*Lohri: January 13th, Sikh celebration
*Modranect Night: aka “Mothers Earths Night”, a Saxon winter solstice celebration, Saxon Druid observance.
*Muharram: Islamic New Year, December, Muslim celebration
*New Years Eve: December 31st, is a secular celebration
*New Years Day: January 1st, is a secular celebration
*Poushra Navratri: Late December – Early January determined by the Hindu Lunar Calendar
*Purim: February, based on the Hebrew calendar is a Jewish celebration
*Samhain: First day of winter in the Celtic and Druidic calendar, corresponding roughly to November 1st, for some Celts this also marks the New Year. Samhain is also celebrated by; Wiccans, and western Pagans.
*Saint Basil Day: January 1st, Greek Orthodox celebration.
*Saint Nicholas Day: December 6th, a Catholic and Orthodox Christian saint that Santa Claus is modeled after.
*Saint Stephen’s Day: December 26th, Catholic, December 27th, Orthodox.
*Saint Sylvester Day: December 31st, celebrated as Pope who formally created the “Roman Catholic Church
*Tu Bishvat: January, based on the Hebrew calendar is a Jewish celebration
*Twelfth Night: aka Eve of Epiphany, January 5th, a Christian, primarily Catholic and Orthodox celebration
*Valentine’s Day: aka “Saint Valentine Day”, February 14th, a Christian celebration, turned commercial and celebrated worldwide now.
*Watch Night: Dec 31st, Christian celebration
*Winter Solstice: December 21st/22nd, is a Celtic, Druid, worldwide Pagan celebration.
*Winterval:
*Yule: December 21-22nd, The Winter Solstice a Celtic, Druid, Wiccan, Pagan and Neo-Pagan celebration
*Yuletide: December 25th, a secular, Pagan and Neo-Pagan celebration
You will note that I do not include Halloween or Thanksgiving as these dates would appear to mark the end of the fall season and therefore following them is the start of the winter holiday season.
And if you are interested here are a number of fictional holiday celebrations that fall between November and February:
Festivus | Decemberween | Hogswatchnight | Chrismukkah | Chrismahanukwanzakah | Winters day | Freezingman | Winter-een-mas
| Asker's Rating: |
• Great answer, great inlinks thanks for taking the time
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Other Answers (5)
November 06, 2009 06:08 PM
The Holiday Season starts for different people at different times. Usually stores start to sell holiday related items during the Halloween season, and get prepared for the holidays before Halloween in October. You will see stores in late October getting prepared to put out items for the holidays, whether it may be trees, ornaments, etc. According to Wikipedia, the holiday season is the "2 to 4 month festive period that surrounds the Christmas holiday as well as other varying holidays." However, 2 to 4 months is a broad range, it can probably be tightened to 1 to 3 months.
Traditionally holidays in the holiday season included:
Christmas Eve - December 24, the day before the Christmas remembrance of the birth of Jesus.
Christmas Day - December 25, Christian holiday that is held each year in commemoration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
Boxing Day (Canada and U.K.) - December 26, named because of the traditional giving of Christmas boxes on the day after Christmas.
New Year's Day - January 1, the first day of the year.
Three Kings Day or Epiphany - January 6, Christian holiday celebrating the baptism of Jesus and the arrival of the Three Wise Men, or Magi, to bring the Christ child gifts.
In addition to this, more recently added to this list include the holidays:
Yule or Yule-tide - December 25, winter festival celebrated by historical Germanic peoples as a pagan religious festival.
Hanukkah or Chanukah, late December, a Jewish holiday and festival of lights that lasts for 8 nights.
Kwanzaa - December 26 to January 1, a seven day festival celebrating the African American people, their culture and their history.
Thanksgiving - Second Monday in October in Canada and the 4th Thursday in November in America, celebrated with a feast.
Black Friday - The day after Thanksgiving, a retail industry holiday for deals and discounts.
Stretching this even further you can add the following holidays:
Halloween - October 31, costumes and candies, trick or treat, also known as All Hallow's Eve
Cyber Monday - Monday after Black Friday, the Internet equivalent, an online shopping day
Hajj - It's a pilgrimage to Mount Arafat in Mecca, required once in a Muslim’s lifetime, is filled with ceremonies symbolizing the core concepts of the Islamic Faith.
Eid-ul-Adha - Islamic holiday celebrating Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son to God. Muslims dress their finest and attend a mosque to perform the Eid prayer.
Bodhi Day - December 8 or the Sunday before, a Bhuddist holiday
New Year's Eve - The evening before New Year's Day, when people celebrate the new year.
Chinese New Year - two-week long traditional Chinese holiday celebrated on the first day of the first moon of the lunar calendar.
So, a comprehensive list should be as follows:
Halloween
Thanksgiving
Black Friday
Cyber Monday
Yule
Hanukkah
Hajj
Eid-ul-Adha
Christmas
Kwanzaa
Bodhi Day
New Year's Eve
New Year's Day
Chinese New Year
Source(s):
http://www.sixwise.com/Newsletters/2008/December/17/What-Are-the-Other-Reli...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_and_holiday_season
Tags: holidays
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Helpful: jeffhoard, konsiders, shewolfsilver, gno
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easyeboy
November 06, 2009 07:21 PM
I forgot to include my birthday, Veterans Day :)
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November 06, 2009 06:56 PM
The Holiday Season starts on October 29 with my wife's birthday. Then it continues with Halloween on Oct 31. Next, we have holidays in November. Election Day in some years, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and, of course, Black Friday, the most important shopping day of the year. In December we must wait until the kids get out of school. That is certainly their most important holiday except for Christmas. The last day of the year is important since that is my son's birthday. He was a tax break baby.
Jan 1 is the last day until November that my wife's family gathers at our house, so that is a very important day. Whewwww.
Finally, around Jan 10, my wife takes her mother and sometimes her sister to Honolulu for her mother's birthday. So I have the house alone. That is the last important holiday of the holiday season.
Source(s):
Three guesses
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November 06, 2009 09:59 PM
The answer is strongly dependent on religion, and in some cases culture. For Christians, the Holidays usually signifies the period starting on Christmas Eve, December 24, and ending on New Years Day, January 1. However, some extend it to include the Nativity of Christ on January 6 or 7 (depending on the denomination). A list of Christian holidays during this season is as follows.
- Christmas (Eve and Day)
- Feast of the Holy Family (December 27, Catholic)
- Holy Innocents (December 28)
- Watch Night and New Years Eve (December 31)
- New Years Day, Mary Mother of God (Catholic) & Feast of St Basil (Orthodox) (January 1)
- Twelfth Night (January 5)
- Epiphany, Feast of the Theophany (Orthodox), Nativity of Christ (Armenian), Dia de los Reyes or Three Kings Day (Hispanic Christian) (January 6)
- Nativity of Christ (January 7, Orthodox)
African Americans as well as some Africans worldwide, celebrate Kwanzaa from December 26 to January 1. According to the official Kwanzaa website (http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/index.shtml ) Kwanzaa is intended to be a cultural celebration, not a religious one. Thus, Christian African Americans can celebrate the religious aspects of Christmas, without the European cultural parts (e.g. Santa Claus) and celebrate their own cultural heritage through observation of Kwanzaa.
For Jews, the Holidays signifies the period starting on Rosh Ha'Shana, the Jewish new year, celebrated on Aleph Tishrei (the first day of the month of Tishrei, which usually falls sometime in September). This period ends 22 days later on Simchat Torah. This holiday's name means literally, celebration of the Torah, where the Torah is the first part of the Bible, known to Christians as the Old Testament, and which is comprised of the five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (see http://www.jewfaq.org/torah.htm ). Jews read the Torah during prayers throughout the year, reaching the end of Deuteronomy on Shmini Atzeret and restarting Genesis the following day on Simchat Torah. The complete list of Jewish holidays of this season is as follows.
- Rosh Ha'Shana - Jewish New Year.
- Yom Kippur - Day of Atonement (Jews must seek forgiveness of all against whom they've transgressed, and of God for their sins).
- Sukkot - Tabernacles (Jews are required to eat and sleep in makeshift structures where the sky can be seen through the ceiling).
- Shmini Atzeret (celebration of completion of another annual cycle of reading the Torah)
- Simchat Torah (beginning of the new annual cycle of reading the Torah starting with Genesis).
Many Christians believe the Jewish Holiday Season is Hannuka (with various alternative spellings), as that Jewish holiday falls nearest the Christian Holiday Season. Hannuka, also called the Festival of Lights due to the lighting of the 9-candle Menorah, is indeed an important Jewish holiday, commemorating the rescue of the ancient Jewish Temple in Jerusalem from the ancient Hellenistic Syrians led by Antiochus IV and its reconsecration in 165 BCE (see e.g. http://web.macam.ac.il/~bev/Book/2%20hanukkah.htm ). However, it is not a significant religious holiday when compared to Rosh Ha'Shana, Yom Kippur, or Simchat Torah.
In Islam there is no special holiday during the last week of December. The two main holidays are Eid Al Adha and Eid Al -Fitr. Eid Al Adha (November 27 in 2009) celebrates the end of Hajj season during which Mulsims perform the pilgrimage to Mecca required at least once in a lifetime for observant Muslims (for more information see http://islam.about.com/od/hajj/tp/hajjinfo.htm ). Eid Al -Fitr (September 10 in 2010) celebrates the end of the month-long daytime fasting of Ramadan (see http://islam.about.com/od/ramadan/Ramadan_Eid_alFitr.htm ).
An interfaith calendar of Holidays can be found at http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/Fullyeararchive2009.htm for 2009, and at http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/2010.htm for 2010. Definitions for interfaith terms are given at http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/calendardefinitions.htm
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November 07, 2009 05:44 PM
Here in Adelaide, South Australia, we tend to see the Christmas Pageant as the start of the Holiday Season. It happens on the second Saturday of November. Also, being in the Southern Hemisphere, our schools have their Summer Holiday from December to the end of January, so for students it lasts from mid-November to late January. We do have Australia Day on January 26th, but it's not seen as part of the holiday season. January 26th was the date on which the First Fleet of transported convicts weighed anchor at Sydney Cove and posession of the land was claimed.
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