Calendar of Equality and Diversity Events and special days 2016

This calendar focuses on 9 key faiths: Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Sikhism, Islam,

Buddhism, Shinto, Jainism and Bahai.

This does not mean other religions, beliefs or non-belief are not equally valued. The calendar

highlights key diversity days; main faith days observed or celebrated and awareness raising

dates.

Sources of information used include: external faith bodies, diversity organisations and national

faith calendars. This calendar has been produced accurately at the time of publication.

Some dates may vary regionally as they are determined by the lunar calendar. Holy days

begin at sunset the day before the date shown.

January

• 4th World Braille Day

• 27th Holocaust Memorial Day

February

• All month LGBT History Month

• 1st Setsebun Sai (Shinto) (the day before the beginning of

spring in Japan. The name literally means "seasonal division",

celebrated yearly at the beginning of February as part of the

Spring Festival)

• 8th Chinese New Year (falls between mid-January and mid-

February, please check for specific dates)

• 9th Shrove Tuesday (Christian) (a day in February or March

preceding Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of Lent)

• 10th Feb – 24th March Ash Wednesday and Lent (Christian)

(Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. Lent lasts 40 days and

commemorates the forty days Jesus spent in the desert fasting.

• 15th Nirvana Day (Buddhist & Jain) (festival that remembers the

death of the Buddha when he reached Nirvana at the age of 80)

March

• First two weeks LGBT Fostering and Adoption week

• 2nd – 20th Nineteen Day Fast (Baha’i) (19 day sunrise-to-sunset fast. Along with obligatory prayer, it is one of the greatest obligations of a Baha’i. Its chief purpose is spiritual; to reinvigorate the soul and bring the person closer to God)

• 7th Maha Shrivarati (Hindu) (all-day fasting and an all-night-vigil in reverence of the God Shiva)

• 8th International Women’s day

• 14th – 18th National Apprenticeships week

• 21st Naw Ruz (Baha’i) (New Year, the first day of the Baha’i calendar year and is the celebration of the traditional Iranian new year holiday, is celebrated throughout the countries of the Middle East and Central Asia)

• 23rd Magha Puji (Sangha Day) (Buddhist) (celebration in honour of the Sangha, or the Buddhist community. It is a chance for people to reaffirm their commitment to Buddhist practices and traditions)

• 25th Good Friday (Christian) (commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ)

• 27th Easter Sunday (Christian) (festival and holy day celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead)

• 31st International Transgender day of visibility

April

• 2nd World Autism Awareness Day

• 8th Hindu New Year

• 14th Vaisakhi, Sikh New Year

• 15th Festival of Ramanavami (Hindu) (commemorates the birth

of Lord Rama, the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu)

• 19th Mahavir Jayanti (Jain) (the most important religious holiday

for Jains. It celebrates the birth of Mahavira, twenty fourth and

the last Tirthankara (Teaching God) of the present time cycle)

• 18th – 24th Parkinson’s Awareness week

• 22nd Buddhist Theravada New Year

• 22nd – 30th Pesach / Passover (Jewish) (commemoration of the

Jews liberation by God from slavery in Egypt and their freedom

as a nation under the leadership of Moses)

May

• 2nd – 8th Deaf Awareness week

• 3rd Lailat al Miraj (Islam) (commemorates the Prophet Muhammad's night-time journey from Mecca to the 'Farthest Mosque' in Jerusalem where he ascended to heaven, was purified, and given the instruction for Muslims to pray five times daily)

• 5th Yom HaShoah (Jewish) Jewish remembrance day for the Holocaust

• 15th – 21st Dementia Awareness week

• 15th Visakha Puja / Vesak Day (Buddhist) (commemorates the birth, enlightenment and passing away of the Buddha)

• 16th – 22nd Mental Health Awareness week

• 17th International day against homophobia

• 21st Lailat al Bara’ah (Islam) (takes place two weeks before Ramadan. It is the time when Muslims seek forgiveness for their sins and believe that on this night one's destiny is fixed for the year ahead)

• 23rd Declaration of the Báb (Baha’i) (Commemorating when the Bab, the prophet-herald of the Baha’i Faith, announced in Persia, that he was the herald of a new messenger of God)

• 29th Ascension of Baha’u’llah (Baha’i) (Observance of the anniversary of the death in exile of Baha`u`llah, the prophet-founder of the Baha’i Faith)

June

• All month Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month

• 6th June – 5th July 2016 Ramadan (Islam) (an important holy period, a

month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to

Mohammed)

• 6th – 12th Carers Week

• 11th Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Day, Borough Gardens, Dorchester

• 16th martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev (Sikh) (commemoration of the first

martyr of the Sikh faith)

• 20th World Refugee Day

• 21st World Humanist Day

• 24th – 30th Deafblind Awareness week

July

• 6th 2016 Eid al Fitr (Islam) (celebrating the end of fasting of Ramadan

and thanking Allah for the help and strength he gave them throughout

Ramadan)

• 8th – 10th Bourne Free, Bournemouth Pride

• 9th Martyrdom of the Bab (Baha’i) (commemorates the martyrdom of

Bab, one of the two founding figures of the faith)

• 13th – 15th Obon (Buddhist) (honours the spirits of ones ancestors, it is

believed that each year during Obon the ancestors’ spirits return to visit

relatives)

• 15th – 17th Tolpuddle Martyrs festival

• 19th Asalha Puja Day (Dharma Day) (Buddhist) (celebrates the

Buddha’s first sermon in which he established the doctrine that came to

him following his enlightenment)

August

• 6th One World Festival, Dorchester (dates vary,

please check for specific dates)

• 25th Krishna Janmashtami (Hindu) (celebration of the

birth of the deity Krishna)

September

• 11th Eid-al-Adha (Islam) (honours the willingness of

Abraham to sacrifice his son, as an act of submission

to God’s command, before God intervened)

• 6th Paryushan Parva (Jain) (the most important Jain

religious observance of the year it is a time of

intensive study, reflection, and purification)

• 23rd Bi-Visibility Day

October

• All month Black History Month

• 1st – 11th Navaratri Festival (Hindu) (‘nine nights’ is one of the greatest Hindu festivals, symbolises the triumph of good over evil. Navratri takes place at the beginning of October around harvest time)

• 2nd – 4th Rosh Hashanah Jewish New Year

• 3rd – 9th Dyslexia Awareness Week

• 11th – 12th 2016 Yom Kippur (Jewish) (the holiest day of the year in Judaism, its central themes are atonement and repentance)

• 11th October International Coming out day

• 30th Diwali (Hindu, Jain & Sikh) (festival of lights spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness or good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, and hope over despair. One of the most import dates in the Hindu calendar)

November

• Transgender awareness week (beginning of November, date TBC)

• 13th – 20th InterFaith week

• 14th Birth of Baha’u’llah (Baha’i) (celebrates the birth of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith)

• 14th Birthday of Guru Nanak (Sikh) (Holy day celebrates the birth of Guru Nanak the founder of Sikhism)

• 14th – 18th National anti-bullying week

• 19th International Men’s Day

• 20th Transgender day of remembrance

• 22nd Nov – 22nd Dec Disability History Month

December

• 1st World Aids day

• 3rd International day for people with disabilities

• 10th Human Rights Day

• 22nd Nov – 22nd Dec Disability History Month

• 24th – 31st Chanukah Festival of Lights (Jewish)

(commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple (the

second temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean

Revolt)

• 24th Christmas Eve (Christian) (refers to the evening or entire

day preceding Christmas Day)

• 25th Christmas Day (Christian) (annual festival commemorating

the birth of Jesus Christ)