Key events and dates for New Zealand ethnic communities 2024

A list of significant cultural and faith dates for the 2024 calendar year.

 

The calendar below includes significant cultural and faith days recognised by New Zealand’s ethnic communities. It is not an exhaustive list – there will be other events and dates which are not included.

Please note, dates with a single asterisk (*) may vary by country of origin, while those marked with two asterisks (**) may vary based on the Lunar cycle.

View a PDF version of the calendar (194KB).

January

Pongal

15/01 - 18/01**

Multi-day Hindu harvest festival celebrated by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka. Dedicated to the Hindu sun god Surya.

Communities: Tamil, Hinduism

Birthday of Guru Gobind Singh Ji

17/01

The 10th and final Sikh master. Created the Khalsa (the Community of the Pure) and declared the Scriptures (Guru Granth Sahib) to be the Sikh's Guru from that time on.

Communities: Tamil, Hinduism, Sikh

Mahayana New Year

25/01 - 27/01*

Buddhist New Year

Communities: Buddhism

International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust

27/01

Memorial for the six million Jews killed by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945.

Communities: Judaism

 

February

Losar/Tibetan New Year

10/2-12/2**

Three-day festival where people visit monasteries, make offerings, receive blessings, and take part in various activities symbolising purification and welcoming in the new.

Communities: Buddhism

Lunar New Year, Tết (Vietnamese Lunar New Year), Seollal (Korean New Year)

10/02**

Celebration of the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new year on the lunisolar calendar.

Communities: Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean

International Mother Language Day | United Nations

21/2

Promoting awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and promoting multilingualism.

Communities: All

 

March

Ramadan

10/3-8/4**

A period of fasting and spiritual growth and is one of the five “pillars of Islam”.

Communities: Islam

Naw-Rúz

19/3-20/3

Naw-Rúz is the first day of the Baháʼí calendar year and one of 11 holy days for adherents of the Baháʼí Faith.

Communities: Baháʼí

Nowruz

20/3**

Nowruz is a two-week celebration that marks the beginning of the New Year in Iran's official Solar Hijri calendar.

Communities: Iranian, Persian

Race Relations Day

21/3

Race Relations Day is celebrated annually on the same day as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination | United Nations.

Holi

25/3

A Hindu festival known as festival of colour, spring, and love.

Communities: Hinduism

 

 

April

Easter

1/4-4/4**

For Christians, Easter is the oldest Christian festival, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.

Communities: Christian

Eid Al-Fitr

9/4-10/4**

An important religious holiday that celebrates the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. Also known as the festival of the ‘Breaking of the Fast’.

Communities: Islam

Vaishaki

13/4**

Solar New Year festival.

Communities: Sikhism, Hinduism, Punjabi

Songkran

13/4-15/4**

Thai new year and national holiday.

Communities: Thai

Khmer New Year

13/4-16/4**

Cambodian new year.

Communities: Cambodian

Pesach/Passover

23/4-30/4

An eight-day festival for families and communities to remember the time when Hebrew slaves were led by Moses out of Egypt to freedom.

Communities: Judaism

Theravada New Year

24/4-26/4

The Buddhist New Year depends on the country of origin or ethnic background of the people.

Communities: Buddhism

 

May

Girmit Day

14/5

Commemorating the first Indian settlers in Fiji.

Communities: Fijian Indian

Vesak *

23/5

Celebrating the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha.

Communities: Buddhism

Africa Day

25/5

Annual commemoration of the foundation of the Organisation of African Unity.

Communities: Members of the African Union

Ascension of Baha'ullah

28/1

Baha’is observe the anniversary of the death in exile of Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i faith, on May 29, 1892, outside Akko (now northern Israel).

Communities: Baha'i

 

June

Shavuot

11/6-13/6

Shavuot, also known as Feast of Weeks, commemorates the anniversary of the day God gave the Torah and Commandments to the nation of Israel assembled at Mount Sinai. Marks the end of Pesach.

Communities: Judaism

Eid al-Adha

16/6-20/6**

Honours the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismail as an act of obedience to God's command.

Communities: Islam

World Refugee Day | United Nations

20/6

Organised by the United Nations. Designed to celebrate and honour refugees from around the world.

Communities: All

 

July

Islamic New Year

7/7

The Islamic New Year, known as Al-Hijra, marks the beginning of Muharram, the first month of the Muslim lunar calendar.

Al-Hijra means the ‘migration’ of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina.

Communities: Islam

September

Enkutatash

11/9

Ethiopian New Year and national holiday.

Communities: Ethiopian

Moon Festival

17/9

Harvest festival. Also known as Mid-Autumn Festival.

Communities: Chinese

 

October

Rosh Hashanah

3/10-4/10

Jewish New Year festival, marked by the blowing of the horn (shofar) which begins the 10days of penitence culminating in Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). It is the beginning of the holiest time of the year for Jews, and the anniversary of the creation of the world.

Communities: Judaism

 

November

Diwali and Mahavira Nirvana

1/11

Diwali, also known as Festival of Lights, is one of the most celebrated Hindu festivals, commemorating the victory of good over evil.

Communities: Hinduism

Birth of the Bab

2/11

The anniversary of the birth in 1819 CE in Shiraz, Persia (now Iran), of Siyyid ‘AliMuhammad, who later took the title of ‘the Bab’, meaning ‘the Gate’. The Bab was the herald of the Baha’i faith.

Communities: Baha'i

Guru Nanak Gurupurab/ Guru Nanak Jayanti

15/11

Guru Nanak was the founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak’s birthday, known as Gurpurab, is a significant celebration in Sikhism. It typically lasts for up to three days starting November 15.

Communities: Sikh

International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People - Question of Palestine

29/11

The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is observed annually on or around 29 November, solemnly commemorating the adoption by the Assembly, on 29 November 1947, of resolution 181 (II), which provided for the partition of Palestine into two States. 

Communities: Arabs, Middle Eastern

 

December

Christmas

25/12

The annual Christian festival celebrating Christ's birth, held on 25 December in the Western Church.

The Eastern Church celebrates Christmas on 8 January each year.

Communities: Christian

Hanukkah (Chanukah)

26/12-2/1/25

Celebrates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem after it was retaken by the Maccabees.

Communities: Judaism

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