International Mother Language Day | United Nations

21/2

Promoting awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and promoting multilingualism.

Communities: All

Losar/Tibetan New Year

28/2-02/3**

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

Ramadan

28/2-29/3**

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

Communities: Islam

Holi

13/3-14/03**

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

Communities: Hinduism

International day to combat Islamophobia

15/03

(The unreasonable dislike or fear of, and prejudice against Muslims.) International observance to commemorate the incidents of ethnic cleansing and suppression of Muslims through history. Including the anniversary of the mosque attacks in Christchurch.

Communities: All

Naw-Rúz

20/3-21/3**

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.

Communities: All

Eid Al-Fitr or ul-Fitr

30/03-31/03**

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

Pesach/Passover

12/04- 20/04

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

13/04-16/04*

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

Communities: Buddhism

Vaisakhi

14/04**

Solar New Year Festival.

Communities: Sikhism, Hinduism, Punjabi, Tamil

Easter

18/04–21/04**

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

Communities: Christian

Vesak

12/05*

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

Communities: Buddhism

Girmit Day

14/05

Commemorating the first Indian settlers in Fiji. Girmit Remembrance Day commemorates the plight of the Girmitiyas, who were taken from India to Fiji by the British colonisers in the 19th century.

Community: Fijian Indians

Africa Day

25/05

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

Community: Members of the African Union

Ascension of Baha'ullah

29/05

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

Dragon Boat Festival

31/05**

Takes place on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month each year (i.e. late May or June).

Communities: Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Singaporean, Vietnamese

Shavuot

1/06-3/06**

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

06/06-07/06**

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

20/06

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

Communities: All

Islamic New Year

26/06

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

Raksha Bandhan

08/08**

A Hindu festival celebrating the bond between brothers and sisters. Sisters tie a rakhi (sacred thread) around their brothers' wrists, symbolising protection and care.

Communities: Hinduism

Onam Festival

4/09-7/09**

An annual harvest and cultural festival related to Hinduism that is celebrated mostly by the people of Kerala. A major annual event for Keralites.

Communities: Hindu - Malyali Community

Rosh Hashanah

22/09-24/09**

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

Dussehran

2/10

This is the tenth and final day of the Hindu festival of Navaratri, usually in October. In India it especially commemorates the victory of the god Rama over the demon king Ravana.

Communities: Hinduism, Gujrati

Moon Festival

6/10

Harvest festival. Also known as Mid-Autumn Festival.

Communities: Chinese, Cambodian, Filipino Chinese, Indon Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Singaporean, Vietnamese

Sukkot

6/10-13/10

Also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, is both an agricultural festival of thanksgiving and a commemoration of the forty-year period during which the children of Israel wandered in the desert after leaving slavery in Egypt, living in temporary shelters as they travelled.

Communities: Judaism

Birth of the Bab

20/10

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

Diwali and Mahavira Nirvana

21/10

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

Communities: Hinduism

Guru Nanak’s Birthday/Guru Purabh/Guru Nank Prakash Utsav

5/11

This day celebrates the birth of the first Sikh guru, Guru Nanak.

One of the most celebrated and important Sikh gurus and the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak is highly revered by the Sikh community.

This is one of the most sacred festivals in Sikhism.

Communities: Sikh

International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People - Question of Palestine (un.org)

29/11

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