Ethnic Holiday Calendar 2005-2010

Click HERE to download calendar as a PDF file.

Holiday	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Eid ul-Adha Festival of Sacrifice	January 21	January 10	December 20	December 8	November 28	November 17
Muharramn/ Islamic New Year	February 10	January 31	January 20	January 10	---	December 8
Mawlid al-Nabi Prophet's Birthday	April 21	April 11	March 31	March 20	March 9	February 26
Start of Ramadan Month of Fasting	October 5	September 24	September 13	September 2	August 22	August 11
Eid ul-Fitr Festival of Fast Breaking	November 4	October 24	October 13	October 2	September 21	September 10
Passover/Pesach	April 24-May 1	April 13-21	April 3-10	April 20-27	April 9-16	March 30-April 6
Rosh Hashanah	October 4	September 23	September 13	September 30	September 19	September 9
Chanukkah	Dec 26-Jan 2	December 16-23	December 5-12	December 22-29	December 12-19	December 2-9
Western Roman Easter	March 27	April 16	April 8	March 23	April 12	April 4
Eastern Orthodox Easter	May 1	April 23	April 8	April 27	April 19	April 4
Christmas	December 25

Explanation of Holidays

Muslim Holidays
Ramadan is the ninth month of the year in the Islamic calendar. A fast, held from sunrise to sunset, is carried out during this period.
Eid-al-Fitr is a festival that ends the fast of Ramadan. In Arabic "Eid" means "festival" or "festivity."
Eid-al-Adha is second in the series of Eid festivals that Muslims celebrate. Eid ul-Adha is celebrated as a commemoration of Prophet Ibrahim's (Abraham) willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail for Allah (God).
Muharram is the first month fo the Muslim year It's first day is celebrated as New year's Day.
Mawlid al-Nabi is a celebration of the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, founder of Islam.

While the two Eid Festivals are always on the same day of the Islamic calendar, the date on the Western calendar (the Gregorian calendar) varies from year to year due to differences between the two calendars, since the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar and the Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar. Furthermore, the method used to determine when each Islamic month begins varies from country to country. All future dates listed are only estimates.

Jewish Holidays
Passover is a holiday beginning on the 14th of Nisan (first month of the religious calendar, corresponding to March–April) and traditionally continuing for eight days, commemorating the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt. Also called Pesach.
Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. It is marked by solemnity as well as festivity.
Chanukkah is the Jewish festival of rededication, also known as the festival of lights. It is an eight day festival beginning on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev.

Jewish holidays are celebrated on the same day of the Jewish calendar every year, but the Jewish year is not the same length as a solar year on the Gregorian calendar used by most of the western world, so the date shifts on the Gregorian calendar.

Christian Holidays
Easter is a Christian feast commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion. The Orthodox Eastern Church calculates Easter somewhat differently, so that the Orthodox Easter usually comes several weeks after that of the West.

Eastern Orthodox Christians come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds: Greek, Russian, Egyptian, Romanian, Serbian, Ukrainian, Armenian, Bulgarian, Georgian, Albanian, Ethiopian, Syrian, and American.

Last updated 20-Apr-2005 by Susan Schoenian.

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