Festivals of 2008

6 January in the Western churches.

25 December of the Julian calendar, 7 January in the Gregorian.

First day of Muharram. Dates follow Umm al-Qura and may differ locally by moon sighting.

Eighth day of the twelfth lunar month: Laba porridge.

Tenth day of Muharram.

Eleventh day of Tir.

Fifteenth day of Shevat, the New Year of Trees.

Twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month in the north (24th in the south): seeing off the Kitchen God.

Last day of the lunar year: the reunion dinner and offerings to ancestors.

Start of Lent, 46 days before Easter.

First day of the first lunar month, the most important Chinese festival.

First day of the Korean lunar year, with ancestral rites (charye).

First day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar.

Fifteenth day of the first lunar month: lanterns and sweet rice dumplings close the New Year season.

Second day of the second lunar month, marking the start of spring farming.

Twelfth day of Rabi al-Awwal for most Sunni communities (the 17th for many Shia).

Persian New Year at the spring equinox, on UNESCO's list of intangible heritage.

The Friday before Easter.

Fourteenth day of Adar (Adar II in leap years).

Western Easter (Gregorian computus).

Thirteenth day of Farvardin, spent outdoors.

Traditionally a day without fire before Qingming, now observed the day before it.

Solar term of Pure Brightness, when families sweep ancestral graves.

Thai New Year, 13 April (celebrated 13 to 15 April).

Fifteenth day of Nisan.

Easter by the Julian computus.

Seven weeks after Easter.

Fifth day of the fifth lunar month: dragon boat races and zongzi.

Fifth day of the fifth lunar month in Korea.

Sixth day of Sivan.

Seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the meeting of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

Ninth day of Av (postponed to Sunday when it falls on the Sabbath).

Fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month: offerings to ancestors and wandering spirits.

First day of the month of fasting.

First day of Thout, heir to the ancient Egyptian new year.

First day of Meskerem.

Fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month: the full moon, family reunion and mooncakes.

Korean harvest festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, with ancestral rites.

Seventeenth day of Meskerem, finding of the True Cross.

Commonly observed on the night before the 27th of Ramadan.

First day of Tishrei. Jewish days begin at sundown the evening before.

First day of Shawwal, ending the Ramadan fast.

Ninth day of the ninth lunar month: climbing heights and honouring the elderly.

Tenth day of Tishrei, the Day of Atonement.

Fifteenth day of Tishrei.

First day of the tenth lunar month, when paper clothes are burned for ancestors.

1 November in the Western churches.

Mexican commemoration of the dead on 1 and 2 November, with Mesoamerican roots, on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.

Ninth day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the high point of the Hajj.

Tenth day of Dhu al-Hijjah.

The longest night of the year, the last night of Azar.

The winter solstice, a family and ancestral festival.

Eight days from the 25th of Kislev.

25 December in the Western churches.

First day of Muharram. Dates follow Umm al-Qura and may differ locally by moon sighting.