Festivals of 2012

Eighth day of the twelfth lunar month: Laba porridge.

6 January in the Western churches.

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

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

Eleventh day of Tir.

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

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

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

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

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

Fifteenth day of Shevat, the New Year of Trees.

Start of Lent, 46 days before Easter.

First day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar.

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

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

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

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.

The Friday before Easter.

Fifteenth day of Nisan.

Western Easter (Gregorian computus).

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

Easter by the Julian computus.

Seven weeks after Easter.

Sixth day of Sivan.

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

Fifth day of the fifth lunar month in Korea.

First day of the month of fasting.

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

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

First day of Shawwal, ending the Ramadan fast.

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

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

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

First day of Meskerem.

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

Tenth day of Tishrei, the Day of Atonement.

Seventeenth day of Meskerem, finding of the True Cross.

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.

Fifteenth day of Tishrei.

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

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

Tenth day of Dhu al-Hijjah.

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.

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

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

Tenth day of Muharram.

Eight days from the 25th of Kislev.

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

The winter solstice, a family and ancestral festival.

25 December in the Western churches.