I just saw a discussion among corporate event planners where one person was upset that event organizers don’t give proper consideration to scheduling over top of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
I can appreciate the annoyance, when I was still a practicing Christian I would never think to schedule a work thing over Easter or Christmas. We should treat others with consideration, and should be mindful of what others view as important days. But I also don’t know what each religion considers to be major, non negotiable holidays. Do you?
Another question, does it matter where the event is? (for example, in the US should less consideration be given to holidays of religions that have fewer adherents?)
Festivus
I don’t know if there is an all inclusive list for all major religions, but hebcal.com has a detailed calendar for Judaism. Not everything on the calendar requires Jews to take time off of work, so further research may be required to get the exact list that you’re looking for. It does give some explanation of each holiday on the site though.
As a secular American, I can tell you my favorite holidays.
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Independence Day - Hot Dogs, Outdoors, Beer, Fireworks
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Thanksgiving - Food, Wine, Family
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Halloween - Costumes, Candy, Booze
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New Year’s Eve - Party, Champagne, usually a charcuterie board
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St. Paddy’s Day - Beer, Corned Beef
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Memorial Day/Labor Day - Backyard BBQs, Beer
Maybe my religion is alcohol.
St Patrick’s day and Halloween are Christian 😎
I understand that the roots of these holidays are religious. Even Christmas. However, I argue that the meaning and traditions of these holidays have been heavily high jacked by American culture and mean more to American culture than they do religion at this point. St. Patrick’s Day? The most people can tell you about St. Patrick’s day is that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. And by snakes, they meant Pagans. Who knows what the fuck Halloween means to religious people these days? Hell, without looking it up, what are its roots? I even argue that for a higher percentage of Americans, Christmas is more about presents and Santa than it is Jesus birthday.
I agree with you. St Patrick’s day is basically loved because it was a Holy Day during Lent - meaning people were able to break their fast. For me - a Protestant living in Northern Ireland - it always means a somewhat special Church service. I remember I was in Poland once on Halloween and a bunch of Churches were holding special masses. Halloween is the Eve of All Saint’s Day in Western Christianity. Ever since I chose to follow Christianity more, I have always viewed Christmas with the religious aspect, going to carol services, lighting candles at midnight, etc. But same cannot be said about society. St Valentine’s day is also Christian in origin, although I’ve never seen it that way. I guess it’s just the effect of a Christian society secularising. I believe a similar thing is actually happening on Eid in countries like Turkiye as well. Also with similar stuff in Japan.
And Christmas is pagan (Yule/Saturnalia) 😎
The date of Yule was adjusted to coincide with Christmas and Saturnalia was between the 17th and 23rd of December
So is Halloween (Samhain).
Samhain most likely didn’t have any religious significance. The word likely just means “summer’s end” and it wouldn’t have fallen on the 31st of October as the Celts used a lunar-solar calendar
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I think the trick with a lot of religious holidays is that they’re based on different calendars and move around.
It’s not like Christmas or New Years which are reliably 12/25 and 1/1.
Look at Easter! It could be any Sunday between March 22 and April 25. I couldn’t tell you, without looking it up, when it will be next year. (Pro-tip - it’s 4/20/2025).
At work, we have a lot of folks who celebrate Indian holidays, but the dates for those can even vary regionally.
Calendars are arbitrary. Rosh Hashanah is on the first of Tishrei every single year. Not my fault that Pope Gregory the 13th came up with some ridiculous contraption that doesn’t even follow the moon in the 1580s.
What a silly thing to cling to.
It’s not like Christmas or New Years which are reliably 12/25 and 1/1.
You say that, but then there’s Venezuela.
Or any of the churches that have kept Christmas where the Julian calendar had it, which is generally some time in January.
DISCORDIANISM
I like the seasonal holidays, so
- Chaoflux
- Discoflux
- Confuflux
- Bureflux
- Afflux
Each conveniently occurs on the 50th day of its respective season.
Of course some people might prefer the apostle holidays. Those folks are weird.
Calendar: https://world.clndr.org/data/uploads/discordian_calendar.jpg
Source: https://principiadiscordia.com/
You forgot Aeon Flux
I mostly just declare my own holidays which I feel entitled to do as a Pope.
One thing to consider is that certain holidays (despite being ‘religious’ in nature) arent really treated as religious by the masses.
I dont believe in religions, but celibrate chrismas as a family holiday. Same with easter.
However other holidays are really only going to by celibrated by the religious because there arent enough non practitioners who would also use those holidays.
Theres also the fact that there is supposed to be a seperation of church and state but it is actually a christian controlled government.
Not necessarily, there are a lot of secular Jews who still celebrate chanukah and passover, and even Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
What is the ‘not necessarily’ to? I dont see how your comment disagrees with any of theirs.
Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought they were saying that there are not other holidays observed by secular folks
Yeah, that is the complete opposite of what the other comment said.
What they said:
- There are non-religious people who celebrate holidays with religious background
- there are other religious holidays who are only celebrated by the really religious
You provided a good example of the first case, that even non practicing Jews celebrate some holidays, same as many book Christians are celebrating Christmas.
Wow, chat gpt is getting pretty good…
Here’s a copy/paste from there, I’m impressed.
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You raise an important point about being respectful of others’ beliefs and the holidays they observe. It’s helpful to be aware of the major holidays of different religions, especially when scheduling events. Here’s an overview of key holidays for several major world religions:
Christianity
- Christmas (December 25): Celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. Considered a non-negotiable holiday by most Christians.
- Easter (Date varies, usually in March or April): Celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. Another essential holiday in Christianity.
Judaism
- Rosh Hashanah (Date varies, usually September or October): Jewish New Year, a time of reflection and repentance.
- Yom Kippur (10 days after Rosh Hashanah): The Day of Atonement, considered the holiest day of the Jewish year.
- Passover (Dates vary, usually in March or April): Commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
- Hanukkah (Date varies, usually in December): Festival of Lights, though this is less significant religiously than Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur.
Islam
- Eid al-Fitr (Date varies, depends on the lunar calendar): Marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.
- Eid al-Adha (Date varies, depends on the lunar calendar): Commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God.
- Ramadan (Month of fasting, dates vary): While not a single day, the entire month of Ramadan is significant for Muslims, with fasting during daylight hours.
Hinduism
- Diwali (Date varies, usually in October or November): The festival of lights, symbolizing the victory of light over darkness and good over evil.
- Holi (Date varies, usually in March): The festival of colors, celebrating the arrival of spring and the victory of good over evil.
Buddhism
- Vesak (Date varies, usually in May): Celebrates the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha.
Sikhism
- Vaisakhi (April 13 or 14): Commemorates the formation of the Khalsa (community of Sikhs) and the start of the Punjabi New Year.
- Guru Nanak Gurpurab (Date varies, usually in November): Celebrates the birth of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism.
Does it matter where the event is?
Yes, context matters. In places like the United States, where there are more Christians than adherents of other religions, Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter are more likely to be widely observed or acknowledged by businesses. However, even if a religion has fewer adherents in a region, showing respect for other religions’ major holidays—like Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur for Jews—is essential for inclusivity, especially in diverse workplaces or in situations where people of different faiths may be involved.
In the corporate world, being sensitive to major holidays across different religions is a sign of respect and can promote inclusivity. Ideally, event organizers should consider consulting with employees or clients from diverse religious backgrounds when planning key events to ensure that no one is put in a difficult position. This consideration helps avoid scheduling conflicts on days that are significant for their faith.
I assume you’re getting down voted because of AI use but I don’t mind it in this case because I think it’s a useful starting point for “how many big holidays are we talking about”
Accommodating the holidays of every single religion being followed would be pretty difficult given the number of them as well as some religions don’t follow the Gregorian calendar (such as Islam). Western society and events are based largely on Christian holidays. A lot of workplaces, especially unionized ones, give an x amount of days off to use for religious holidays. It seems to be an effective method to help accommodate those who are Jewish/Muslim/Hindu/Buddhist/etc.
As for keeping things going on at work in spite of everyone’s religious holidays…It’s your responsibility to let your manager know when these dates are coming up and book them off. It’s your managers responsibility to ensure work doesn’t get affected by this.
some religions don’t follow the Gregorian calendar (such as Islam).
In fact no religion follows the Gregorian calendar, since that was invented by Pope Gregory in the XVI century, and by that time all of the major religions were already there. Christians migrated to the Gregorian calendar, but not everything, which is why Easter (which is also a Jewish holiday) keeps moving around on Gregorian dates.
Each country has their own local ones and even then each region of each country has even more specific ones.
Where I am from in Australia we have the following days as paid days off, but if you do work you get between time and a half or double time pay depending if they land in the weekend.
New Year’s Day, Australia Day (The day the first fleet of convicts arrived), Easter (Friday, Sunday, and Monday. Saturday is a regular day), ANZAC day (Celebration of the cooperation of Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in WW1), Q̶̶u̶̶e̶̶e̶̶n̶̶s̶̶ Monarchs birthday (depends on the area, doesn’t actually fall on his birthday), labour day, show day (region specific and each has their own name), Christmas day, Boxing Day(the day after Christmas), and finally New Year’s Eve.
Many cities have some type of religious council. It may be helpful to reach out, as they may have some sort of list maintained. Alternatively, maybe contact the main school district. The superintendent’s office should have such a list for their scheduling purposes.
In either case, these lists should be pre-negotiated. The local religious leaders have already determined which key holidays should be recognized.
Fun bit of trivia. In some Christian churches, regular attendees have a nickname for the folks who only show up on Christmas and Easter. They call them the “Hollies and the Lilies”.
Technically, anyone could make their own religion. Although I think pagans are still not obscure enough to not plan anything on the solstices anyway.
As a Christian, I find Easter to be the most important, followed by Christmas. However Easter kind of encompasses Holy Week (technically that’s before Easter tbf) mainly Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, the only weekdays involved as Easter is always a Sunday.
