Multifaith calendar for 2008

All dates are shown using the Gregorian (Western) calendar. The calendar is accurate, but some dates may vary regionally because they are determined by the lunar calendar. Jewish festivals usually begin at sundown on the previous day.

January 2008

Tuesday 1

Christian

Circumcision

Secular

New Year's Day

Shinto

Oshogatsu (or Shogatsu)

Christian

Festival of St Basil the Great

Saturday 5

Sikh

Birthday of Guru Gobind Singh (Nanakshahi calendar)

Sunday 6

Christian

Epiphany

Christian

Christmas Day (Armenian Orthodox)

Christian

Theophany

Monday 7

Rastafari

Christmas Day (Ethiopian)

Christian

Christmas Day (Orthodox)

Wednesday 9

Muslim

Al-Hijira

Sunday 13

Christian

St Hilary's Day

Christian

Baptism of the Lord

Monday 14

Hindu

Makar Sankrant

Tuesday 15

Shinto

Seijin Shiki (Adults' Day)

Friday 18

Christian

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (start)

Saturday 19

Muslim

Ashura

Monday 21

Christian

St Agnes

Bahai

World Religion Day

Multifaith

World Religion Day

Tuesday 22

Jewish

Tu B'Shevat

Friday 25

Christian

St Paul's Day

Sunday 27

Jewish

National Holocaust Memorial Day

Multifaith

National Holocaust Memorial Day

Monday 28

Christian

St Thomas Aquinas

Thursday 31

Sikh

Birthday of Guru Har Rai (Nanakshahi calendar)

February 2008

Saturday 2

Christian

Candlemas

Pagan

Imbolc

Sunday 3

Shinto

Rissun (Setsubun)

Tuesday 5

Christian

Shrove Tuesday

Wednesday 6

Christian

Ash Wednesday

Thursday 7

Chinese

Chinese New Year

Friday 8

Buddhist

Parinirvana - Nirvana day

Buddhist

Losar (start)

Monday 11

Christian

Our Lady of Lourdes

Hindu

Vasant Panchami

Thursday 14

Christian

St Valentine's Day

Friday 15

Buddhist

Nirvana day (alternative date)

March 2008

Saturday 1

Christian

St David's Day

Sunday 2

Bahai

Nineteen Day Fast (start)

Christian

Mothering Sunday

Monday 3

Shinto

Hina-matsuri - Festival of Dolls

Wednesday 5

Christian

St Piran's Day

Thursday 6

Hindu

Mahashivratri

Friday 7

Christian

Women's World Day of Prayer

Monday 10

Christian

Clean Monday - Beginning of Lent (Orthodox)

Sunday 16

Christian

Palm Sunday

Monday 17

Christian

St Patrick's Day

Wednesday 19

Christian

St Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Thursday 20

Muslim

Milad un Nabi (Birthday of the Prophet Muhammad)

Christian

Maundy Thursday

Pagan

Spring Equinox - Eoster

Jewish

Fast of Esther (Taanit Esther)

Friday 21

Christian

Good Friday

Hindu

Holi

Jewish

Purim

Bahai

Naw-Ruz

Zoroastrian

Jamshedi Noruz (Fasli)

Shinto

Shubun-sai - Equinox day

Saturday 22

Sikh

Hola Mohalla (Lunar Calendar)

Jewish

Shushan Purim

Jehovah's Witnesses

Memorial of Christ's Death

Sunday 23

Christian

Easter Sunday (Western)

Tuesday 25

Christian

Annunciation

Muslim

Milad un Nabi (Shia)

Wednesday 26

Zoroastrian

Khordad Sal (Fasli)

April 2008

Sunday 6

Hindu

Bikarami Samvat - Varsha-Pratipada

Sunday 13

Sikh

Vaisakhi

Monday 14

Sikh

Birthday of Guru Nanak (Nanakshahi calendar)

Sikh

Hola Mohalla (Nanakshahi Calendar)

Hindu

Rama Navami

Hindu

Swaminarayan Jayanti

Friday 18

Jain

Mahavira Jayanti

Sikh

Birthday of Guru Tegh Bahadur (Nanakshahi calendar)

Sikh

Birthday of Guru Angad Dev (Nanakshahi calendar)

Saturday 19

Hindu

Hanuman Jayanti

Jewish

Fast of the Firstborn

Sunday 20

Buddhist

Theravada New Year

Jewish

Passover (1st day)

Monday 21

Bahai

Ridvan - first day

Rastafari

Anniversary of Haile Selassie's visit to Jamaica

Wednesday 23

Christian

St George's Day

Sunday 27

Christian

Easter (Orthodox)

Monday 28

Jewish

Passover (final day)

Tuesday 29

Bahai

Ridvan - ninth day

May 2008

Thursday 1

Pagan

Beltane

Christian

Ascension Day

Friday 2

Jewish

Yom Hashoah

Bahai

Ridvan - twelfth day

Sikh

Birthday of Guru Arjan Dev (Nanakshahi calendar)

Sunday 4

Christian

Ascension Day (Catholic Church in England and Wales)

Wednesday 7

Jewish

Yom Hazikaron

Thursday 8

Jewish

Yom Ha'atzmaut

Sunday 11

Christian

Pentecost - Whitsun

Sunday 18

Christian

Trinity Sunday

Tuesday 20

Buddhist

Wesak or Buddha day

Thursday 22

Christian

Corpus Christi

Friday 23

Jewish

Lag B'Omer

Bahai

Declaration of the Bab

Sikh

Birthday of Guru Amar Das (Nanakshahi calendar)

Sunday 25

Christian

Corpus Christi (Catholic Church in England and Wales)

Thursday 29

Bahai

Ascension of Baha'u'llah

June 2008

Monday 2

Jewish

Yom Yerushalayim

Monday 9

Jewish

Shavuot (1st day)

Monday 16

Sikh

Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev (Nanakshahi calendar)

Friday 20

Pagan

Summer Solstice - Litha

Sunday 22

Christian

All Saints' Day (Orthodox)

Sunday 29

Christian

St Peter's Day

July 2008

Saturday 5

Sikh

Birthday of Guru Hargobind (Nanakshahi calendar)

Wednesday 9

Bahai

Martyrdom of the Bab

Tuesday 15

Christian

St Swithin's Day

Friday 18

Buddhist

Asala - Dharma Day

Sunday 20

Jewish

17th Tammuz

Zoroastrian

Jamshedi Noruz (Qadimi)

Wednesday 23

Sikh

Birthday of Guru Har Krishen (Nanakshahi calendar)

Rastafari

Birthday of Haile Selassie I

Thursday 24

Mormon

Pioneer Day

Friday 25

Zoroastrian

Khordad Sal (Qadimi)

August 2008

Friday 1

Pagan

Lughnasadh - Lammas

Wednesday 6

Christian

Transfiguration

Sunday 10

Jewish

Tisha B'Av

Friday 15

Christian

Dormition of the Theotokos

Christian

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Saturday 16

Hindu

Raksha Bandhan

Sunday 17

Rastafari

Birthday of Marcus Garvey

Tuesday 19

Zoroastrian

Jamshedi Noruz (Shenshai)

Sunday 24

Zoroastrian

Khordad Sal (Shenshai)

Hindu

Janmashtami - Krishna Jayanti

Thursday 28

Jain

Paryushana

September 2008

Tuesday 2

Muslim

Ramadan (start)

Wednesday 3

Hindu

Ganesh Chaturthi

Monday 8

Christian

Nativity of the Theotokos

Christian

Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Christian

Feast of the Birth of Mary

Thursday 11

Rastafari

Ethiopian New Year

Monday 22

Pagan

Autumn Equinox

Monday 29

Hindu

Navaratri (start)

Christian

Michaelmas/ St Michael's Day

Tuesday 30

Jewish

Rosh Hashanah (1st day)

October 2008

Wednesday 1

Muslim

Eid-Ul-Fitr

Thursday 2

Jewish

Fast of Gedalliah

Thursday 9

Jewish

Yom Kippur

Hindu

Dussera

Sikh

Birthday of Guru Ram Das (Nanakshahi calendar)

Monday 13

Christian

St Edward's Day

Tuesday 14

Jewish

Sukkot

Monday 20

Bahai

Birth of the Bab

Jewish

Hoshanah Rabbah

Tuesday 21

Jewish

Shemini Atzeret

Jewish

Simchat Torah

Tuesday 28

Hindu

Diwali

Jain

Diwali

Sikh

Diwali

Friday 31

Pagan

Samhain (Hallowe'en)

Christian

Hallowe'en (All Hallows' Eve)

November 2008

Saturday 1

Christian

All Saints' Day (Hallowmas, All Hallows')

Sunday 2

Christian

All Souls' Day

Rastafari

Coronation of Emperor Haile Selassie I

Christian

All Saints' Day (Catholic Church in England and Wales)

Sunday 9

Multifaith

Remembrance Sunday

Tuesday 11

Multifaith

Armistice Day

Wednesday 12

Bahai

Birth of Baha'u'llah

Thursday 13

Sikh

Birthday of Guru Nanak (Lunar Calendar)

Saturday 15

Shinto

Shichigosan (7-5-3 festival)

Sunday 23

Shinto

Niinamesei

Monday 24

Sikh

Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur (Nanakshahi calendar)

Wednesday 26

Bahai

Day of the Covenant

Friday 28

Bahai

Ascension of Abdu'l-Baha

Sunday 30

Christian

St Andrew's Day

Christian

Advent Sunday

December 2008

Monday 8

Muslim

Hajj (start)

Christian

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Buddhist

Bodhi Day

Tuesday 9

Muslim

Eid-Ul-Adha

Saturday 13

Christian

St Lucy's Day

Sunday 21

Pagan

Winter Solstice - Yule

Monday 22

Jewish

Hanukkah

Wednesday 24

Christian

Christmas Eve

Thursday 25

Christian

Christmas Day

Friday 26

Secular

Boxing Day

Christian

St Stephen's Day

Monday 29

Muslim

Al-Hijira