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On this page you will find a quick reference list of Major Holidays and observances known around the world. We gather information and pass it on to you in hopes that you too will enjoy and celebrate the holiday seasons.
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Resources: This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses some material from Wikipedia/ article or photos /and other related pages. Top Photo credit: homestead
Quick Navigation:
Gone-ta-pott.com
A place to discover Holidays
you didn't know existed!
List of: Major Holidays
Ice Cream Holidays
National Days
Pizza Holidays
Feast Days
Name Days
Breakfast Holidays
Birthday Celebration
Fruit Holidays
Drink Holiday Directory
Birthday
Daylight Savings Time
Sandwich Holidays
First let's talk about what a holiday is-
A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law in which normal activities, especially business or work, are to be suspended or reduced. Generally holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate something of cultural or religious significance. Holidays may be designated by governments, religious institutions, or other groups or organizations. The degree to which normal activities are reduced by a holiday may depend on local laws, customs, or even personal choices.
January
- 1 - New Years Day
- 4 - Trivia Day
- 6 - Feast of the Epiphany- Three Kings Day
- 10 - Islamic New Years
- 26 - Australia Day
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February
- 2 - Groundhogs Day
- 5 - Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday)
- 6 - Ash Wednesday
- 12 - Lincoln's Birthday
- - Winter Olympics -
- 14 - Valentines Day
- 15 - Singles Awareness Day -
- 18 - President's Day
- 20 - Hoodie-Hoo Day
- 22 - Washington's Birthday
- - Oscar Night
- 29 - Leap Year/Day - once every four years!
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March 
- 15 - Ides of March
- 16 - Palm Sunday
- 17 - St. Patrick's Day
- 20 - Spring (Vernal) Equinox
- 21 - Good Friday
- 21 - Purim begins at sundown.
- Easter Sunday ( date changes)
- 25 - Feast of the Annunciation
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April
- 1 - April Fools' Day
- 15 - Income taxes due
- 19 - Passover begins at sundown, lasts 8 days.
- 21 - Patriot's Day Third Monday
- 22 - Earth Day (U.S.)
- 23 - Administrative Professionals Day formerly "Secretaries Day"
- 25 - Arbor Day always the last Friday in April
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May
- 1 - May Day
- 5 - Cinco de Mayo
- 8 - VE Day, WW II
- 11 - Mother's Day
- 17 - Armed Forces Day
- 24 - Victoria Day (Canada)
- 26 - Memorial Day
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June
- 6 D Day, WWII
- 14 Flag Day
- 15 Father's Day
- 21 Summer Solstice (The longest day of the year!)
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July
- 1 Canada Day (Dominion Day)
- 15 World Youth Day Not held every year.
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August
- Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony
- 14 V-J Day
- 15 Feast of the Assumption
- Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony
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September
- 2 Ramadan begins
- 2 VJ Day, WWII
- Grandparents Day is the first Sunday after Labor Day
- 17 Constitution Day
- 21 International Peace Day (UN)
- 22 Autumnal Equinox
- Native American Day the fourth Friday of the month
- 29 Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown
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October
- 8 - Yom Kippur
- 13 - Columbus Day observed
- Thanksgiving Day in Canada, 2nd Monday
- 13 - Sukkot begins at sundown
- 16 - Boss Day
- Sweetest Day 3rd Saturday
- 22 - Last day of Ramadan
- 24 - United Nations Day
- Make a Difference Day 4th Saturday
- 31 - Halloween
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November
- 1 Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)
- All Soul's Day - usually on the 2nd
- 11 Veteran's Day
- 20 Great American Smokeout - third Thursday
- 20 Universal Children's Day
- Thanksgiving Day
- 30 Advent begins
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December
- 7 Pearl Harbor Day
- 8 Eid-Ul-Adha
- 21 Winter Solstice (shortest day of the year)
- 22 Chanukah lasts 8 days
- 24 Christmas Eve
- 25 Christmas Day
- 26 Boxing Day
- 26 Kwanzaa
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Other
National Nurses Day
Passover
Presidents' Day
St. Joseph's Day
Three Kings Day
Washington's Birthday
The Major Holiday for January is New Years
New Year's Day is the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in the Roman Empire. Traditionally, as a date in the Gregorian Calendar of Christendom, New Year's Day liturgically marked the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ, and is still observed as such in the Anglican Church and Lutheran Church. However, with most countries now using the Gregorian calendar as their main calendar, New Year's Day is probably the world's most celebrated public holiday, often observed with fireworks at the stroke of midnight as the new year starts in each time zone.
The Major Holiday for February is Valentines Day
Saint Valentine's Day, also known as Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is observed on February 14 each year. It is celebrated in many countries around the world, although it remains a working day in most of them.
The day was first associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. In 18th-century England, it evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines").
The Major Holiday for March is Saint Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day or the Feast of Saint Patrick (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig, "the Day of the Festival of Patrick") is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated on 17 March. It is named after Saint Patrick (c. AD 385–461), the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland.
Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Christian feast day in the early seventeenth century and is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland), the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church.
Saint Patrick's Day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Newfoundland and Labrador and Montserrat. It is also widely celebrated by the Irish diaspora around the world; especially in Britain, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.
Easter Sunday
Easter is a Christian festival and holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion at Calvary as described in the New Testament. Easter is the culmination of the Passion of Christ, preceded by Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance.
Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon (the Paschal Full Moon) following the March equinox.
Mother's Day
Mother's Day is a celebration honoring mothers and motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in March or May. It complements Father's Day, a similar celebration honoring fathers.
The celebration of Mother's Day began in the United States in the early 20th century; it is not related to the many celebrations of mothers and motherhood that have occurred throughout the world over thousands of years, such as the Greek cult to Cybele, the Roman festival of Hilaria, or the Christian Mothering Sunday celebration. Despite this, in some countries Mother's Day has become synonymous with these older traditions.
Father's Day
Father's Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. Many countries celebrate it on the third Sunday of June, but it is also celebrated widely on other days. Father's Day was created to complement Mother's Day, a celebration that honors mothers and motherhood.
The Major Holiday for October is Halloween
Halloween or Hallowe'en (a contraction of "All Hallows' Evening"), also known as All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on October 31, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows (or All Saints) and the day initiating the triduum of Hallowmas, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed believers.
According to many scholars, All Hallows' Eve is a Christianized feast originally influenced by western European harvest festivals, and festivals of the dead with possible pagan roots, particularly the Celtic Samhain. Other scholars maintain that it originated independently of Samhain and has solely Christian roots.
The Major Holiday for December is Christmas
Christmas (Old English: Crīstesmæsse, meaning "Christ's Mass") is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ and a widely observed holiday, celebrated generally on December 25 by millions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it closes the Advent season and initiates the twelve days of Christmastide, which ends after the twelfth night. Christmas is a civil holiday in many of the world's nations, is celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians, and is an integral part of the Christmas and holiday season.
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Resources: This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses some material from Wikipedia/ article or photos /and other related pages. Top Photo credit: homestead