Religious, spiritual and tradition-based observances across different communities and calendars.
This broad facet brings together observances rooted in religions, spiritual practices, sacred calendars and long-standing traditions. It is a discovery grouping, not a claim that the beliefs, practices or institutional status of those observances are equivalent.
Dates may follow lunar, lunisolar, solar, liturgical or community-specific calendars, so recurrence rules must come from the verified authority record rather than from a generic annual assumption.
These pages include reviewed meaning, history, activities, facts and FAQs in addition to the underlying observance record.
French Polynesia public-service material lists March 5 “Arrivée de l’évangile” among legal holidays, including the 2026 calendar. Assembly historical material explains that the civic holida…
Spain’s national labor-holiday regulation lists 15 August as Asunción de la Virgen within the national holiday framework.
Bolivia’s Supreme Decree No. 173 (2009) made June 21 an immovable nationwide holiday for the winter solstice, while Law No. 1128 (2018) declares June 21 of each year the Año Nuevo Andino Am…
Bulgarian Ministry of Tourism cultural material describes the Baba Marta/Martenitsa spring custom and the March 1 tradition of wearing or exchanging martenitsi.
The Philippine Bible Society currently observes Bible Sunday on the last Sunday of January within the National Bible Month framework. Proclamation No. 44 (1986) explicitly named the Sunday…
Museum Wales and Wales.com identify Calan Mai on 1 May as a traditional Welsh seasonal celebration associated with the beginning of summer and regionally varied folk customs.
French Polynesia public-service material lists March 5 “Arrivée de l’évangile” among legal holidays, including the 2026 calendar. Assembly historical material explains that the civic holida…
Spain’s national labor-holiday regulation lists 15 August as Asunción de la Virgen within the national holiday framework.
Bolivia’s Supreme Decree No. 173 (2009) made June 21 an immovable nationwide holiday for the winter solstice, while Law No. 1128 (2018) declares June 21 of each year the Año Nuevo Andino Am…
Bulgarian Ministry of Tourism cultural material describes the Baba Marta/Martenitsa spring custom and the March 1 tradition of wearing or exchanging martenitsi.
The Philippine Bible Society currently observes Bible Sunday on the last Sunday of January within the National Bible Month framework. Proclamation No. 44 (1986) explicitly named the Sunday…
Museum Wales and Wales.com identify Calan Mai on 1 May as a traditional Welsh seasonal celebration associated with the beginning of summer and regionally varied folk customs.
Museum Wales and Wales.com identify Calennig as a traditional Welsh New Year custom on 1 January, including documented door-to-door rhymes, gifts and decorated-apple traditions.
USCCB catechetical material and Vatican liturgical practice identify 2 November as the Roman Catholic Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day).
The Orthodox Church in America lists Martyrs Modestus, Crescentia, and Vitus among the saints commemorated on June 15.
Government of Vanuatu
The Government of Andorra identifies 8 September as the feast of the Virgin of Meritxell and a national holiday in the Andorran labor calendar.
The Holy See identifies the Second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday in the 2026 papal calendar
Welsh government tourism and Cadw heritage sources verify the recurring January 25 Dydd Santes Dwynwen identity and cultural scope; founder/first-edition provenance remains unresolved.
El Salvador Ministry of Culture repeatedly documents Día de la Cruz on May 3 as a living syncretic Salvadoran cultural-religious tradition with Christian, Indigenous and agricultural elemen…
Paraguayan law, tourism/culture authorities and Catholic institutional sources verify December 8 as the recurring national holiday and major Caacupé Marian pilgrimage festival; current stat…
Costa Rica's Ministry of Labour states that August 2 commemorates the Virgen de los Ángeles under article 148 of the Labour Code and that the holiday is not moved to another day.
Ajuntament de València
Jewish calendar sources place the fast on 17 Tammuz and document the postponement when that date falls on Shabbat; the Gregorian date is therefore recalculated from the Hebrew calendar each…
Catholic Online lists Saint Gertrude of Nivelles among saints commemorated on March 17, and an older Lives of the Saints source independently places her feast on March 17.
Vatican News lists Saint Rosalia, Virgin of Palermo, on 4 September. The City of Palermo documents a September 4 liturgical memory in a fourteenth-century breviary fragment, supporting the…
Vatican News’ calendar of saints lists St. Roch, Pilgrim, on August 16.
The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin consistently documents 6 January as the Feast of the Holy Nativity and Theophany in the Armenian Apostolic Church.
UNESCO inscribed Venezuela’s festive cycle around devotion and worship towards Saint John the Baptist in 2021; its description identifies practices on 23 June and 24 June.
Visit Nicaragua documents the San Jerónimo festivities in Masaya, including the major 30 September procession and later folkloric events.
Nicaragua’s official National Tourism Map describes Nindirí’s traditional Santa Ana festivities as an annual local celebration across late July.
Nicaragua’s official National Tourism Map describes Somoto’s patronal celebrations honoring Santiago around 25 July and notes an extended festival period.
Brazilian federal Law 10.607 expressly lists 2 November among the country’s national holidays; the Brazilian civic name is Finados.
Republic Act No. 9645 declares 27 July of every year a special national working holiday to commemorate the founding anniversary of Iglesia ni Cristo.
The Government of Quebec explains that provincial law makes 24 June, the day of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Quebec’s national holiday and a statutory holiday.
Orthodox Church in America material identifies Great and Holy Tuesday within Holy Week; its 2026 calendar places the observance on 7 April, while the OCA Paschal cycle shows that Holy Week…
Vatican and USCCB calendars show the 2026 Holy Week sequence beginning with Palm Sunday on March 29 and continuing through Holy Saturday on April 4, with Easter Sunday on April 5.
Arunachal Pradesh government holiday calendars list Indigenous Faith Day on 1 December, including the 2024 notification and 2026 state portal calendar.
A/RES/64/253
EMUFEC verifies the June 24 Cusco staging; Peru’s Ministry of Culture documents the modern civic-cultural revival and first staged evocation on 24 June 1944.
The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture describes Kwanzaa as a week-long African American and Pan-African cultural celebration observed from December 26 to J…
State of Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources / state law history
Vatican News’ saint calendar places Saint Anthony of Padua on June 13.
USCCB identifies 2 January as the Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church.
Greek Orthodox lectionary guidance identifies Monday in the first week after Pentecost as the Day of the Holy Spirit; the 2026 Greek Orthodox calendar places it on June 1.
Current Albanian official calendars recognize September 5 as Saint Teresa Sanctification Day. Albanian government legislative/ceremonial material documents replacement of the former October…
Church of England liturgical material permits Mothering Sunday to be celebrated on the Fourth Sunday of Lent
Georgia’s Labour Code and national tourism office identify 14 October as Mtskhetoba-Svetitskhovloba, a Georgian public holiday rooted in local Orthodox tradition.
UNESCO’s Representative List records the multinational element “Cultural practices associated to the 1st of March” for Bulgaria, North Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova and Romania, inscri…
Contemporaneous reporting quoting Aldi says the company inaugurated National Advent Calendar Day in 2020 and set it annually on the first Wednesday of November.
Republic Act No. 11163 declares the last Monday of January every year as National Bible Day and a special working holiday throughout the Philippines. Senate legislative records identify Sen…
The initiative’s first-party site identifies October 17 as National Catholic Men’s Conference Day and describes its U.S. Catholic men’s conference-network purpose. It is not treated as a Va…
36 U.S.C. §119
Montserrat’s Public Holidays Act 2024 lists Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving as an annual public holiday on the second Wednesday in July; government notices commonly use National Day of Praye…
Papua New Guinea government calendars list National Day of Repentance on 26 August, including the 2026 and 2027 public-holiday schedules.
Liberian government sources tie the second-Friday-in-April national holiday to an 1883 Act, identify the current legal framework, and document continuing presidential proclamation practice…
Official Liberian government proclamations trace the annual first-Thursday-in-November National Thanksgiving Day national holiday to an Act/statute enacted by the National Legislature in 18…
Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Brazil Federal Law No. 6,802 of 30 June 1980
Missionaries of Africa and Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa first-party sources consistently document April 30 as the feast/patronal feast of Our Lady of Africa. Congregational hist…
Vatican sources verify the February 3 feast and patronal role in Honduras; Honduran Legislative Decree No. 188-2012 declares February 3 a national festive day in her honor. The later civil…
The Buddhist Centre / Triratna festival calendar lists Parinirvana Day as a fixed-date festival on 15 February, and 2026 community material continues the observance.
North Macedonia’s Law on Holidays lists 8 December, St. Clement of Ohrid, among state holidays and provides non-working-day treatment for the state-holiday list. Government tourism material…
USCCB materials identify October 4 as the Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi, Religious; the USCCB 2026 calendar lists October 4 as the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, preserving t…
Vatican City State’s current saint-of-the-day material marks Saints Cyril and Methodius on February 14. John Paul II’s 1980 apostolic letter Egregiae Virtutis records that Leo XIII introduc…
Candelaria City Council documents the February 2 solemnity separately from the August 15 celebration and traces the local February observance to the first Fiesta de las Candelas on 2 Februa…
Current Vatican material identifies November 1 as the Solemnity of All Saints and traces the collective feast to early Christian commemoration of martyrs, including the 609/610 dedication o…
Holy See and Catholic liturgical sources identify 19 March as the normal Solemnity of Saint Joseph; official Vatican material also documents transfers when liturgical precedence requires an…
The Diocese of Trieste identifies Saint Justus as principal patron of the city and diocese, celebrates his solemnity on November 3, dates his martyrdom to 303 and documents early local cult…
Holy See sources identify June 29 as the Catholic Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul and document the 2026 papal celebration on that date.
Vatican sources identify August 15 as the Solemnity of the Assumption, document an established August 15 celebration by the fifth century, and distinguish that ancient feast from Pope Pius…
Vatican sources identify December 8 as the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, trace medieval devotion, state that Clement XI established the feast for the whole Church in 1708, and pub…
Vatican sources establish the current 25 December Roman Catholic solemnity and identify evidence of celebration by 336 while preserving uncertainty about a single founder or one uncontested…
St John International identifies June 24 as St John’s Day, the feast day of St John the Baptist and a special date in the worldwide Order of St John calendar.
National Today places the Venezuela-labelled observance on March 19 annually, while Vatican News independently confirms March 19 as the Catholic Solemnity of Saint Joseph.
Government of Ireland material identifies 17 March as St Patrick’s Day and Ireland’s national holiday; the Workplace Relations Commission lists it among current public holidays, while the I…
Cornwall Council explicitly marks St Piran’s Day on March 5 as a celebration of Cornish culture, while UK government material identifies St Piran as Cornwall’s patron saint and traces the m…
Irish statutory sources and current Workplace Relations Commission guidance establish St. Stephen’s Day as a December 26 public holiday while keeping religious tradition distinct from legal…
