2022 Culturally Significant Dates

Picture of a plant on a white background with an online calendar reminder

This post is always a joy to write. An annual list of culturally significant dates to think about, pay attention to, and learn more about. Pull out your calendars and make note of these dates.

Notes about the list: This list was originally put together through crowd-sourcing dates from friends, colleagues, and some basic internet research. There are biases in the list since it was put together in this way. There are also local and regional practices, spellings, or observation differences than what is listed — please consult your local communities. As the editor of this list, I do not include US holidays or Western and Christian dates (i.e. Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Labor Day, Christmas, etc.) since those are easily found on Western calendars. The point of this list is to highlight and bring forward dates that may slip through Western calendars. Please email fakequity@gmail.com if you spot errors or omissions.

2022 Culturally Significant Dates

  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – 1/17/22
  • International Holocaust Remembrance Day — 1/27/22  – annual date 1/27
  • Lunar New Year (Chinese) – Year of the Tiger/ Tet (Vietnamese) / Seollal (Korean) – 2/1/22
  • Setsuban, end of winter start of spring (Japanese) – 2/3/22 [Edit added 1/30/22]
  • Maha Shivaratri (Hindu) – 2/28/22
  • Mardi Gras – 3/1/22
  • Hinamatsuri – Girl’s Day (Japanese) – 3/3/22 – annual date 3/3
  • Passover (Jewish) – 4/15 (starts at sundown)- 4/23/22 ends nightfall
  • Holi – 3/17/22 sundown, ends 3/18/22 sundown
  • Ramadan – 4/3 (sundown) – 5/1/22 (tentative dates, dependent on the sighting of the moon)
  • Eretria Easter – 4/24/22
  • Baisakhi / Vaisakhi (Sikh New Years) – 4/14/22 – generally celebrated on 13 or 14 of April every year
  • Orthodox Easter – 4/24/22
  • Ethiopian Orthodox Easter – 4/25/22
  • Eid ul-Fitr – 5/2/22 or 5/3/22 depending on local practices, most observe the date on 5/2/22, US date is Monday, 5/2/22, Kenya observes the Eid on 5/4/22
  • Children’s / Boy’s Day (Japanese) – 5/5/22 –annual date 5 May
  • Vesak / Vesākha / Vaiśākha / Buddha Jayanti / Buddha Purnima / Buddha Day (Buddhist) – 5/16/22
  • Kamehameha Day (Hawaii) – 6/11/22 – annual date 6/11
  • Juneteenth – 6/19/22 – annual date 6/19
  • Summer Solstice (northern hemisphere) – 6/21/22 @ 2.13 a.m. PDT, 9.13 a.m. UTC
  • Hajj (Islam) – 7/7/22 (starts evening) – 7/12/22 *some calendars have this date starting 7/8/22
  • Eid al-Adha – 7/10/22 or 7/9/22 or 7/11/22 (starts evening) depending on local practices, most observe the date on 7/10/22, US observes the date as 7/10/22
  • Liberation Day (Guam) – 7/21/22 – annual date 7/21
  • Enkutatash – Ethiopian New Year – 9/11/22, annual date 9/11
  • Mid-Autumn Festival / Mooncake Festival – 9/10 – 9/12/22
  • Rosh Hashanah – 9/25- 9/27/22 (starts sundown)
  • Yom Kippur – 10/4 -10/5/22 (starts sundown)
  • United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – 9/13 – annually recognized
  • Lotu Tamaiti – White Sunday (Samoa) – 10/09/22 – Second Sunday of October, public holiday 10/10/22
  • Indigenous Peoples’ Day – 10/10/22 – observed the second Monday of October
  • All Saints Day – 11/1/22 (annual date 1 Nov)
  • Día de los Muertos – 11/1/22 – anual date 1 Nov)
  • All Souls Day – 11/2/22 – annual date 2 Nov
  • Diwali / Deepavali / Dipavali / Bandi Chhor Divas (Sikh) – 10/24/22
  • Transgender Day of Remembrance – 11/20/22 – annual date 20 Nov
  • Bodhi Day (Buddhist) – 12/8/22- annual date 8 Dec
  • Human Rights Day – 12/10/22 – annual date 10 Dec
  • Las Posadas and Noche Buena (Christian Latin American) – 12/16-24/22 – annual dates 16-24 Dec
  • Simbang Gabi (Filipino) – 12/16 – 12/24/22
  • Winter Equinox (northern hemisphere) 12/21/22, 1.48 p.m. PST
  • Hanukkah / Chanukah – 12/18-12/26/22 (starts and ends at nightfall)
  • St. Nicholas Feast Day (Orthodox) — 12/6/22, some observe the date as 12/5/22
  • Kwanzaa – 12/26-1/1/23 – annual dates 12/26-1/1
  • Orthodox / Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas / Eritrean Orthodox Christmas (Note: Not all Orthodox celebrate Christmas on this day, many celebrate Christmas on 12/25, the 1/7/23 date follows the ‘old calendar’) – 1/7/23

New Years Dates

Many different cultures and religions follow different calendars which has their year starting at different times of the year. I enjoy breaking from the Western calendar thinking of January through December. I’ve been known to make a new year resolution on Jan 1, then say “Lunar New Year is coming up, I can start again!”  

  • Orthodox New Year – 1/14/22 (including even though it passed)
  • Losar / Tibetan New Year – 2/1/22
  • Lunar New Year (Chinese) / Tet (Vietnamese) / Seollal (Korean) – 2/1/22
  • Tsagaan Sar/ White Moon (Mongolian) – 2/2/22
  • Persian Nowruz / Iranian New Year – 3/21 – 3/22 – starts at 4.15 p.m. PDT, ends 4.24 p.m. PDT
  • Naw-Rúz / first day of the Baháʼí calendar – 3/20-21/22
  • Nyepi Bali Hindu New Year – 3/14/22
  • Ugaadhi / Telegu and Kannada New Year – 4/13/22
  • Baisakhi / Vaisakhi (Sikh) – 4/14/22
  • Thingyan (water festival) / Burmese New Year Festival – 4/13-16/21
  • Aluth Avurudda (Sinhalese New Year, Sri Lanka) – 4/13-16/22
  • Songkran (Thailand) – 4/13-15/22
  • Khmer New Year – 4/14-16/22
  • Bun Pi Mai (Lao) – 4/13 or 4/14/22 or 4/13 – 4/16/22 *please check with the local Lao community on when they observe Bun Pi Mai
  • Bengali New Year, Pohela Boishakh – 4/15/22
  • Matariki, Maori New Year (New Zealand) – 6/24/22
  • Al-Hijra / Muharram (Islamic / Muslim) – 7/29 – 7/30/22 *check with your local Muslim community on when they observe Al-Hijra
  • Enkutatash / Ethiopian New Year – 9/11/22
  • Rosh Hashanah – 9/25- 9/27/22 (starts sundown)
  • Diwali / Deepavali / Dipavali / Bandi Chhor Divas (Sikh) – 10/24/22
  • Guru Nanak Jayanti (Sikh) – 11/8/22

Monthly Recognitions

  • January – none
  • February –African American History Month, Black History Month
  • March – Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, Deaf History Month (March 13-April 15)
  • April – Arab American Heritage Month
  • May – Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Jewish American Heritage Month
  • June – LGBT Pride Month
  • July – Disability Pride Month
  • August – Black Business Month
  • September – Hispanic Heritage Month (15 Sept – 15 Oct)
  • October – Disability Employment Awareness Month, Filipino American History Month, LGBT History Month
  • November – Native American Indian/Alaska Native Heritage Month
  • December – Universal Human Rights Month

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I am writing from the lands of the 29 federally recognized and non-federally recognized tribes in now Washington State, including the Coast Salish people — Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Suquamish, Snoqualmie, and Native American organizations that have treaty rights and have been here since time immemorial. I give my thanks to the elders, Native and Indigenous colleagues and relations, and the land itself. Fakequity pays “rent” to Native organizations in Washington and Hawaii; a small act to repair and work to be in more justice based relations.