Fakequity 2023 List of Culturally Significant Dates

Square graphic, white paper with text Fakequity 2023 Culturally Important Dates on a wood plate

I learned last year this annual list of dates is a valued part of the Fakequity blog. Last year I didn’t publish it in early January and multiple people reached out to ask if it would return. I heard you and this year I made sure to make it the second post of the new year. If you value this post (and other blog posts), please consider becoming a Patreon subscriber and financially supporting the blog, and hit the subscribe button on the right sidebar (desktop/laptop computers) to have the blog delivered to your inbox — they help to keep the blog going.

Since it is a new year it is time to pull out your calendars and mark these significant dates. This is a list of culturally important dates for different racial, ethnic, religious, or other groups that often don’t show up on Western dominant calendars. I purposefully do not include common dates that show up on Western calendars (i.e. Valentine’s Day, Christian Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas). Those dates are easy to find and this list was designed to purposefully center POCs and in some cases other groups who are often overlooked.

This list was compiled with the help of friends, my social media feeds, and basic internet research. It is biased towards US West Coast populations (where I live and have relationships with people and groups). Please check the dates with your local communities to see which ones are important to them and WHEN and how they celebrate, there are often local nuances to these dates. If you have corrections or see omissions please email fakequity@gmail.com.

2023 Dates

  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – 1/16/23
  • International Holocaust Remembrance Day — 1/27/23  – annual date 1/27
  • Lunar New Year (Chinese) – Year of the Rabbit/ Tet (Vietnamese) / Seollal (Korean) – 1/22/23
  • Setsuban, end of winter start of spring (Japanese) – 2/3/23
  • Maha Shivaratri (Hindu) – 2/18/23
  • Mardi Gras – 2/21/23
  • Hinamatsuri – Girl’s Day (Japanese) – 3/3/23 – annual date 3/3
  • Holi – 3/6/23 sundown, ends 3/7/23 sundown
  • Ramadan – 3/22 (sundown) – 4/21/23 (tentative dates, dependent on the sighting of the moon. Follows the lunar calendar.)
  • Eretria Easter, Coptic Easter – 4/16/23
  • Baisakhi / Vaisakhi (Sikh New Year) – 4/14/23 – generally celebrated on 13 or 14 of April every year
  • Orthodox Easter – 4/16/23
  • Ethiopian Orthodox Easter – 4/16/23
  • Pesach / Passover (Jewish) – 4/5 (sundown) – 4/13/23 (nightfall)
  • Eid ul-Fitr – 4/22/23, the date may vary due to local practices, 4/22, 4/23, 4/24. US date is 4/22/23.
  • Children’s / Boy’s Day (Japanese) – 5/5/23 –annual date 5 May
  • Vesak / Vesākha / Vaiśākha / Wesak/ Buddha Jayanti / Buddha Purnima / Buddha Day (Buddhist) – 4/8/23, 5/4/23, 5/5/23, 5/6/23, 5/19/23, 6/2/23, or 6/4/23 (follows the lunar calendar)
  • Kamehameha Day (Hawai’i) – 6/11/23 – annual date 6/11
  • Juneteenth – 6/19/23 – annual date 6/19
  • Shavuot (Jewish) – 5/25-5/27/23 [corrected 1/26/23]
  • Summer Solstice (northern hemisphere) – 6/21/23 @ 7.57 a.m. PDT, 14.57 UTC
  • Hajj (Islam) – 6/26/23 (starts evening) – 7/1/23
  • Eid al-Adha – 6/28/23 (sundown), or 6/26-7/4, 7/10, or 7/29/23
  • Tish’a B’Av (Jewish) – 7/26-7/27/23 [corrected 1/26/23]
  • Liberation Day (Guam) – 7/21/23 – annual date 7/21
  • Enkutatash – Ethiopian New Year – 9/11/23, annual date 9/11
  • Mid-Autumn Festival / Mooncake Festival – 9/29/23
  • Rosh Hashanah (Jewish) – 9/15- 9/17/23 (starts sundown)
  • Yom Kippur (Jewish) – 9/24 -9/25/23 (starts sundown)
  • Sukkot (Jewish) – 9/29-10/1/23, 10/2-10/6/23
  • United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – 9/13 – annually recognized
  • Prophet Muhammed’s birthday (Palestine) – 9/27/23
  • Lotu Tamaiti – White Sunday (Samoa) – 10/8/23 – Second Sunday of October, public holiday
  • Indigenous Peoples’ Day – 10/9/23 – observed the second Monday of October
  • All Saints Day – 11/1/23 (annual date 1 Nov)
  • Día de los Muertos – 11/1/23 (annual date 1 Nov)
  • All Souls Day – 11/2/23  (annual date 2 Nov)
  • Diwali / Deepavali / Dipavali / Bandi Chhor Divas (Sikh) – 11/12/23
  • Transgender Day of Remembrance – 11/20/23 – annual date 11/20
  • Bodhi Day (Buddhist) – 12/8/23- annual date 8 Dec, or 1/18/24 for lunar Bodhi Day
  • Human Rights Day – 12/10/23 – annual date 10 Dec
  • Las Posadas and Noche Buena (Christian Latin American) – 12/16-24/23 – annual dates 16-24 Dec
  • Simbang Gabi (Filipino) – 12/16 – 12/24/23
  • Winter Equinox (northern hemisphere) 12/21/23, 7.27 p.m. PST
  • Hanukkah / Chanukah – 12/7-12/15/23 (starts and ends at nightfall)
  • St. Nicholas Feast Day (Orthodox) — 12/6/23, some observe the date as 12/5/23
  • Kwanzaa – 12/26-1/1/24 – 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 1/7/24 date follows the ‘old calendar’) – 1/7/24
  • Korean American Day — 1/13/24, annual date 1/13

For a complete list of Jewish holiday dates, please consult this list.

New Years Dates

  • Orthodox New Year – 1/14/23
  • Lunar New Year (Chinese) / Tet (Vietnamese) / Seollal (Korean) – 1/22/23
  • Losar / Tibetan New Year – 2/21/23
  • Tsagaan Sar/ White Moon (Mongolian) – 2/21/23
  • Persian Nowruz / Iranian New Year – 3/20 – 3/21/23
  • Naw-Rúz / first day of the Baháʼí calendar – 3/20-21/23
  • Nyepi Bali Hindu New Year – 3/22/23
  • Ugaadhi / Telegu and Kannada New Year – 3/22/23
  • Baisakhi / Vaisakhi (Sikh) – 4/13/23
  • Thingyan (water festival) / Burmese New Year Festival – 4/17/23
  • Aluth Avurudda (Sinhalese New Year, Sri Lanka) – 4/13-4/14/23
  • Songkran (Thailand) – 4/13-4/15/23
  • Khmer New Year – 4/14-16/23
  • Bun Pi Mai (Lao) – 4/13 – 4/15/23
  • Bengali New Year, Pohela Boishakh – 4/14/23
  • Matariki, Maori New Year (New Zealand) – 6/14/23
  • Al-Hijra / Muharram (Islamic/Muslim), Islamic New Year (Palestine) – 7/19/23
  • Enkutatash / Ethiopian New Year – 9/12/23
  • Rosh Hashanah (Jewish) – 9/15- 9/17/23 (starts sundown)
  • Diwali / Deepavali / Dipavali / Bandi Chhor Divas (Sikh) – 11/12/23
  • Guru Nanak Jayanti (Sikh) – 11/30/23

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, Snohomish, 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.