2024 – Culturally Significant Dates

Red background, words Fakequity 2024 Culturally Significant Dates, gold dragon behind words, paper calendar on the right.

Welcome to 2024. This is an annual post of the Fakequity blog and one I hear many look forward to. As the editor of this list, I intentionally do not include dates commonly found on Western calendars (e.g. Valentine’s Day, Easter, Fourth of July, etc.); inclusion on this list would center Western cultures. This list is meant to highlight important days to POCs and in some cases religious days that are often less well-known.

The list was put together with the help of friends and colleagues, therefore our biases show through. To name some of them, English speaking/literate, US West Coast demographic bias, college educated, and connected to technology. I’ve done my best to expand the list over the years while still centering POCs. I’ve also done my best to research the dates and verify them against several websites, but I know there will be errors, omissions, and differences in when dates/holidays are practiced or celebrated. Please always check with your local communities to understand nuances. If there are errors please email fakequity@gmail.com with corrections.

2024 Dates

  • Korean American Day — 1/13/24, annual date 1/13
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – 1/16/24
  • International Holocaust Remembrance Day — 1/27/24 – annual date 1/27
  • Setsuban, end of winter start of spring (Japanese) – 2/3/24 – annual date 2/3
  • Lunar New Year (Chinese) – Year of the Dragon / Tet (Vietnamese) / Seollal (Korean) – 2/10/24
  • Maha Shivaratri (also spelled as Shivratri, Shivaratri and Sivaratri) (Hindu) – 3/8/24
  • Mardi Gras / Fat Tuesday – 2/13/24
  • Lantern Festival – 2/24/24 (China)
  • Hinamatsuri – Girl’s Day (Japanese) – 3/3/24 – annual date 3/3
  • Ramadan – 3/10 (sundown) – 4/8/24 (tentative dates, dependent on the sighting of the moon. Follows the lunar calendar.)
  • Eretria Easter, Coptic Easter – 3/19/24
  • Holi – 3/24/24 sundown to 3/25/24 sundown
  • Baisakhi / Vaisakhi (Sikh New Year) – 4/13/24 – generally celebrated on 13 or 14 of April every year
  • Pesach / Passover (Jewish) – 4/22 (sundown) – 4/30/24 (nightfall)
  • Eid ul-Fitr – 4/10/24 sundown until 4/11/24, the date may vary due to local practices, other dates listed 4/9 – 4/10/24
  • Orthodox Easter – 5/5/24
  • Ethiopian Orthodox Easter – 5/5/24
  • Children’s / Boy’s Day (Japanese) – 5/5/24 –annual date 5 May
  • Vesak / Vesākha / Vaiśākha / Wesak/ Buddha Jayanti / Buddha Purnima / Buddha Day (Buddhist) – 5/22/24 or 5/23/24 or 5/24/24 (follows the lunar calendar)
  • Kamehameha Day (Hawai’i) – 6/11/24 – annual date 6/11
  • Shavuot (Jewish) – 6/11 -6/13/24
  • Juneteenth – 6/19/24 – annual date 6/19
  • Dragon Boat Festival (China) – 6/20/24, takes place on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar
  • Summer Solstice (northern hemisphere) – 6/20/24 @ 1.50 p.m. PDT, 20.50 UDT
  • Hajj (Islam) – 6/14/24 (starts evening) – 7/1/23
  • Eid al-Adha – 6/16/24 (sundown), or 6/17/24 (contingent on moon sighting)
  • Liberation Day (Guam) – 7/21/24 – annual date 7/21
  • Tish’a B’Av (Jewish) – 8/12-8/13/24
  • Obon (Japan) – 8/13/24
  • Hungry Ghost Festival (China) – 8/18/24, celebrated on the 15th day of Ghost Month, the 7th lunar month
  • Enkutatash – Ethiopian New Year – 9/11/24 or 9/12/24 because of the leap year, annual date 9/11
  • Mid-Autumn Festival / Mooncake Festival – 9/17/24
  • Rosh Hashanah (Jewish) – 10/2 – 10/4/24 (starts sundown)
  • Yom Kippur (Jewish) – 10/11 – 10/12/24 (starts sundown)
  • Sukkot (Jewish) – 10/16 – 10/23/24
  • United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – 9/13/24 – annually recognized 9/13
  • Prophet Muhammed’s birthday (Palestine) – 9/15/24
  • Lotu Tamaiti – White Sunday (Samoa) – 10/8/24 – Second Sunday of October, public holiday
  • Indigenous Peoples’ Day – 10/14/24 – observed the second Monday of October
  • Hanal Pixán (Mayan) — 10/31-11/2/24 (added 1/12/24)
  • All Saints Day – 11/1/24 (annual date 1 Nov)
  • Día de los Muertos – 11/1/24, annual date 11/1
  • All Souls Day – 11/2/24, annual date 11/2
  • Diwali / Deepavali / Dipavali / Bandi Chhor Divas (Sikh) – 10/31/24 or 11/1/24  
  • US National Election Day – 11/5/24
  • Transgender Day of Remembrance – 11/20/24 – annual date 11/20
  • Bodhi Day (Buddhist) – 12/8/24 – annual date 12/8, or 12/9/24
  • Human Rights Day – 12/10/24 – annual date 10 Dec
  • Las Posadas and Noche Buena (Christian Latin American) – 12/16-24/24 – annual dates 12/16-24
  • Simbang Gabi (Filipino) – 12/16 – 12/24/24
  • Winter Equinox (northern hemisphere) 12/21/24, 1.20 a.m. PST
  • Hanukkah / Chanukah – 12/25/24 – 1/2/25 (starts and ends at nightfall)
  • St. Nicholas Feast Day (Orthodox) — 12/6/24, some observe the date as 12/5/24
  • 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 or 1/6/24 (less common)

Complete list of Jewish holiday dates, please consult this list.
Comprehensive list of Islamic special days
List of Buddhist days

New Years Dates

  • Orthodox New Year – 1/14/24
  • Lunar New Year (Chinese) / Tet (Vietnamese) / Seollal (Korean) – 2/10/24
  • Losar / Tibetan New Year – 2/10/24
  • Tsagaan Sar/ White Moon (Mongolian) – 2/10 – 2/12/24
  • Nyepi Bali Hindu New Year – 3/11/24 and 3/12/24
  • Persian Nowruz / Iranian New Year – 3/21/24, check the date with your local community some list it as 3/19 or 3/20/24
  • Naw-Rúz / first day of the Baháʼí calendar – 3/20-21/24
  • Ugaadhi / Telegu and Kannada New Year – 4/9/24
  • Baisakhi / Vaisakhi (Sikh) – 4/13/24
  • Thingyan (water festival) / Burmese New Year Festival – 4/13 – 4/16/24, 4/17/24 Burmese New Year
  • Aluth Avurudda (Sinhalese New Year, Sri Lanka) – 4/12-4/13/24
  • Songkran (Thailand) – 4/15/24 Thai New Year, 4/13/24 – National Elder Day, 4/16/24 National Family Day
  • Khmer New Year – 4/14-16/24
  • Bun Pi Mai (Lao) – 4/13 – 4/15/24
  • Bengali New Year, Pohela Boishakh – 4/14/24
  • Matariki, Maori New Year (New Zealand) – 6/28/24
  • Al-Hijra / Muharram (Islamic/Muslim), Islamic New Year (Palestine) – 7/7/24
  • Enkutatash / Ethiopian New Year – 9/11/24
  • Rosh Hashanah (Jewish) – 10/2 – 10/4/24 (starts sundown)
  • Diwali / Deepavali / Dipavali / Bandi Chhor Divas (Sikh) – 10/31/24 or 11/1/24  
  • Guru Nanak Jayanti (Sikh) – 11/15/24

Monthly Recognitions

  • January – none
  • February –African American History Month, Black History Month, Mahina ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi language month (Hawai’i)
  • March – Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, Deaf History Month (March 13-April 15)
  • April – Arab American Heritage Month
  • May – Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Jewish American Heritage Month
  • June – LGBTQ Pride Month
  • July – Disability Pride Month
  • August – Black Business Month
  • September – Hispanic Heritage Month (15 Sept – 15 Oct), Hawaiian History Month
  • 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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