Tag: history

2025 List of Culturally Significant Dates

Picture of a handwritten calendar/planner Photo by Bich Tran on Pexels.com

This was a very popular blog post when Fakequity was alive and active. I’ve brought it back for 2025.

The list is meant to highlight less commonly well known dates that are important to BIPOC and religious communities that may not be featured in Western calendars or consciousness. Thus, you won’t see dates like Valentine’s day, Independence Days/4th of July, Halloween, etc. those dates are easily found on Western calendars. This list is not exhaustive. I don’t put every religion’s holidays on there. The dates listed were recommended by colleagues of those faiths or through basic research. There is always a danger when making a list to offend by leaving something off a list. The omissions were not intentional. Please take this list with a bit of grace, it is a start and you are encouraged to do your own research and talk to your community members to figure out how and what they celebrate.

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 BIPOCs. 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 and which dates are important. If there are errors please email fakequity@gmail.com with corrections. If you enjoy this list and would like to pay it forward please consider ordering books through the Fakequity Bookshop storefront.

2025 Dates

  • Korean American Day — 1/13/25, annual date 1/13
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – 1/20/25
  • International Holocaust Remembrance Day — 1/27/25 – annual date 1/27
  • Lunar New Year (Chinese) – Year of the Snake / Tet (Vietnamese) / Seollal (Korean) – 1/29/25
  • Setsuban, end of winter start of spring (Japanese) – 2/3/25 – annual date 2/3
  • Lantern Festival – 2/12/25 (China)
  • Maha Shivaratri (also spelled as Shivratri, Shivaratri and Sivaratri) (Hindu) – 2/26/25
  • Hinamatsuri – Girl’s Day (Japanese) – 3/3/25 – annual date 3/3
  • Mardi Gras / Fat Tuesday – 3/4/25
  • Ramadan – 3/1 (sundown) – 4/8/24 (tentative dates, dependent on the sighting of the moon. Follows the lunar calendar.) (US Date)
  • Eretria Easter, Coptic Easter – 4/20/25
  • Holi – 3/14/25 sundown to 3/15/25 sundown 
  • Baisakhi / Vaisakhi (Sikh New Year) – 4/14/25 – generally celebrated on 13 or 14 of April every year
  • Pesach / Passover (Jewish) – 4/12 (sundown) – 4/20/25 (nightfall)
  • Eid ul-Fitr – 3/29/30 sundown until 3/30/25, the date may vary due to local practices, other dates listed 3/31/25
  • Orthodox Easter – 4/20/25
  • Ethiopian Orthodox Easter – 5/5/24
  • Children’s / Boy’s Day (Japanese) – 5/5/25 –annual date 5 May
  • Vesak / Vesākha / Vaiśākha / Wesak/ Buddha Jayanti / Buddha Purnima / Buddha Day (Buddhist) – 5/12/25 or 5/13/25 or 5/24/25 (follows the lunar calendar)
  • Dragon Boat Festival (China) – 5/31 – 6/2/25, takes place on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar
  • Kamehameha Day (Hawai’i) – 6/11/25 – annual date 6/11
  • Shavuot (Jewish) – 6/1 -6/3/25
  • Juneteenth – 6/19/25 – annual date 6/19
  • Summer Solstice (northern hemisphere) – 6/20/25
  • Hajj (Islam) – 5/29/25 (starts evening)
  • Eid al-Adha – 6/6/25 (sundown), or 6/10/25 (contingent on moon sighting)
  • Liberation Day (Guam) – 7/21/25 – annual date 7/21
  • Tish’a B’Av (Jewish) – 8/2-8/3/25
  • Obon (Japan) – 8/13-16/25 (no exact date, more of a season of activities, some places celebrate in July)
  • Hungry Ghost Festival (some Asian countries) – 9/6/25, celebrated on the 15th day of Ghost Month, the 7th lunar month
  • Enkutatash – Ethiopian New Year – 9/11/25
  • United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – 9/13/25 – annually recognized 9/13
  • Prophet Muhammed’s birthday (Palestine) – 9/5/25
  • Mid-Autumn Festival / Mooncake Festival – 10/6/25
  • Rosh Hashanah (Jewish) – 9/22 – 9/24/25 (starts sundown)
  • Yom Kippur (Jewish) – 10/1 – 10/2/25 (starts sundown)
  • Sukkot (Jewish) – 10/6 – 10/13/25
  • Lotu Tamaiti – White Sunday (Samoa) – 10/12/25 – Second Sunday of October, public holiday
  • Indigenous Peoples’ Day – 10/13/25 – observed the second Monday of October
  • Hanal Pixán (Food of the Souls or Day of the Dead) (Mayan) — 11/1-11/2/25, festivities start 10/31
  • All Saints Day – 11/1/25 (annual date 1 Nov)
  • Día de los Muertos – 11/1/25, annual date 11/1
  • All Souls Day – 11/2/25, annual date 11/2
  • Diwali / Deepavali / Dipavali / Bandi Chhor Divas (Sikh) – 10/21/25 or 10/18-10/23/25 
  • Transgender Day of Remembrance – 11/20/25 – annual date 11/20
  • Bodhi Day (Buddhist) – 12/8/25 – annual date 12/8, or 12/9/25
  • Human Rights Day – 12/10/25 – annual date 10 Dec
  • Las Posadas and Noche Buena (Christian Latin American) – 12/16 – 12/25/25 – annual dates 12/16-24
  • Simbang Gabi (Filipino) – 12/16 – 12/24/25
  • Winter Equinox (northern hemisphere) 12/21/25, 7.02 a.m. PST
  • Hanukkah / Chanukah – 12/14/25 – 12/22/25 (starts and ends at nightfall)
  • St. Nicholas Feast Day (Orthodox) — 12/6/25, some observe the date as 12/5/24
  • Kwanzaa – 12/26-1/1/25 – 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’) – 1/7/25 or 1/6/25 (less common)

List of Jewish holiday dates.
Comprehensive list of Islamic special days
List of Buddhist days

New Years Dates

  • Orthodox New Year – 1/14/25
  • Lunar New Year (Chinese) / Tet (Vietnamese) / Seollal (Korean) – 1/29/25
  • Losar / Tibetan New Year – 2/28/25
  • Tsagaan Sar/ White Moon (Mongolian) – 3/1/25
  • Nyepi Bali Hindu New Year – 3/29/25
  • Persian Nowruz / Iranian New Year – 3/20/25, check the date with your local community
  • Naw-Rúz / first day of the Baháʼí calendar – 3/20-21/25
  • Ugaadhi / Telegu and Kannada New Year – 3/30/25 (estimated)
  • Baisakhi / Vaisakhi (Sikh) – 4/13/25
  • Thingyan (water festival) / Burmese New Year Festival – 4/13 – 4/16/25, 4/17/25 Burmese New Year
  • Aluth Avurudda (Sinhalese New Year, Sri Lanka) – 4/13 – 4/14/25 (estimated)
  • Songkran (Thailand) – 4/13/25 – 4/15/25
  • Khmer New Year – 4/14-16/25
  • Bun Pi Mai (Lao) – 4/14 – 4/16/25
  • Bengali New Year, Pohela Boishakh – 4/14/25
  • Matariki, Maori New Year (New Zealand) – 6/28/25 (estimated)
  • Al-Hijra / Muharram (Islamic/Muslim), Islamic New Year (Palestine) – 6/27/25 (estimated)
  • Enkutatash / Ethiopian New Year – 9/11/25
  • Rosh Hashanah (Jewish) – 9/22 – 9/24/25 (starts sundown, ends nightfall)
  • Diwali / Deepavali / Dipavali / Bandi Chhor Divas (Sikh) – 10/21/25
  • Guru Nanak Jayanti (Sikh) – 11/5/25 (estimated)

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

Rethinking Land Acknowledgements

3 red ohia flowers, green buds
Ohia flowers indigenous to Hawai’i, photo credit mhgstan

A few years ago, I wrote a post about land acknowledgements. I learned a lot by researching that blog post and thinking more deeply about the practice. Since writing that post I’ve learned more about land acknowledgments, how Native Americans and Indigenous people want us non-Natives to participate in land acknowledgments, and the work we need to do to not be askholes.

It isn’t about the land acknowledgment

A land acknowledgment isn’t about the words we say, it is about recognizing and being in a just relationship with Native people and the land and place. It is about remembering we are guests and need to be respectful guests in other people’s homes. Being a guest means learning how to be a respectful guest, including learning whose home you’re entering. As an example, if you visit someone’s house you probably know the name of the person you’re visiting. Same here you should know the name of the ancestral land who you’re visiting.

The land acknowledgement is a moment to slow down and to acknowledge our Native relations.

Understand Context

Making a land acknowledgement is dipping into politics. In learning about the history of whose land you’re on and how the boundaries and boarders were drawn shows a history of migration, forced migration, politics, and colonization. Understanding this history also shows how complicated it can be in making a land acknowledgement. There isn’t always agreement on which tribes should be named when making an acknowledgement. As a non-Native person understanding this context is important to ensuring hurt, erasure, or more damage isn’t done.

If you’re a non-Native person, be thoughtful before asking a Native person to write or advise you on your land acknowledgement. Asking a Native person to advise you or write your land acknowledgment is asking for unpaid labor. It also puts them into awkward spots of having to decide who to name and not-name in the statement. Do your own work before consulting with Native people about a land acknowledgement.

If you are asking a Native person who’s land you’ll be on to speak at an event, they may prefer to do a welcome to their land and land education. They already acknowledge their land and a welcome may be more appropriate.

Land Education

For many Native people they would prefer we as non-Native people learn about their land – land education. That learning should be deep and meaningful, not a passive one-time reading of a prepared statement or even reciting who’s land we are on. It is about learning how they view and value their land, learning about their relationship with the place, nature, and geography.

This can also include learning about unceded land. A colleague showed me a map of her people’s traditional lands versus where their tribal nation lands are today. I was struck by how her traditional lands followed the waterways and were very fluid, the reservation map of today had straight lines and did not follow the river.

As I mentioned in my previous blog post on land acknowledgments, reading the treaties between the tribal nations and the US government is one place to start. Also read a lot of books by Native authors, especially authors from your area. If you need book suggestions, check out previous book lists on the blog.

Final Thoughts

I offer these thoughts as a non-Native person living on Native lands and working to stay educated and to be in more justice based relationships with diverse Native people. I cannot speak and will not speak for Native people. Please do your work of learning directly from Native people in your own community. Listen to them, learn respectfully, and be a good partner in learning.

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