In the spirit of diversity and inclusion, we provide the following Multifaith Holy Days & Festivals realizing that it is not exhaustive.

Should you wish your faith’s days to be included, please contact the Chaplain for consideration.

Phone: 416.675.6622 ext.4427
Email: chaplain@humber.ca

01 Saturday
New Moon
March = Onaubinay Giizis, Xsaak (Aboriginal)
Onaubinay Giizis is the Snow-crested Moon (or, by community, Maple Sugar Moon or Sucker Moon) when the sucker fish run (Ojibwe). Xsaak is the season when Oolichan, the candlefish, swarm. Nisga’a dry and render them into oil (Other).

02 Sunday
Month of ‘Ala (Baha’i)
‘Ala meaning Loftiness is the 19th and final month of the Baha'i year and the time of a 19-day fast (to March 20). Those of age in good health abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset.

03 Monday
Clean Monday / Great Lent to Apr 20(Christianity-Eastern)
The first day of the Great Fast (Great Lent) in the final 6 week period leading up to Holy Week and Pascha or Passover.

04 Tuesday
Shrove Tuesday (Christianity)
The day prior to Lent that focuses on one seeking forgiveness and forgiving others.

05 Wednesday
Lent to April 20 / Ash Wednesday (Christianity-Western)
A 40 day period (except Sundays) before Easter when Christians fast and sacrifice in behaviour or gifts to honour Jesus’ overcoming temptation in the wilderness. Some mark a cross on their foreheads with ashes to show sorrow and penitence.
Great Prayer Festival (Buddhism)
Monks from Tibet gather to pray and hold philosophical debates.

07 Friday
World Day of Prayer (International)
A movement initiated in 1927 by Christian women to observe a common day of prayer around the world.

09 Sunday
Daylight Savings Time starts
Clocks are moved backward by one hour.

16 Sunday
Full Moon
Purim (Judaism)
Purim, the Festival/Feast of Lots, celebrates victory over an oppressive Persian ruler in the Book of Esther, which is read at this time. Costumes are worn and gifts of food are shared.
Holi (Sikhism / Hinduism)
A festival to celebrate Spring dedicated to Holika, whose sacrificial death saved the life of her nephew, the king’s son, from his tyrant father. People light fires and blow horns and bright colours are used in celebration.
Ghambar Hamaspathmaedem to Mar 20 (Zoroastrianism)
Celebrates the creation of human beings while those who have passed away are remembered.

17 Monday
St. Patrick’s Day (Christianity-Western)
Marks the death of Patrick, a missionary to Ireland after having been a slave there, who, reputedly, used the three-leaved shamrock to represent the Christian idea of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).
Hola Mohallah (Sikhism)
Martial arts displays and mock battles are staged to honour Guru Gobind Singh who sought to deter tyranny by armed resistance.

19 Wednesday
St. Joseph’s Day (Christianity-Catholicism)
Celebrates Joseph as the foster father of Jesus.

20 Thursday
March (Spring) Equinox

Shunki-sorei-sai (Shinto)
The Spring memorial service is held at home altars to revere ancestors as kami while gravesites are cleansed to be purified.
Ostara (Wicca)
Ostara / Eostre celebrates the return of the Goddess-as-Maiden, the courting of the Goddess by the God, and the reawakening of the seeds within the earth touched by the warmth the Gods’ love. The ringing of bells along with sunrise fires and the decoration of hard-boiled eggs are associated customs.
Spring Ohigon & Kwan Yin Day, Shunbun no hi (Buddhism)         
Spring Ohigon is a special time for Jodo Shinshu Buddhists who listen to the teaching of Buddha and meditate on the perfection of enlightenment and/or the harmony in the universe as Buddhism teaches that each person is a Boddhisattva (Buddha-to-be) and may reach the perfected state. Kwan Yin Day is the symbolic future Buddha in the Chinese tradition, a female dispensing compassion with a thousand arms. For Shunbun no hi, Japanese Buddhists meditate on the harmony in the universe.

21 Friday
Naw Ruz & Baha’i 1st month begins(Baha’i)
New Year BE (Baha’i Era) is an evening feast and celebration to recognize the first month of the Baha’i year.

25 Tuesday
Annunciation (Christianity-Western)
Commemorates the visit of the angel, Gabriel, to Mary to tell her that she was chosen to be the mother of Christ.

26 Wednesday
Birth Anniversary of Zarathustra (Zoroastrianism)
Celebrates the birth of the prophet Zoroaster and is also called Khordad Sal.

30 Sunday
New Moon