• Because we live in such beautifully diverse community, we work to avoid religious date conflicts for school events, meetings and activities that offer curricular value to our families and students, such as curriculum nights, conferences, board meetings and open houses. To help facilitate that process, a calendar noting significant religious and cultural holidays is shared with school leaders for planning purposes. 

    Given that we schedule those important events to avoid curricular conflicts to the extent possible, there will sometimes be non-curricular events and activities, such as sporting events, groundbreakings, filmed community presentations, etc. that will fall on dates that have cultural or religious significance for families.

     

     Fakequity Collection of Dates

    "This is not an all encompassing listing of dates. Please check with your local community to ask what dates they would like you to be mindful of as you do your work. I’ve also chosen to leave off Christian holidays that show up on many Western calendars (e.g. Valentine’s, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, etc.). While those are important dates to some people, they are easily found dates on US/Canada calendars. The purpose of my list is to highlight dates that are important to many but less highlighted on American calendars.

    This list was put together with the help of friends and colleagues – thank you to everyone who contributed to the list over the past few years. There may be errors on the list since I relied on basic internet research. I do not practice many of the religions or understand the depths and nuances of the events listed, which can lead to errors. I made a best effort to get it correct, including in some cases cross referencing websites. If you have corrections please email fakequity@gmail.com."

    • 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
      • 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 BaháΚΌí 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
    •  

    Monthly Recognitions

    • January – none
    • February – African American History Month
    • March – Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month
    • April – Arab American Heritage Month
    • May – Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Jewish American Heritage Month
    • June – LGBT Pride Month
    • July – none
    • August – none
    • 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 – none