General Sources

• Feztve - highlights the many annual celebrations of various religions. This site provides information to holiday celebrations within the Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and Islamic faiths.

 

Christian Holidays

 

Advent

• Advent to Epiphany: Celebrating the Christmas Cycle - Information on Advent and the Epipany from American Catholic.

 

• Catholic Encyclopedia : Advent

 

• Prayers and Customs of Advent and Christmas - Looks at the seasons traditions and symbols.

 

• The Season of Advent - Offers explanations of Advent, history and origin, rituals ans symbols.

 

Christmas

 

• Christmas Eve Pre-Christian Traditions

 

• Traditional Christmas Carols - Christmas songs with lyrics.

 

• The Twelve Days of Christmas

 

Easter

• Easter Dating Method - how to calculate Easter Sunday dates for all years 326 to 4099 A.D.

 

• Easter : Its origins and meanings - The site for Religious Tolerance explains Easter, its origins and customs.

 

• History of the White House Easter Egg Roll

 

• Meditations and Prayers for Lent and Easter

 

• Palm Sunday from the Catholic Encyclopedia

 

 

Lent

• Ash Wednesday

 

• Common Questions about Ash Wednesday

 

• Good Friday

 

• The History Behind Shrove Tuesday

 

• Holy Week

 

Hindu Holidays

• Dashera and Dawali

 

• Dusshera

 

• Kumbha - The Kumbha Mela is a festival that occurs every 12 years in Allahabad (Prayag), India. Here millions of people will converge to bathe in the sacred waters of the Ganges, where all sins are believed to be purified. The first Kumbha Mela of the New Millennium, the Jan. 2001 Kumbha Mela is considered especially auspicious for all seekers.

 

Islamic Holidays

The Moon plays an important part in Islam, so the lunar calendar plays an important part in the Islamic faith. The sites below will help determine when and why a certain holiday occurs when it does in Islam. Around the globe, it is a fact that Muslim festivals are held according to the lunar calendar, whether it is amonth of fasting or Hajj (pilgrimage) or any other festival. (This means that Muslims rely only on a single

moon orbiting the earth).

 

• Astronomy for Islam

 

• The Islamic Calendar (or Hijri calendar) is a purely lunar calendar. It contains 12 months that are based on the motion of the moon, and because 12 synodic months is only 12 x 29.53=354.36 days, the Islamic calendar is consistently shorter than a tropical year, and therefore it shifts with respect to the Christian calendar.

 

Eid ul-Adha

 

• Eid ul Fitr and Eid ul Azha Prayers - how and where to properly deliver the prayers.

 

• What Does Eid Celebrate Again and Again? - celebration of God's grace, bounty, and mercy.

 

Eid ul-Fitr

 

• Shawwal: What to Do on Eid Night, Eid Day, and During the Month - Describes how the Eid-ul-fitr is observed and its significance.

 

Celebration of Mawlid

 

• Encyclopedia Britannica Explains Mawlid

 

• Mawlid: Celebrating the Birth of the Holy Prophet - discusses evidence from the Quran and scholars.

 

Ramadan

 

• Ramadan Information Center

 

Jewish Holidays

• The Biblical Holidays - This site contains information and ways to celebrate the Jewish holidays.

 

Passover

• Pesach

 

• Virtual Sedar Plate

 

Yom Kippur

• Jewish FAQs : Yom Kippur

 

• Jewish Student Online Resource Center

 

• Yom Kippur : Day of Atonement

 

Chanukah

 

• The Department for Jewish Zionist Education

 

• Project Genesis: Chanukah

 

Rosh Hashanah

 

• Celebrate with JOI: Rosh Hashanah

 

• Jewish Student Online Resource Center : Rosh Hashanah

 

• Rosh Hashanah

 

Orthodox Holidays

• Feast Days of the Orthodox Church

 

• Great Feast Days of the Orthodox Church

 

Pagan

 

Beltane: May Eve

 

• Beltane: May Eve

 

• Witches' Voice Presents Beltaine

 

Imbolc or Brigid's Day

 

• Imbolc Lore

 

• Witches' Voice Presents Imbolc

 

Mabon: The Autumn Equinox

 

• Mabon Lore - Provides symbols, gods, myths, and foods associated with the Autumn Equinox.

 

Ostara: The Spring Equinox

 

• Ostara: A High Holy Day - Examines the history and purpose of this celebration.

 

Samhain: Summer's End October 31

 

• Halloween From a Neo-Pagan Perspective

 

• Witches' Voice Presents Samhain

 

Yule or Yuletide: Winter Solstice

 

• Midwinter's Eve: Yule - Examines one of the eight Sabbats of Witchcraft.

 

• Sacred Plants of Winter Soltice - Looks at symbolic meanings for plants commonly used in Yule

festivals.

 

• Saturnalia or Brumalia: A Winter Solstice Ritual

 

• Winter Solstice Celebrations - From the Religious Tolerance site, examines origin of the solstice celebration with descriptions of related holidays and observances.

 

• Witches' Voice Presents Yule - Examines Yule and its origins.