barryg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Barry Gold) (01/25/85)
Note: all holidays begin at sunset of the previous date Feb 6 Tu B'Shvat (New Year of the Trees) Mar 7 Purim (check Book of Esther for details) Apr 6 Passover (lasts eight days, starting with Vernal Full Moon) May 9 Lag B'Omer (33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, which separates the first day of Passover and Shevuot) May 26 Shavuot (giving of the Ten Commandments) July 28 Tisha B'Av observed (one day late, since it may not be observed on the Sabbath; this is a day of mourning: both Temples were destroyed on it, the Jews were expelled from Spain, etc.) Sep 16 Rosh Ha-Shanah (lasts two days for Orthodox; New Moon of Fall) New Year Sep 25 Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) Sep 30 Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) lasts seven days - with Shmini Atzeret (beginning of prayers for rain) on the 8th day and Simhas Torah (Rejoicing over the re-beginning of the reading of Torah) on the 9th day Dec 8 Hannukah (Rededication of Temple after it was profaned by Antiochus self-styled the Godlike), lasts eight days spans the dark of the moon of the winter solstice month Major Pagan holidays (observed by my Wiccan friends) include Feb 2 (Imbolg, Candlemas, Groundhog Day) April 30 (May Eve, Beltane Eve, Walprgisnacht) June 23 (Midsummer's Eve, St. John's Eve) July 31 (Lugnasad, Lammas Eve, the Eve of August) Oct 31 (November Eve, Samhain) Dec 25 (Yule) And of course for the secular but science-minded, there's always Dec 25th Isaac Newton's Birthday we hang apples from the ceiling ourselves.