Today@Dal

Each year the Dalhousie Office of Human Rights, Equity & Harassment Prevention (HREHP) develops a mosaic calendar of religious holidays and cultural dates for faculty, staff and students.

See below for a sample of November dates to observe, reflect, celebrate or promote throughout the university community. View the complete calendar.
Reminder: The Jewish calendar date begins at sundown of the night beforehand. Thus all holiday observances begin at sundown on the secular dates listed, with the following day being the first full day of the holiday.
 
November 1
All Saints’ Day (CH) - (G)
All Saints’ Day is a Christian holy day observed by many Western churches on November 1 and by Eastern churches on the first Sunday after Pentecost. The day now honours all saints of the church, even those not known by name.
Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in many cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remembers friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it attains the quality of a National Holiday, and all banks are closed. In most regions of Mexico, November 1 honors children and infants, whereas deceased adults are honored on November 2. This is indicated by generally referring to November 1 as Día de los Inocentes ("Day of the Innocents"), but also as Día de los Angelitos ("Day of the Little Angels") and November 2 as Día de los Muertos or Día de los Difuntos ("Day of the Dead").

November 4
Qudrat (BA)
The 13th month of the Baha’i Calendar called Qudrat (Power), starts November 4th at sundown. The Baha’i (Badi) calendar months are named after attributes or qualities of God.

November 10
Birthday of Guru Nanak Dev Ji (SI)
Founder of the Sikh faith and first of the Ten Gurus, he was born in 1469 CE. He was an accomplished poet; 974 of his hymns are contained in the Sikh Scriptures, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.
Lokashah Jayanti (JA)
The full moon of the calendar’s first month is a time to celebrate the births of revered and scholarly persons. The most famous of these is the 15th century reformer Lonka Saha whose opposition to temple worship and the use of images led to the founding of the Sthanakavasi sect, which emphasizes scholarship.

November 11
Remembrance Day (Canada)
Remembrance Day also known as Poppy Day, Armistice Day (the event it commemorates), or Veterans Day is a day to commemorate the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and of civilians in times of war, specifically since the First World War. It is observed on 11 November to recall the end of World War I on that date in 1918.
Veteran’s Day (U.S.)
This is the equivalent holiday in the U.S. for honouring military veterans. Both a federal and state holiday in all states, it is always celebrated on November 11th each year.  However, if it occurs on a weekend, then the following Monday is designated as a holiday. Veteran’s Day is largely intended to thank living veterans for their service and to acknowledge their contributions to national security.

November 12
Birth of Baha’u’llah (BA)
The Bahá’í Faith was founded in Iran in the mid-19th century by Mirza Hosyn Ali Nuri, known as Bahá’u’lláh (Arabic for ’Glory of God’) (1817-1892), who is regarded by Bahá’ís as the most recent in the line of divine messengers of God that includes Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Christ and Mohammed.

November 13
Deepavali/Diwali (HI)
Deepavali is a national public holiday in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mauritius, Fiji, Malaysia and Singapore. The holiday in Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore will about half the time fall one day earlier than the holiday in India and Mauritius. In Nepal both days are public holidays. ‘Festival of Lights’ or Diwali is a festival which has the potential of unifying the entire country of India because of the charisma and splendour surrounding this festival. Diwali has been given the traditional name of ‘festival of lights’ because of the hundreds and thousands of small oil lamps or diyas lit by many households. The burning of these diyas is considered to be the lighted pathway of a person’s expression of happiness and also a manner of paying obeisance to God, the Supreme power for attainment of health, prosperity, knowledge, financial security and peace in one’s life.
Bandhi Chhor Divas (SI)
The sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind Sahib was imprisoned by Emperor Jahangir because he seemed to be afraid of the Guru’s growing following and power. The sixth Guru Nanak had agreed to his own release on the condition that the other 52 detainees would also be released. He was therefore known as the ’Bandi Chorrh’. He arrived at Amritsar on the day of Diwali and the Golden Temple was also lit with hundreds of lamps. Thereafter, the day came to be known as the’Bandi Chhor Divas’ (the day of freedom).

November 15
Advent Begins (CH– E (new calendar))
The Christmas fast is the 40 day period before Christmas, ending on Christmas Eve. The new calendar locates Christmas on December 25, the old calendar on January 7.
Hijra (IS)
Also known as Islamic New Year is the day that marks the beginning of a new Islamic calendar year, and is the day on which the year count is incremented. The first day of the year is observed on the first day of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic calendar.

November 22
Thanksgiving Day (US)
In the United States, Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day is an annual, one-day legal holiday to express gratitude for the things one has at the end of the harvest season. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.

November 23
Qawl (BA)
First day of the 14th month of the Baha’i Calendar.

November 24
Martyrdom of Guru Teg Bahadur Ji (SI)
Guru Tegh Bahadur was the ninth of the ten Gurus who founded Sikhism. He is honoured and remembered as the man who championed the rights for all religious freedom.
Ashura (IS)
The Day of Ashura, (10th day of Muharram), an Islamic holiday, this is well-known because of mourning for the martyrdom of Hussein Ibn Ali.

November 25
International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against women (UN)
Women’s activists have marked November 25 as a day against violence since 1981. On December 17, 1999, the United Nations General Assembly designated November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The UN invited governments, international organizations and NGOs to organize activities designated to raise public awareness of the problem on this day as an international observance.

November 25 - December 10
16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence
The 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership in 1991. Participants chose the dates, November 25, International Day against Violence against Women and December 10, International Human Rights Day, in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such violence is a violation of human rights. This 16-day period also highlights other significant dates including November 29, International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, December 1, World AIDS Day, and December 6, which marks the Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre.

November 26
Day of the covenant (BA)
Celebrates the anniversary of the appointment of ‘Abdul-Baha, the son of Baha’u’llah, as the Center of the Covenant.
The First of Muharram (IS)
Celebrates the Hijra (migration) of Muharram and his followers in 622 CE, from Mecca to Medina, where they established the first Islamic community.

November 28
Ascension of Abdul’Baha (BA)
On November 28, at 1 am, Baha’is around the world commemorate the moment that ‘Abdu’l-Baha passed away in 1921. It was a fairly unexpected event, though ‘Abdu’l-Baha had made some comments in the preceding month to the effect that he had completed his work and was ready to leave this life.