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 January dates to observe, reflect, celebrate or promote throughout the university community. The complete calendar is available on the website, http://hrehp.dal.ca/Calendar/.

January 1
New Year's Day/Jour de I'An
Temple Day (Buddhism) North American Buddhists of all schools attend a special service in the temple.

Gantan-sai  -  (New Year's Day) (SH) is New Year's Day in Japan and the whole, three-day festival is called Oshogatsu. It is the most important festival of the year and the traditional belief is that whatever happens to you at this time sets the scene for the rest of the year. (Oshogatsu means Standard Month). For this reason there is a tradition whereby everyone must begin the year by laughing so there is a great deal of hilarity as the clock strikes midnight. The day before houses must be cleaned thoroughly.

DAL: 1st President's Advisor on Women 1990
 
January 4
Ghambar Maidyarem ends (ZO)
This celebrates the creation of animals. Zoroastrians are encouraged to remember their practice of the equitable sharing of food during this observance (December 31  -  January 4).
 
January 5
Birthday of Guru Gobind Singh (SI)
The 10th and final Sikh master, he created the Khalsa, the "brotherhood of the Pure," and declared the Scriptures, the Adi 'Granth, to be the Sikh's Guru from that time on.
Fast of Tevet 10 (JU)
This fast begins at dawn. There are no additional constraints beyond fasting from food and water.
 
January 6
Epiphany (G) (N/O)
This celebrates the coming of the Magi (wise men) to Bethlehem with gifts for the infant Jesus. It is the 12th day after Christmas, and marks the end of the Christmas festivities, when decorations are put away for the year. The Magi represent the first Gentiles (non-Jews) to visit Jesus, and the festival symbolizes that non-Jews would share in the message of Jesus. The Magi brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and in many countries, people give gifts on Twelfth Night, the night before Epiphany. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the festival of Epiphany is called the Theophany and marks three events in Jesus' life: the adoration of the Magi, the baptism of Jesus, and Jesus' first miracle.
 
January 7
Christmas Day (O)
Thirteen days after Western Christmas, on January 7th, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates its Christmas, in accordance with the old Julian calendar. It's a day of both solemn ritual and joyous celebration.
 
January 13
Maghi (SI)
Maghi is the occasion when Sikhs commemorate the sacrifice of forty Sikhs, who fought for Guru Gobindh Singh Ji.
 
January 14
Makar Sankranti
It marks the change from a decrease to an increase of the sun.
 
January 15
Seijin-no-hi (Coming of Age Day)-(SH)
Seijin  - no-hi is the Japanese coming-of-age ceremony. It is held annually on Coming-of-Age Day, the second Monday in January. Festivities include ceremonies held at local and prefectural offices and parties amongst family and friends to celebrate passage into adulthood.

World Religion Day (BA)
The aim of World Religion Day is to foster the establishment of interfaith understanding and harmony by emphasizing the common denominators underlying all religions. The message of World Religion Day is that, mankind, which has stemmed from one origin, must now strive towards the reconciliation of that which has been split up. Human unity and true equality depend not on past origins, but on future goals, on what we are becoming and where we are going.
 
January 21
Martin Luther King Day (USA)
Born on January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. grew to become one of the greatest Social Activists the world has ever known. At 35, he became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace prize. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968 while making a speech from the balcony of his hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee. His birthday became a National Holiday by an act of the United Stated Congress in 1983 King was the chief spokesman of the nonviolent civil rights movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. He was assassinated in 1968.
 
January 18  -  25
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
 
January 24
 Mawlid al-Nabiy (IS)
Mawlid an-Nabi is a special holiday for many in the Muslim faith. It is celebrated to mark the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, who entered the world in 570. It is celebrated on the 12th day of Rabi al-Awwal (Sunnis) 17th (Shi'as), the fifth month of the Islamic Calendar. On this day Muslims celebrate by focusing on the life and teachings of Muhammad. They sing songs and say special prayers. A special part of this remembrance is on how he forgave even his most bitter enemies. As with other holidays, Muslims also give to the poor.
 
January 25
Robbie Burns Day
Robbie Burns was a poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide. He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic Movement and after his death became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism.
 
January 26
Tu B'Shevat (JU)
Tu Bishvat (or Tu B'Shevat) is a minor Jewish holiday in the Hebrew month of Shivat, usually sometime in late January or early February that marks the "New Year of the Trees"). Tu Bishvat is one of four "New Year's" mentioned in the Mishnah. Customs include planting trees and eating dried fruits and nuts, especially figs, dates, raisins, carob and almonds.

January 27
International Day of Commemoration in the memory of the victims of the Holocaust (UN)
The General Assembly today decided that the United Nations will designate 27 January - -  the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp -- as an annual International Day of Commemoration to honour the victims of the Holocaust, and urged Member States to develop educational programmes to instill the memory of the tragedy in future generations to prevent genocide from occurring again.

January 27-30
Mahayana New Year (BU)
 
January 28
Vasanta Panchami
This fefestival marks the first day of spring. Vasanta means the spring. The fields are mustard yellow with the ripening of crops. Yellow is an auspicious color - a color of spirituality.