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 dates to observe, reflect, celebrate or promote throughout the university community. The spring and summer calendar is available on the website, http://www.dal.ca/dept/dalrespect/about/calendar.html

All Jewish and Islamic Holidays begin at sundown on the evening before the first date shown.

MARCH 2-20

Ala, Fast of Nineteen Days (BA)
'Ala (Loftiness) is the 19th and final month. It marks the beginning of a 19-day fast which lasts until March 20th and which prepares worshipers for the New Year (Nowrouz).
 
MARCH 4

Ta’anit Ester
Also known as the Fast of Esther, is a Jewish fast from dawn to dusk on the eve of Purim. Commemorating the three-day fast observed by the Jewish people in the story of Purim. Since the Fast of Esther is not one of the four public fasts ordained by the Prophets, the laws are more lenient; pregnant women, nursing mothers, and those who are weak are not required to observe it.

MARCH 5

Purim (JU)
A Jewish Holiday, where work should be avoided. Commemorating the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from destruction in the wake of a plot by Haman, a story recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther (Megillat Esther). Purim in 2012 will start on Thursday, the 8th of March and will continue for 2 days until Friday, the 9th of March.

Magha Puja Day (BU)
Magha Puja day is an important Buddhist festival celebrated in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos on the full moon day of the third lunar month (this usually falls in February). The third lunar month is known in the Thai language as Makha (Pali: Māgha); Bucha is also a Thai word (Pali: Pūjā), meaning "to venerate" or "to honor". As such, Makha Bucha Day is for the veneration of Buddha and his teachings on the full moon day of the third lunar month. The spiritual aims of the day are: not to commit any kind of sins; do only good; purify one's mind. Māgha Pūjā is a public holiday in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia - and is an occasion when Buddhists tend to go to the temple to perform merit-making activities.

MARCH 6    

World Day of Prayer
Held the first Friday in March, this is an international movement of women who came together in 1927 to observe a common day of prayer each year. It is carried out by women in over 170 countries annually.

Holi (HI)
In India the Spring Festival is called Holi the festival of colors. It is a festival of fun and frolic and has been associated with the immortal love of Lord Krishna and Radha. Celebrated in March or April according to the Hindu calendar, the festival mainly started to welcome the spring season and win the blessings of Gods for good harvests and fertility of the land. It is the second most important festival of India after Diwali.
In most areas, Holi lasts about two days. One of Holi’s biggest customs is the loosening strictness of social structures, which normally include age, sex, status, and caste. Holi closes the wide gaps between social classes and brings Hindus together. Together, the rich and poor, women and men, enjoy each other’s presence on this joyous day. Although it is the least religious holiday, it is probably one of the most exhilarating ones in existence.

Hola Mohalla (SI)
Hola Mohalla or simply Hola is a Sikh festival that takes place on the first of the lunar month of Chet which usually falls in March. This follows the Hindu festival of Holi; and the Guru made Hola Mohalla an occasion for the Sikhs to demonstrate their martial skills in simulated battles. Together the words "Hola Mohalla" stands for "mock fight". During these festivals, processions are organized in the form of army type columns accompanied by war-drums and standard-bearers and proceeding to a given spot or moving in state from one gurdwara to another. The custom originated in the time of Guru Gobind Singh who held first such mock fight event at Anandpur in February 1701.

MARCH 8

International Women’s Day
Based on a UN resolution of 1977, the International Women’s Day is annually observed on March 8th as an official UN event, to commemorate the historic struggle to improve women’s lives. It is celebrated around the world at the local and national level.
DAL: Transition Year Program approved 1970

MARCH 9

Commonwealth Day
In 1973 the National Council in Canada of the Royal Commonwealth Society in a letter to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau suggested that the idea of Commonwealth Day to be observed simultaneously throughout the Commonwealth be included on the agenda for the Heads of Government Meeting to be held in Ottawa that year. The proposal was not included in the agenda of that meeting but did appear as a Canadian item on the agenda of the 1975 meeting. At that time the heads of Government agreed that the Commonwealth Secretariat be asked to select a date for such an observance that would not have any untoward historical connotations. At the meeting of senior officials in Canberra in May 1976, the Canadian proposal that the second Monday in March be set as Commonwealth Day was adopted. It is not a statutory holiday; rather it is a day of observance by close to one billion persons of their common bonds and the contribution of the Commonwealth of Nations to the creation of a harmonious global environment.

MARCH 10

Aboriginal people gain the right to vote in national elections 1960.

MARCH 14

Sikh New Year’s Day (SI)
Beginning of the year 543 of the Nanakshahi Era.

MARCH 17

Ghambar Hamaspathmaedem (ZO)
Celebrates the creation of human beings.

St. Patrick’s Day
Saint Patrick's Day is an annual feast day which celebrates Saint Patrick one of the patron saints of Ireland.

MARCH 20

Spring Ohigon (BU)
Spring Ohigon is a special time for Jodo Shinshu Buddhists. They listen to the teaching of the Buddha and meditate on the perfection of enlightenment. (Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, Vietnamese, Mahayana/North America).

Ostara (PS)
Ostara is one of the eight major Wiccan holidays or sabbats of the Wheel of the Year. Ostara is celebrated on the Vernal Equinox, in the Northern hemisphere around March 21 and in the Southern hemisphere around September 23, depending upon the specific timing of the equinox. Among the Wiccan sabbats, it is preceded by Imbolc and followed by Beltane. "The Festival of Ostara at the spring equinox marks the end of winter and the beginning of the season of rebirth (spring), and is celebrated by a blot in honour of Frigg and Freya and/or the disir, the collective of female fertility deities. “The "blot" is a celebratory meal (also known as "cakes and ale") that is believed to be shared with the Goddess.

Shunki-sorei-sai (SH)
The March memorial service is held at home altars to revere ancestors as kami. Grave-sites are cleaned and purified.

MARCH 21

Naw Ruz (New Year) (BA,ZO)
Naw Ruz or Nowruz is the first day of Farvardin, the first month of the Iranian solar year. It is the traditional Iranian new year holiday celebrated by Iranian, Turkish and many other peoples in West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Northwestern China, the Caucasus, the Crimea, and the Balkans. Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the Iranian year. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox (start of spring in northern hemisphere), which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed.(Non-work day Baha’i) As well as being a Zoroastrian holiday, it is also a holy day for adherents the Baha’i Faith. In Iran it is also referred to as an Eid festival, although it is not an Islamic feast. Alawites and Nizari Ismaili Muslims also celebrate Nowruz.

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UN)
The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually on 21 March with activities led by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, New York and at field-presences. This year's theme is: "Racism and Discrimination: Obstacles to Development."  On 21 March 1960, police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville, South Africa, against the apartheid "pass laws". In 1966, the General Assembly proclaimed 21 March as International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to commemorate the Sharpeville tragedy (resolution 2142 (XXI) of 26 October 1966). 21 March has since then served not only to remind the international community of the dire consequences of racism, but also to recall our obligation and determination to combat racial discrimination.

MARCH 25

International day of remembrance of the victims of slavery and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (UN)
On 17 December 2007, the UN General Assembly designated March 25th as an annual International Day for the Commemoration of the Two-Hundredth Anniversary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, beginning in 2008. The purpose of this day is to honour the memory of those who died as a result of slavery as well as those who have been exposed to the horrors of the middle passage and have fought for freedom from enslavement. In addition, it is a day to discuss the causes, consequences, and lessons of the transatlantic slave trade in order to raise awareness about the dangers of racism and prejudice.

MARCH 28

Birth Anniversary of Zarathustra (ZO)
Zoroastrian remembrance of the birth of Prophet Zarathustra.

Ramanavami (HI)
Ram Navami is the celebration of the birthday of Rama, a divine figure in Hinduism.

MARCH 29

Passion/Palm Sunday (CH)  
On Palm Sunday Christians celebrate the Triumphal Entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, the week before his death and resurrection. For many Christian churches, Palm Sunday, often referred to as "Passion Sunday," marks the beginning of Holy Week, which concludes on Easter Sunday. The Bible reveals that when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the crowds greeted him with waving palm branches, and by covering his path with palm branches. Immediately following this great time of celebration in the ministry of Jesus, he begins his journey to the cross.