Religious festivals, stellar sights, harvest celebrations, cultural extravaganzas - even with most of the public gatherings significantly scaled down due to travel restrictions or pandemic lockdowns - communities and families gather together more intimately.
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| Perseid Shower - Tucson AZ - Eliot Herman |
Week 1
Aug 01 – The Pagan and Wiccan Lughnasadh is also known as the festival of the first fruits, it is the first of three harvest sabbats, celebrating the ripening of grains and corn.
Aug 01 - Lammas is a Christian holiday celebrated in some English-speaking countries in the Northern Hemisphere, usually between August 1st and September 1st. This festival marks the end of the wheat harvest, and is the first harvest festival of the year. This holiday is celebrated annually.
Aug 03 - Raksha Bundhan means the Bond of Protection. A festival to celebrate the bond between brothers and sisters. During this festival, a sister attaches a holy thread known as rakhi around her brother's wrist, who in turn, vows to look after his sister, and offers her a gift.
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| grain bundles to celebrate the harvest |
Week 2
Aug 11 - The Krishna Janmashtami festival celebrates the birth of Krishna, the eighth avatar and incarnation of Vishnu. Also known as Janmashtami Puja, Jayanthi Sree, Janmaashtami, Gokulaashtami, Srikrishna Jayanti or Krishnaashtami. It is celebrated with Dance and dramatized enactments of Krishna's life in the Bhagavata Purana, night long devotional songs and chants, fasting (upavasa), a night vigil (Ratri Jagaran), and a festival (Mahotsav) the following day.
Aug 13 - The Bon festival is a traditional Japanese Buddhist ceremony that has existed for more than five hundred years. It commemorates the spirit of ancestors. It is usually held either in July or August, depending on location. The celebration originally included a Bon-Odori dance but is now more of a family holiday, where people memorialize and pay tribute to their lineage, by visiting their ancestral family home and cleaning their graves.
Aug 15 - The Assumption of Mary honors the bodily assumption of the Virgin Mother of Christ into heaven. In the churches that observe it, the Assumption is a major feast day. In many countries, the feast is also marked as a Holy Day of Obligation in the Catholic Church.
Tokyo Bon Odori 2016
Week 3
Aug16 - Paryushana, also know as the Festival of Forgiveness, is the most important Jain religious observances. Paryushana means abiding and coming together. It is a time when the Jains take on vows of study and fasting. At the festival's conclusion, followers request forgiveness from others for any offenses committed during the past year.
Aug 19 - The Islamic, Arabic or Hijri New Year begins with the crescent moon. The first day of the Islamic year is observed by Muslims on the first day of the month of Muharram. The Hejira meaning departure or migration, is the journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Yathrib, renamed Medina in the year 622.
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| Scenes in the Tajiya procession at the Muharram festival |
Aug 20 - Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar and the Islamic New Year. Many take this opportunity to remember the events of the life of the beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Muslims mourn the martyrdom of Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī and his family, honouring the martyrs by prayer and abstinence from joyous events.
Aug 22 - The Ganesh Chaturthi festival is the day when Lord Ganesha shows his presence on earth for all his devotees. The festival lasts up to 10 days and ends on the day of Ananta Chaturdashi. There are public celebrations on that day. During the festival an idol of Shri Ganesha is worshiped in every house.
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| Ganesha, Basohli miniature, circa 1730 |
Week 4
Aug 28 - Ashura Eve falls on the ninth day of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic calendar, and is the night prior to Yom Ashura. On Ashura Eve, Imam Al-Husayn acknowledged his companions as the most faithful of companions. They in turn gave audacious praise and pledged their allegiance to him. The following day, Imam Al-Husayn was beheaded in the Battle of Karbala.
Aug 29 - The root of the word Ashura has the meaning of tenth in Semitic languages. According to the orientalist A. J. Wensinck, the name is derived from the Hebrew ʿāsōr, with the Aramaic determinative ending. Other scholars suggest it is the tenth most important day with which God has blessed Muslims. Ashura is a traditional date that also honors past events, such as the construction of the Kaaba, the birth of Prophet Abraham, and the landing of the ark of Noah.
Aug 31 - Onam is an important harvest festival that is observed in the month of Chingam on the Malayalam calendar, coinciding with the Gregorian months of August and September. Onam originated in the Indian state Kerala, and it honors King Mahabali, a benignant king in the Hindu mythology, whose spirit is believed to visit Kerala during Onam.
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| Islamic calligraphy of the Karbala martyr Husayn in Hagia Sophia |
Whatever our tradition or culture, may we be more inclusive in our acceptance of all people and their beliefs or practice. Who knows what could unfold with out attention and interest, right?
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