1 December (Sunday) ADVENT SUNDAY Christian (Western Churches)

The start of the Christian year, four Sundays before Christmas. It is often celebrated by lighting the first candle in the advent crown – a circular wreath of greenery. A further three candles are lit on subsequent Sundays, culminating with the Christmas candle on the 25th December. This signifies the transition from darkness to light.

8 December (Sunday) BODHI DAY Buddhist

Some Buddhists (eg Pure Land followers) celebrate Gautama’s attainment of Enlightenment on this day under the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, North India.

9 December (Sunday) IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Christian (Roman Catholic)

This day celebrates the doctrine, held mainly by Roman Catholics, that Mary herself was born free from Original Sin, leaving her sinless for the conception and bearing of Jesus. This is noramlly celebrated on the 8th but as the 8th of December is a Sunday it is translated to the 9th and is not conisdered a day of obligation.

10 December (Tuesday) HUMAN RIGHTS’ DAY (National)

In 1948 The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: ‘All human beings are born with equal and inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms.’

21 December (Saturday) MARTYDOM ADJIT SINGH AND JUJHAR SINGH Sikh

Day in memory of the Sikh Gurus Adjit Singh and Jujhar Singh.

21 December (Saturday) WINTER SOLSTICE (Alban Arthan or Alban Arthuan) Druid

Yule is an indigenous winter festival celebrated by the Germanic peoples. The earliest references to it are in the form of month names, where the Yuletide period lasts somewhere around two months, falling along the end of the modern calendar year between what is now mid-November and early January.

21 December (Saturday) YULE (archaic form Geola, pronounced Yula) Wiccan / Pagan

Yule is the time of the winter solstice, when the sun is reborn, an image of the return of all new life. Heathens celebrate Yule for twelve nights and days, starting the evening before the Winter Solstice (called Mother’s night), when they think of their female ancestors and spiritual protectors. The night heralds the beginning of the major holiday in Heathenry.

24 December (Tuesday) CHRISTMAS EVE Christian

Evening carol services, crib services and Midnight Masses inaugurate the festival of Christmas. Santa Claus (from the Dutch Sinter Klaus) is a legendary figure, based on St Nicholas of Myra, and is supposed to bring presents to children on Christmas Eve.

25 December (Wednesday) CHRISTMAS DAY Christian

Christmas Day celebrates the birth of Jesus, whom Christians believe to be the son of God. Gifts are given as reminders of the offerings brought to the infant Jesus, and Christmas carols, plays and evergreens are associated with this time, while nativity sets are displayed in many churches and in some homes.

25 December (Wednesday) ZARATOSHT NO DISO Zoroastrian (Iranian)

Zaratosht no diso is the death anniversary of Prophet Zarathushtra and is a sorrowful occasion. Tradition records that he was assassinated at the age of 77. It is customary to visit the Fire Temple, participate in special remembrance prayers and ponder upon the Gathas or Hymns of Zarathushtra, which embody his eternal message to humanity.

26 December (Thursday) MARTYDOM ZARAWAR SINGH AND FATEH SINGH Sikh

Day in memory of the Sikh Gurus Zarawar Singh and Fateh Singh.

26 December (Thursday) to 2 January (Thursday) HANUKAH Jewish

Celebrates the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem after it was recaptured from the Syrian Greeks by the Maccabee brothers in 165 BCE. For the eight evenings of the festival, candles are lit from right to left in a hanukkiah, a nine-branched menorah – one candle for each evening. The ninth candle is the shamash (the servant candle) from which the other candles are lit. Foods cooked with oil - such as doughnuts and latkes (potato cakes) – are traditional to remember the miracle with oil that happened at this time.

26 December (Thursday) ST STEPHENS DAY Christian

Saint Stephen's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Stephen, is a Christian saint's day to commemorate Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr or protomartyr, celebrated on 26 December in Western Christianity and 27 December in Eastern Christianity.

31 December (Tuesday) OMISOKA Japanese

Japanese festival which prepares for the new year by cleansing Shinto home shrines and Buddhist altars. The bells of Buddhist temples are struck 108 times to warn against the 108 evils to be overcome.

31 December (Tuesday) HOGMANAY National

A celebration widely observed throughout the UK, and especially in Scotland, where bagpipes, haggis and first footing are widespread.  Clearing one’s debts, cleaning the house, welcoming guests and strangers and a host of other traditions feature at this time.