4 April (Thursday) FESTIVAL OF PURE BRIGHTNESS/TOMB SWEEPING DAY / QINGMINGJIE / CH’ING MING/ Chinese

The first occasion in the year when family graves are visited. Many families cleanse and sweep them, offer food to the spirits, and picnic/feast by the grave with their ancestors.

5 April (Friday) LAILAT-UL-QADR [Shi'a] THE NIGHT OF POWER Muslim

This commemorates the night in 610 CE when the prophet Muhammad received his first visit from the angel Jibril (Gabriel) and his revelation of the Qur’an. Muslims believe that the date of this night is kept secret by God, but that they ‘may seek the Night of Dignity in the odd nights of the last ten days of Ramadan’ (Bukhaari, quoting Aisha, who heard it from the Prophet).

8 April (Monday) HANAMATSURI Buddhist (Japanese)

Mahayana flower festival to celebrate the Buddha Shakyamuni’s birthday. Shrines are erected and an image of the infant Buddha is bathed. Theravadins celebrate Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and passing away later in the year, at the full moon in May.

10 April (Wednesday) RAMADAN ends
10 April (Wednesday) EID-UL-FITR/FEAST OF FAST BREAKING (1st Shawwal) Muslim

This is a time - once the fast of Ramadan has been completed - for making gifts to the poor. It is especially a time for new clothes, good food, and presents for children. Families get together and contact friends, especially those who live far away. The community assembles for Eid prayer and a sermon at its mosques. The traditional greeting is ‘Eid Mubarak’ – ‘a happy and blessed Eid’.

13 April (Saturday) - 15 April (Monday) SONGKRAN Buddhist

Traditional New Year’s Day festival in Thailand. Containers of water are thrown as a symbol of washing away all that is evil. Fragrant herbs are often placed in the water jug or bucket.

14 April (Sunday) VAISAKHI/BAISAKHI – The Sikh New Year Festival Sikh

In 1699, on Vaisakhi, the tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, founded  the Order of the Khalsa. Five men (Five Beloved Ones), offered their lives when the Guru asked for volunteers. The ‘Five Ks’, the outward signs of Sikhism, were made obligatory and Sikh men took the name ‘Singh’ (lion) and women ‘Kaur’ (princess). The initiation ceremony, amrit, was introduced.

17 April (Wednesday) RAMA NAVAMI Hindu

Rama Navami is a spring Hindu festival that celebrates the birthday of the Hindu God Lord Rama. He is particularly important to the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism, as the seventh avatar of the God Vishnu. The festival celebrates the descent of Vishnu in the Rama avatar, through his birth to King Dasharatha and Queen Kausalya in Ayodhya. The festival is a part of the spring Navarti, and falls on the ninth day of the bright half Shulka Paksha in the Hindu calendar month of Chaitra.

20 April (Saturday) ADAR MAH PARAB Zoroastrian (Shenshai - Parsi)

On the ninth day of Adar, the 9th month, Zoroastrians celebrate the birthday of fire. They pay visits to the fire temple to make offerings of sandalwood or incense, and to thank the holy fire for the warmth and light it has given throughout the year. Traditionally on this day food is not cooked in the house as the fire is given a rest and the Atash Niyayeesh or litany to the fire is recited in honour of the house fire or the ceremonial oil lamp.

20 April (Saturday) - 1 May (Wednesday) RIDVAN Baha’i

The most important Baha’i festival.  In these 12 days, in the garden outside Baghdad after which the festival is named, Baha’u’llah declared himself the Promised One, prophesied by the Bab. The first, ninth and twelfth days are especially significant and are holy days, when no work is done.   It is during this period that Baha’is elect all their governing bodies.

21 April (Sunday) MAHAVIRA JAYANTI (599 BCE) Jain

The birthday of the last Tirthankara, or great teacher and model of the Jainas. His birth and the events surrounding it are re-enacted.  Monks or nuns read from the scriptures and teach about the rest of Mahavira’s life. Lay people then return home to a celebratory feast.

23 April (Tuesday) ST GEORGE’S DAY National / Christian

St George is the patron saint of England. He lived and died in the Middle East, but his popularity grew after the Crusades, when his red cross on a white background became the symbol of the English Crusaders.

23 April (Tuesday) HANUMAN JAYANTI Hindu

This Hindu festival recalls the birth of Lord Rama’s supreme devotee, the monkey-headed Hanuman, whose feats figure in the Ramayana epic.  Hanuman’s birth is celebrated at sunrise on the full-moon day of the lunar month of Chaitra

23 April (Tuesday) to 30 April (Tuesday) PESACH Jewish

Passover, also called Pesach, is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or spring.

30 April (Tuesday) BELTAINE EVE/MAY EVE Pagan