The Holidays 2023 to 2024

In the past few years, some Protestant groups have tried to argue against referring to the Christmas season as “The Holidays” because they feel that it takes away from the Holy status of Christmas and of Christ. What they fail to understand is that “The Holidays” does not mean Christmas exclusively. There are, in fact, quite a few holy days during this time, not all of them Christian. (This year it has gotten to the point of referring to “Decembermas” for goodness sake!)

Here is my list of holidays and important occasions for 2023. It includes events that happen between Advent Sunday, (the beginning of the traditional lead up to Christmas), through Christmas Season, (the twelve days beginning Christmas Day and ending on January 5th or “Twelfth Night”). until Epiphany, (the season which follows Christmas.)

• December 3rd – Advent Sunday (Christian), Mauder’s Day (Dudeism), International Day of Persons with Disabilities (UN)
• December 4th – Eid il-Burbara (Middle East Christians), Slackernalia (Dudeism), International Cheetah Day, World Wildlife Conservation Day
• December 5th – Krampusnacht (Austrian Trad.), International Volunteer Day, Day of the Ninja, Walt Disney’s Birfday
• December 6th – National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women (Canada), St Nicolas Day/Sinterklaus (Christian)
• December 7th – Chanukah (Jewish, ends 15th)
• December 8th – Immaculate Conception of Mary (Christian), Bodhi Day (Mahayana Buddhist), Afflux (Discordian)
• December 9th – St. Marty’s Day (Dudeism), International Day of Veterinary Medicine, Anna’s Day
• December 10th – “Festival for the Souls of Dead Whales” (Inuit), Human Rights Day (UN), 75th Anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), International Animal Rights Day (World Animal Protection Agency)
• December 11th – Anniversary of the Statute of Westminster (Canada)
• December 12th – Chag HaBanot (Jewish, ends 13th), Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Hispanic Christian)
• December 13th – Acadians Remembrance Day, Kerabotsmas (Dudeism), World Violin Day
• December 14th – Monkey Day, Christmas Bird Count Week (ends January 5th)
• December 15th – Zamenhof Day/Esperanto Day, National Cat Herders Day
• December 16th – Posada Navidenas (Hispanic Christian, ends 24th), Beethoven’s Birfday
• December 17th – International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers
• December 20th – World Barking Day
• December 21st – Winter Solstice (22:27), Official First Day of Winter, Yule (Christian), Blue Christmas/Long Night (Christian), The Winter Slowstice (Dudeism), Yalda (Zoroastrian), Global Orgasm for World Peace
• December 22nd – Asara B’Tevet (Jewish), Yule (Pagan)
• December 23rd – Festivus (for the rest of us), Humanlight (Secularr Humanism), Christmas Adam
• December 24th – Nittel Nacht (Jewish), Christmas Eve (Christian), Quviasukvik (northern spirituality, ends January 7th)
• December 25th – Christmas Day (Christian), Feast of the Nativity (Orthodox Christian), Dudeistmas (Dudeism), Newtonmas (secular humanism), Sadeh (Zoroastrian), Prime Minister’s Birfday
• December 26th – Boxing Day, St Stephen’s Day (Christian), Sanghamitta Day (Theravada Buddhist), Zartosht No-Diso (Zoroastrain), Kwnazaa (African Diaspora, ends January 1st), Wren Day (Celtic Catholics/Irish Diaspora), National Whiners Day, Full Moon (19:33, Cold Moon, Long Nights Moon, Moon Before Yule )
• December 27th – Visit the Zoo Day
• December 28th – Holy Innocents (Christian)
• December 30th – Holy Family (Christian)
• December 31st – New Year’s Eve, Watch Night (Christian), Maidyarem Gahambar (Zoroastrian)
• January 1st – New Year’s Day, The Solemnity of Mary Mother of God (Catholic), Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (Orthodox Christian), Feast Day of St Basil the Great (Orthodox Christian), Gantan Sai (Shinto), Happy Dude Year (Dudeist), Public Domain Day, Z Day, Polar Bear Swim Day
• January 2nd – Day After New Year’s Day (Quebec)
• January 3rd – Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (Some Catholics), J.R.R. Tolkein’s Birfday (1892)
• January 4th – World Braille Day
• January 5th – Twelfth Night, Hayao Miyazaki’s Birfday, National Bird Day (Canada)
• January 6th – Epiiphany (Christian), Feast of the Theophany (Orthodox Christian), Carnival Season (Catholic, Greece)
• December 16th, 23rd and 30th and January 6th – Jashan of Dadvah (Zoroastrian)

TOTAL HOLIDAYS and OCCASIONS = 95 (does not include January 6th)

Religious = 43

Christian = 19

And that’s why we call it “The Holidays.”