22nd March 2026
Christian
Passion Sunday is the fifth Sunday in Lent marking the beginning of Passiontide. In 1969, the Roman Catholic Church removed Passiontide from the litergical year but it is still observed by some and also by some Anglicans and Lutherans.
2nd to 20th March 2026
Baha’i
The Baha’i Fast falls during the month of Ala-the last month of the Baha’i calendar. During these 19 days, Baha’is abstain from food and drink between sunrise and sunset. While this abstention from food and drink is a test of one’s will and discipline, the Fast is not just about abstaining from food. The Fast is, primarily, a spiritual practice.
18th March 2025
Muslim
Ramadan is the name of the 9th month of the Islamic Calendar.
The Muslim year is a lunar year which is about 11 days shorter than the solar year on which the Gregorian (British) calendar is based, so in the Gregorian calendar Ramadan occurs ten or eleven days earlier each year.
During the month of Ramadan Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. Fasting (sawm) is the fourth of the five pillars of Islam, requiring self-discipline and giving everyone some experience of deprivation. Those who are not able to fast are expected to give charity to compensate for the ‘lost’ days. While children may be encouraged to fast, the full fast is not compulsory until puberty is reached, often by the age of 12, but many young people still attempt to keep some, or even all of it.
It is most important that Muslims show intent before they fast. It is a requirement that they recite a short prayer of intent either before they sleep or just before Suhoor, the pre-fast meal. No food or drink may be consumed during the hours of daylight during Ramadan, and those fasting must also abstain from smoking and from sexual relations. According to the Quran, one may eat and drink at any time during the night ‘until you can plainly distinguish a white thread from a black thread by the daylight: then keep the fast until night‘.
Muslims who are travelling or sick and women who are pregnant or nursing a child are allowed to postpone their fast. These are all required to make up the days of missed fasting during the year ahead. After the custom of the Prophet, the fast is traditionally broken each evening by taking dates and water (iftar).
For Muslims Ramadan one of the holiest months of the year, and one they dedicate to spiritual renewal, prayer and intensive devotional reading of the Qur’an. It is the month in which, according to Islamic belief, the Prophet received the first revelation of verses of the Qur’an, though the actual night is unknown. This night is called Lailat ul Qadr. To stand in prayer throughout the night is said to be ‘better than a thousand months of worship’. Ramadan is often called ‘the month of the Qur’an‘, and many Muslims attempt to recite as much of the Qur’an as they can during the month. Most Sunni mosques arrange a recital of one thirtieth of the Qur’an each night during the Taraweeh prayers, which are longer than the usual evening prayers and are special ones for Ramadan.
Surah 2:183-188.
15th March 2026
Buddhist
Honen (1133-1212 CE) is one of the outstanding figures in the history of Japanese Buddhism, and was the founder of Jodo Shinshu, one of the schools of Pure Land Buddhism.
3rd March 2026
Chinese
This is the Lantern Festival which marks the first full moon of the year and the lengthening of the days. Strings of lanterns in various designs are hung out as decoration.
3rd March 2026
Jewish
Purim is a carnival festival which recalls how the Jewish community of Persia was saved from being massacred through the actions of a young Jewish woman, as is retold in the Book of Esther. The whole book, in the form of a handwritten scroll, the Megillah, is read twice in the synagogue, once on the evening of Purim and then again on the following day. Colourful costumes and masks are often worn amid lots of noise as the name of Haman (the villain of the story) is drowned out by the congregation with rattles and hooters and boos when it is read out. Many people come for the reading of the Megillah in fancy dress. Hamantashen (triangular cakes filled with poppy seeds, or with jam or chocolate) are baked and eaten at this time, so named after the triangular pockets or hats or ears said to be in courtly fashion at the time.
Purim means Lots and stems from Haman’s use of lots to determine the date of the pogrom he was planning of all Jews throughout the Persian empire. Since Moredechai, the leader of the Jewish community in Sushan, the capital city, had refused to bow down to Haman, who was the Prime Minister of Ahasuerus, the Persian King, Haman vowed ‘to destroy, kill and annihilate all Jews, young and old, infant and women, in a single day.’
King Ahasuerus had sought a new wife to replace his previous wife, Vashti, whom he had rejected for disobedience. His new Queen, Esther, who was Jewish and Mordechai’s cousin, prayed and fasted along with her fellow Jews for three days, and then risked her life by visiting the King unbidden to invite him to a party where she appealed for the life of her fellow Jews. The King listened to her and Haman was found guilty and hanged on a gallows he had previously erected for Mordechai. Mordechai, who had earlier exposed a plot to assassinate the King, now became the king’s new Prime Minister.
The book of Esther is read aloud in its fullness in the evening of one day and the daytime of the next, in what has become the most joyous day in the Jewish calendar. It celebrates divine deliverance from oppression and marked a new sense of purpose for the Israelite community, who from that time became known as ‘Jews’.
On this day, which always follows a fast throughout the previous day in memory of Esther’s three days of fasting, Jews are expected to observe four commands or mitzvots: to listen to the reading of the Megillah; to give money to at least two poor people in the community, so as to stress the unity of all Jewish people; to send gifts of at least two kinds of food and drink to at least one friend; and to share in a festive meal where food and drink are taken ‘until each person present cannot distinguish between ‘cursed is Haman’ and ‘blessed is Mordechai’.
3rd March 2026
Buddhist
This festival commemorates two occasions, one that took place in the month of Magha, seven weeks after the Buddha’s enlightenment. Five of his companions from his years of austerity had joined him and he taught them the Four Noble Truths; the other occasion was 45 years later, when 1,250 enlightened personal disciples of the Buddha came spontaneously to the Bamboo Grove at Rajagaha on the full moon of Magha (usually in late February or early March). This was one of the earliest large gatherings of Buddhists. On that day the Buddha taught the main principles of the Dhamma and set out his teachings to the assembled arahats (enlightened monks) for them to learn and follow.
On this later Magha Puja Day, the Buddha spoke to his disciple Ananda and told him that he was near the end of his life and had chosen to die in three months time. He also outlined a summary of his teachings and a code of discipline (which monks are expected to recite every fortnight). Magha Puja Day thus brackets the Buddha’s teaching life, providing a reason as to why it is one of the most important Buddhist festivals. The day is normally observed with several hours of meditation, chanting and listening to sermons.
All 1250 of these monks were direct disciples of the Buddha, having been ordained by him at various stages of his life. As a result of this gathering of disciples, the full moon of Magha has also come to be known as ‘Sangha day’ and is a time when monks gather together to share their knowledge and experiences. In the West it falls towards the end of winter when many of the monasteries have just finished a long retreat, and such a gathering is a joyous time. Many will not have seen each other for some months, and with the arising of spring and the end of a long retreat there is much for them to share.
The day involves reflection on what it means to be part of the sangha – this including the fourfold sangha: lay men and women, monks and nuns; but because of the origin of the event it tends not to be so significant for lay people. For the ordained community who have come together there may be a series of meetings to discuss various aspects of the community’s teachings, periods of group meditation, talks given by senior members of the community (both resident and visiting) and a variety of other events – often quite spontaneous – over a period of several days.
In Thailand, by contrast, it is very much a holiday time. At every Buddhist temple, Buddhists gather after dark. They bring flowers, incense, & candles. When these are lit, the worshippers circle the temple’s main hall three times, once for each of the Three Jewels of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Sangha, and the Dharma (the teachings of the Buddha).
1st March 2026
National
Anniversary of the death of St David, the patron saint of Wales, who lived in the 6th century CE. As monk, abbot and bishop he helped to spread Christianity among the Celtic tribes of western Britain.
6th March 2026
Christian
This international, interdenominational prayer movement was begun in 1887. The service material is produced by a different country each year.