11th July 2025
Buddhist
The term “Entry to the Vassa” in Buddhism refers to the commencement of the Vassa, also known as the Rains Retreat. Vassa is an annual three-month retreat observed primarily by Theravada Buddhists, taking place during the wet season. It typically begins on the first day of the Buddhist lunar month of Asalha
6th July 2025
Buddhist
Dalai Lama is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or “Yellow Hat” school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso, who lives as a refugee in India. The Dalai Lama is also considered to be the successor in a line of tulkus who are believed to be incarnations of Avalokiteśvara the Bodhisattva of Compassion.
6th – 15th July 2025 (Kadmi)
11th – 20th March 2025 (Iranian Zoroastrian)
5th – 14th August 2025 (Shahenshai)
Zoroastrian
The Fravardigan festival (the festival of the fravashis), popularly known as Muktad (All Souls), commences ten days before NoRuz and is the last festival of the old year. The Zoroastrian day commences at sunrise and not midnight, and so during sunrise on the first day of the festival the immortal souls, together with their fravashis (the guardian spirits of departed ancestors, artistically depicted as half man/half bird), are welcomed by name by the Zoroastrian Mobeds or Magi (priests).
For ten days they reside in the place of worship, hovering around a table full of metal vases, each specifically earmarked for an individual family and containing white flowers. They leave the physical world after the last ceremony, held on the tenth evening, but before the dawn of NoRuz. The designated priest – as a farewell gesture – will then empty the water from one of the metal vases, which he will also turn upside down, signifying that it is time for the immortal souls and the fravashis to return to the spiritual world.
Theologically Fravardigan is the most important Zoroastrian festival after NoRuz, and, since it deals with one’s departed ancestors, many Zoroastrians regard it to be their holiest festival. This linking of the past with the present and the future is typical of much of Zoroastrian life.
During these ten days Zoroastrians often take time off from work, pray extensively, recite the five Gathas (hymns composed by Zarathushtra) and ensure their houses are thoroughly cleaned. They prepare daily samples of sacred food enjoyed by their departed ancestors while still alive, and take these to the place of worship, to be tasted by them during the daily ceremonies. This ritually consecrated food, along with chosen fruits, is then shared by the living in the special Hamaspathmaidyem Gahambar, a communal feast celebrated after the ceremony is over.
1st July 2025
Zoroastrian (Iranian)
Jashn-e Tirgan is an ancient quarter year summer festival, celebrated about three months after the spring NoRuz. Tirgan is devoted to the divinity Tir and is associated with the dog-star Sirius and the coming of the rains in Iran and the fertility they bring.
On this day it is customary to visit the Fire Temple to give thanks to Ahura Mazda, to participate in a jashan or thanksgiving ceremony, listen to stories of how the boundaries of Iran were established in antiquity with its Central Asian neighbour Turan (now Turkmenistan) by an archer shooting an arrow, share a community meal, play with ‘rainbow’ bracelets made of seven coloured silks, splash each other with water, and dance and make merry.
9th July 2025
Baha’i
This day recalls the death of the Bab, executed by firing squad in Tabriz, Persia, at noon on July 9th in 1850. Baha’is commemorate hisdeath at noon with readings and prayers from the Baha’i Scriptures. It has become a holy day of rest when Baha’is should refrain from work.
The Báb (the word means ‘Gate’ – that through which another would come) was the title adopted by ʿAli Muhammad Shirāzi, a 19th century Persian religious leader and founder of the Bábi movement. He and his followers were persecuted by the religious leaders of his country and this culminated in his being publicly shot by a firing squad in 1850. However, Bahá’í’s believe that his martyrdom was the occasion of a miracle witnessed by thousands. They hold that the first attempt to shoot the Báb resulted only in severing the ropes by which he was bound and freeing him so that he could conclude an important conversation with a follower; after the Báb’s death his followers almost unanimously accepted Mírzá Ḥusayn-`Alí Núrí (Bahá’u’lláh – the name means “The Glory of God”) as their new religious leader.
The commemoration of the Martyrdom of the Báb is one of nine days in the year when Bahá’ís should take time off work or school to be able to participate in religious gathering. His body is now buried in a magnificent tomb in Haira.
10th July 2025
Buddhist
Dhammacakka day – ‘The turning of the wheel of teaching’. This is aTheravada celebration of the First Proclamation by Gautama to five ascetics in the Deer Park near Benares. Although he was initially reluctant to teach, he finally rejoined his five friends, with whom he had previously spent several years travelling throughout the Ganges plain, and in their presence he gained enlightenment. He then spoke to them at length and taught them the Middle Way, the Noble Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths, the essence of all subsequent Buddhist teaching. He also ordained them as his followers, the first step towards the foundation of the Sangha of Buddhist monks.
The main activity that takes place on this day is the chanting of the discourse known as the Dhamma Cakka Sutta (the Setting in Motion of the Wheel of Truth). This would usually be in the original Pali language. The month of Asalha marks the beginning of the three months long retreat period for Buddhist monks, a period of meditation and restraint, though it is also a time when lay Buddhists offer a variety of gifts to the monks. It is also the month in which the Buddha’s son, Rahula, was born.
The Tibetan festival of Chokor Duchen corresponds to Asalha Puja in many respects.
23rd July 2025
Rastafarian
This is one of the holiest days of the Rastafarian year. It is celebrated with Nyahbinghi drumming, hymns and prayers. Born in 1892 as Tafari Mahonnen, Ras Tafari ruled Ethiopia as regent and crown prince from 1916 to 1928, and in 1930 was crowned emperor. This was when he became his Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassi I, a name that means ‘Power of the Trinity’.
Haile Selassie was Ethiopia’s 225th and last emperor, serving from 1930 until his overthrow in 1974 by the Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. He traced his line back to Menelik I, who was credited with being the child of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. His birth had been foretold by astrologers, who foretold the great drought that started in 1889 and was broken at the moment of the child’s birth, thus confirming his identity and destiny. His teachers were astounded at the depth of his knowledge and his understanding of ancient Indic religious texts. It is claimed that he could also converse with animals, and that savage beasts became docile in his presence. He was a skilled linguist, who learnt to read and write in Amharic and Ge’ez – and also in French.
For a country trying to gain its foothold in the world and seeking to curry favour with the West, the progressive Ras Tafari came to symbolize the hopes and dreams of Ethiopia’s younger population. In 1923 he led Ethiopia into the League of Nations. The following year, he travelled to Europe, becoming the first Ethiopian ruler to go abroad.
Many of the Jamaican descendants of former slaves regarded Ethiopia as the symbol of all Africa, so the crowning of the new emperor was regarded as a highly propitious event. The Rastafari movement emerged in the 1930s, in large part inspired by the vision of Marcus Garvey and focussed on the belief that Haile Selassie was a divine being and the redeemer of the black people. Although the anticipated mass repatriation to Africa has not occurred, the movement has spread throughout much of the world, largely through immigration and the interest generated by reggae music – most notably, that of Bob Marley. For the more than a million Rastafarians worldwide, the anniversary of the birth of Haile Selassie is considered one of the most significant days of the Rasta year.
6th July 2025
Muslims
For Sunni Muslims this is one of the two days of a minor fast that the Prophet kept in his lifetime. The second day of the fast may be observed either on the day preceding or the day following the 10th of Muharram. For Shi‘a Muslims this is a day when they recall a great tragedy that took place on Muharram 10, AH 61 (680 CE). The Imam Husayn (son of Ali and Fatimah and therefore grandson of the Prophet) travelling with his family and many followers, was attacked by the troops of the Caliph Yazid.
After eight days without water Husayn was killed and his family and followers massacred at Karbala (now in Iraq). Shi‘a Muslims remember the events in the days leading up to Ashura when they fast and recall these terrible events. The importance of this holy day can be judged from a popular Shi‘a saying which some attribute to a Muslim poet and some to the sixth Imam, Jafar al-Saadiq: “Live as if every day is Ashura, every land Karbala!”
13th – 15th July 2025
Japanese (in Japan – not Tokyo – see 13 August)
A Japanese festival when the spirits of the departed are welcomed back home with feasting and dancing. Fires are often lit to illuminate their arrival and departure. Celebrations in rural areas may take place one month earlier.
16th July 2025 Zoroastrian (Kadmi)
15th August 2025 Zoroastrian (Shenshai-Parsi)
New Year’s Day on the Shenshai Calendar. In the tenth century a group of Zoroastrians fled from Iran and were given religious sanctuary by the Hindus of Western India, where they became known as Parsis (or Persians). During the twentieth century the Zoroastrians of Iran have revised their calendar to take account of the leap year, while the Parsis of India have continued following the traditional imperial or Shenshai calendar. By the twentieth century the Parsis of India had become the largest group in the world to practise Zoroastrianism, and in the twenty first century over 95% of Zoroastrians in the UK are Parsis. Like their Indian counterparts, they celebrate two new years – giving more time for making merry!