Holidays Abound

Surprisingly, it is not often when Easter Sunday, the eight days of Passover, and the month of Ramadan all overlap. 

This year they do:

• Easter: April 17th
• Passover: April 15th--23rd
• Ramadan: April 2nd--May 2nd

The reason for this is in part due to Ramadan being the 9th month on the Islamic lunar calendar. Additionally, the Hebrew calendar follows a lunar calendar but adds a 13th month in 7 out of 19 years to meet up with the Gregorian/solar calendar that we all use to follow January to December. With these different calendars at play, the simultaneous timing of major holidays within the sacred traditions Christian, Jewish, and Islam religions only happens approximately every 33 years.

All of this, along with the also highly secular nature of Easter in the United States, reminds us that the world is filled with a beautiful variety of people. We are connected to each other on this planet of ours. Earth Day on April 22nd is another reminder of that. 

I ran across this quote from Ben Irwin on Preemptive Love's website that sums it up beautifully:

"Human diversity is a lot like biodiversity: once it’s lost, it’s gone. And we may not realize how much we need it until it’s too late."

May we all take this spirit of diversity and carry it throughout the entire month of April... if not the entire year. Whether you are feasting for Easter to celebrate the end of your 40 days of Lent, fasting for Ramadan to celebrate during Eid al-Fatr, or fasting from leavened grains yet feasting in other ways during your Passover seder, may your holiday be one filled with love, family, and joy.

Pictures created at www.canva.com.