March Diversity Holidays

MARCH 1

• Zero Discrimination Day is meant to highlight the need for people to be informed about and promote inclusion, compassion, peace and, above all, a movement for change.
• St. David’s Day, the feast day of St. David, the patron saint of Wales. 

MARCH 1 (sunset) - MARCH 19 (sunset)

• Nineteen-Day Fast, a time in the Bahá’í faith to reinvigorate the soul and bring one closer to God. This fast takes place immediately before the beginning of the Bahá’í New Year.

MARCH 8

• International Women’s Day. First observed in 1911 in Germany, it has now become a major global celebration honoring women’s economic, political, and social achievements. 
• Maha Shivaratri, a Hindu festival celebrated each year to honor Lord Shiva. It is celebrated just before the arrival of spring. It is also known as the Great Night of Shiva or Shivaratri and is one of the largest and most significant among the sacred festival nights of India.

MARCH 10

• Meatfare Sunday (The Sunday of the Last Judgment), traditionally the last day of eating meat before Easter for Orthodox Christians.

MARCH 11 - APRIL 10 (sundown to sundown)

• Ramadan, an Islamic holiday marked by fasting, praise, prayer, and devotion to Islam.

MARCH 13 - APRIL 15

• Deaf History Month. This observance celebrates key events in deaf history, including the founding of Gallaudet University and the American School for the Deaf.  

MARCH 14

• Equal Pay Day, an attempt to raise awareness about the raw wage gap, a figure that shows that women, on average, earn about 80 cents for every dollar men earn. The date moves earlier each year as the wage gap closes. Equal Pay Day was initiated in 1996 by the National Committee on Pay Equity as a public awareness event to illustrate the gender pay gap.

MARCH 15

• International Day to Combat Islamophobia is observed to bring awareness to the growing global problem of Islamophobia. Islamophobia is a form of religious bigotry and discrimination that targets Muslims and their beliefs.

MARCH 17

• Cheesefare Sunday or Forgiveness Sunday, the last Sunday prior to the commencement of Great Lent for Orthodox Christians.
• St. Patrick’s Day, a holiday started in Ireland to recognize St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland who brought Christianity to the country in the early days of the faith.

MARCH 18

• Beginning of Great Lent in the Orthodox Christian faith is also known as Clean Monday.

MARCH 19

• St. Joseph’s Day, in Western Christianity the principal feast of St. Joseph, the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

MARCH 20

• Ostara, a celebration of the spring equinox commemorated by Pagans and Wiccans. It is observed as a time to mark the coming of spring and the fertility of the land.
• Hindi New Year begins from the first day of the Hindu month of Baisakhi, traditionally celebrated as the annual spring harvest festival.

MARCH 20 - 21

• Naw-Rúz, the Bahá’í New Year, is a holiday celebrated on the vernal equinox. It is one of the nine Bahá’í holy days on which work is suspended. 

MARCH 19 - 20

• Nowruz/Norooz, Persian New Year, a day of joy, celebration, and renewal. It is held annually on the spring equinox. 

MARCH 21

• International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, observed annually in the wake of the 1960 killing of 69 people at a demonstration against apartheid “pass laws” in South Africa. The United Nations proclaimed the day in 1966 and called on the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination.

MARCH 23 - 24

• Purim, a Jewish celebration that marks the time when the Jewish community living in Persia was saved from genocide. On Purim, Jewish people dress up in costumes, offer charity, and share food with friends.

MARCH 24

• Lord’s Evening Meal, celebrated by Jehovah’s Witnesses in commemoration of an event believed to have occurred on the first night of Passover in approximately 33 CE, i.e., the Last Supper.
• Orthodox Sunday, celebrated on the first Sunday of Great Lent. It is the celebration of the victory of the iconodules over the iconoclasts by the decision of the Seventh Ecumenical Council. Therefore, the service commemorates the restoration of icons for use in services as well as a Christian’s private devotional life.
• Palm Sunday, a Christian holiday commemorating the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. It takes place on the last Sunday of Lent, at the beginning of the Holy Week.

MARCH 25

• International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade is a United Nations international observation that offers the opportunity to honor and remember those who suffered and died at the hands of the brutal slavery system. First observed in 2008, the international celebration also aims to raise awareness about the dangers of racism and prejudice.  
• Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, a Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus.
• Holi, the annual Hindu and Sikh spring religious festival observed in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, along with other countries with large Hindu and Sikh populations. People celebrate Holi by throwing colored powder and water at each other. Bonfires are lit the day before in memory of the miraculous escape that young Prahlada accomplished when demoness Holika carried him into the fire. It is often celebrated on the full moon (the Phalguna Purnima) before the beginning of the vernal equinox as based on the Hindu calendar.

MARCH 25 - 27

• Hola Mohalla, a Sikh festival that takes place on the second day of the lunar month of Chet, a day after the Hindu spring festival Holi.

MARCH 26

• Khordad Sal (Birth of prophet Zoroaster), birth anniversary (or birth date) of Zoroaster, a spiritual leader and ethical philosopher who taught a spiritual philosophy of self-realization and realization of the divine. Zoroastrians celebrate this day with prayer and feasting.

MARCH 28

• Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday), the Christian holiday commemorating the Last Supper, at which Jesus and the Apostles were together for the last time before the crucifixion. It is celebrated on the Thursday before Easter.

MARCH 29

• Good Friday, a day celebrated by Christians to commemorate the execution of Jesus by crucifixion. It is recognized on the Friday before Easter.

MARCH 31

• Easter, a holiday celebrated by Christians to recognize Jesus’ return from death after the crucifixion.
• International Transgender Day of Visibility, celebrated to bring awareness to transgender people and their identities as well as recognize those who helped fight for rights for transgender people.