Holidays Celebrated by Minnesotans

Holidays Celebrated by Minnesotans

Compiled from a variety of sources

October 2012

African American/Black History Month

February is designated Black History Month in the U.S. It began as Negro History Week in 1926, established by Carter G. Woodson as a process for passing on information about how people of African ancestry had contributed to world history and to the history of the United States of America. Woodson chose the second week of February because two persons he felt had dramatically affected the lives of black Americans were born during that month: Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Renamed Black History Week in 1972, the observance was extended to become Black History Month in 1976. In 1983 the U.S. Congress established a national holiday in honor of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Both occasions promote knowledge and awareness of the contributions that people of African ancestry have made to human societies throughout history, and particularly to U.S. society.

AIDS Awareness Month and World AIDS Day

December is AIDS Awareness Month in Minnesota and December 1st is World AIDS Day. Both were established to heighten awareness of the global epidemic of HIV and AIDS, and to provide a time to put forth information about the global epidemic as well as how one can prevent the spread or contraction of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, which leads to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. While HIV and AIDS were first identified in western countries, the virus has taken root in populated continents across the world and continues to spread and infect new victims.

All Saints Day/All Hallows' Day

All Saints Day is observed by western Christians on November 1st, and by eastern Christians on the first Sunday after Pentecost. Having originated very early in the 7th century after Christ, it honors all the Christian saints. Originally, All Saints Day was celebrated in May; it was moved to November by Pope Gregory IV in the early ninth century after Christ. Exactly how this day is celebrated varies widely from one denomination to another. It has also been known as All Hallows' Day (the day for those who are hallowed or sanctified).

All Souls Day

All Souls Day is observed by Catholic Christians on November 2nd and commemorates those who have departed this earthly life. The Office of the Dead is recited and a Mass held because it is believed that no one's soul is perfectly cleansed when leaving the body and that prayers and intercessory actions can assist those souls in moving into heaven.

American Indian Heritage Month

Early in the twentieth century, Seneca nation member Dr. Arthur C. Parker spearheaded an effort to have one day set aside in the United States to recognize and celebrate the heritage of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Reverend Sherman Coolidge, an Arapaho, and Red Fox James, a Blackfoot, carried on this effort during 1915. By 1920, several states were declaring a day each year to recognize native peoples. In 1990, the President designated November as National American Indian Heritage Month. Each year since then, the entire month of November has been utilized as an opportunity for Americans of all backgrounds to celebrate and educate about the heritage, history, art, and traditions of American Indian peoples.

American Indian Heritage Month (MN)

American Indian Heritage Month in Minnesota is designated in recognition of the rich heritage of American Indian peoples living in Minnesota. There are seven Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) reservations and four Dakota (Sioux) communities in the state, both cultural groups having histories that go back more than a thousand years.

The Ascension of Baha'u'llah

After the death of the Bab, his disciple, Mirza Husayn-Ali -- who came to be known as Baha'u'llah (the Glory of God) -- continued to spread the teachings of the Bab, in spite of great peril to himself. Followers of the Bab were being tortured and put to death as infidels all over Persia. Eventually, Baha'u'llah was the only surviving leader of the Bab's followers. He was imprisoned in 1852, but officials held back from executing him for fear it would spark nationwide riots. During this imprisonment, Baha'u'llah received a vision that he was the promised messenger of God. Released after surviving four months in prison and an attempt to kill him with poison, Baha'u'llah was banished from Tehran and chose to go into exile in Baghdad, where he was venerated as the Promised One of Shi'ih Islamic tradition. For many years, he taught and ministered in Persia and Kurdistan. In April of 1863, Baha'u'llah made a public declaration in Baghdad of his mission and proclaimed that there would be no other manifestations of God for 1,000 years. He traveled extensively -- sometimes as a prisoner -- in the middle east, declaring himself the Promised One and ministering to the imprisoned, the sick, and the needy. He spent the remainder of his life in service to the tenets of the Bab and wrote more than 100 texts that added to the religious doctrine of the Baha'i faith. He died on May 29, 1892 and is said to have ascended to heaven approximately eight hours after sunset.

Ascension of Christ/Ascension Day

Ascension Day -- also known as Holy Thursday in some communities -- occurs forty days after Easter and marks the time when Jesus the Christ ascended or was taken up into heaven. Biblical accounts differ on exactly when this occurred, and some people believe that Christ ascended to heaven shortly after his resurrection, marked today on Easter Sunday. Others believe that he continued his ministry for forty days after the resurrection and was then taken up. The ascension is also viewed in different ways -- some seeing it as an act of the Son of God under his own power, others seeing it as God's taking his son up into Heaven. The Feast of the Ascension is one of the most festive occasions in the Christian calendar and in some countries it is observed as a public holiday. Over time, celebrating the Feast of the Ascension on the fortieth day after Easter became the established custom, though some congregations conduct the actual celebration on the Sunday following Holy Thursday.

Ascension of Muhammad

Lailat al-Miraj -- or Stairway to Heaven -- celebrates the Night of Ascent, when 51 year old Prophet Muhammed was taken into heaven in a vision, and given divine knowledge. According to tradition, Muhammed fell asleep on a carpet in the home of his cousin. His sleep was broken by the voice of the Angel Gabriel, calling him to mount a winged horse and be carried through the sky. The horse bore Muhammed to Mt. Sinai, where the Ten Commandments were given to Moses, then to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, and finally to heaven, where Muhammed met Adam, Noah, Enoch, Moses, Isaac, Elijah, and Jesus. Muhammed was told that he was the last prophet and that he would be the first to be raised up from his grave on Resurrection Day. To mark this occasion, homes and mosques may be decorated with lights, and the devout may stay up all night, praying and reading the Qur'an.

Ash Wednesday/Great Lent

This day marks the beginning of the Lenten season in Christian traditions. Lent is a forty-day period of penitence, self-denial, and self-examination, as well as a commemoration of the forty-day fast observed by Jesus before he began his ministry. The term Ash Wednesday comes from the custom of burning palm leaves -- which heralded Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday -- and then using the ashes to make crosses on the foreheads of the penitents. Both eastern and western Christian churches observe Lent but they count the 40 days differently. The western church excludes Sundays (which is celebrated as the day of Christ's resurrection) whereas the eastern church includes Sundays. The two branches of Christianity also start Lent on different days. Western churches begin Lent on the seventh Wednesday before Easter Day (Ash Wednesday), while Eastern churches begin Lent on the Monday of the seventh week before Easter and end it on the Friday nine days prior to Easter. Eastern churches call this period the Great Lent. Lent is an old English word meaning "to lengthen," as it is observed in spring, when the days have begun to get longer.

Ashura

The tenth day of Muharram is known as Ashura (or Ashurah) and has many distinctive qualities. Allah is said to have created the heavens and the earth on this day, and to have given infinite blessings and bounties to many of the Prophets. Traditionally, on the ninth and tenth of Muharram, one should fast. If it is not possible to fast on both days, then every effort should be made to fast on the tenth day of Muharram, as there is great reward for this fast.

Ashura was a long-established day of fasting for Muslims when, in the seventh century A.D., a large group of dissenters who refused to submit to the current Caliph were killed on that day. Among them was the youngest grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, Husain. Husain chose this date for its cultural and religious significance in defying what he saw as an unjust rule by that Caliph. Husain and the others came to be regarded as martyrs for their faith by those who today are known as Shi'ite Muslims. The festival of Ashura now serves to remind the observant of the sacrifice of Husain and that he and those with him stood fast in the face of the challenges that the Caliph and his men represented. The killing of these people is also regarded as the seminal event where Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims split from one another.

Asian/Pacific Heritage Month

Asian/Pacific Heritage Month in the U.S. is set aside to recognize and celebrate the contributions that those of Asian and Pacific Islander heritage have made to the United States in particular and to human history in general. It began in 1977 when the Congress passed a resolution declaring the first ten days in May as Asian/Pacific Heritage Week. In 1990, President Bush designate May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the U.S. in 1843. Today, many activities take place during May that honor Asian and Pacific Islander heritage.

Assumption Day

The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary commemorates the departure of Mary, mother of Jesus the Christ, from her earthly life, and the assumption of her body into Heaven. Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Christians believe that Mary was borne up into heaven when she died. The Feast of the Assumption originated during the first century after Christ's death, and its actual time of celebration has varied widely over the centuries. Today, it is celebrated on or beginning on August 15th; some Christian traditions carry the celebrations on for several days, because it is said that Mary's body was taken into Heaven as much as fifteen days after her death.

Bastille Day

The Bastille was a fortress-like prison in Paris, built near the end of the 14th century. In succeeding centuries, it became a symbol of royal tyranny in France, especially as it was used during the 17th and 18th centuries for housing political dissidents. French citizens of every class and profession were arrested by secret order and imprisoned indefinitely in the Bastille without charges or trial. When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, the Bastille was taken by a mob assisted by rebellious royal troops. It was then destroyed by the public. The site today is an open square, le Place de la Bastille. July 14 is a national holiday in France, commemorating the freeing of the unfairly imprisoned and the destruction of the hated symbol of oppression. Many of French ancestry in the U.S. also mark Bastille Day as an important milestone in the fight for civil rights and for due process under the law.

Beltane

Beltane -- or Beltaine, Bealtaine, Bealtuin -- takes place midway between the vernal equinox (beginning of Spring) and the summer solstice (Midsummer) and marks the arrival of summer for Celtic peoples. At Beltane, the Pleiades star cluster rises just before sunrise. Beltane, and its fall counterpart, Samhain, divide the year in half, and was considered a time of "no time" by the ancients who believed that the barrier between the worlds of Life and Death was very thin during this occasion, allowing all sorts of magic other-worldly occurrences. Beltane represents the time when the sun is released from the bondage of winter and is able to rule over the time of light and life (the summer season in the northern hemisphere). Beltane means "bright fire" and was celebrated by the lighting of hilltop fires on May Eve. That and many other traditions grew up in the British Isles around Beltane and May Day and the celebration of the renewal of life after the long winter months. It continues to be celebrated by non-Christian peoples who are heir to these traditions.

Birth of the Bab

On October 20th each year, the Birth of the Bab is observed by Baha'is around the world, one of nine holy days in the Baha'i faith on which work is suspended. The Bab was a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and, by all accounts, an extraordinary child. He is often referred to as the Herald of the Baha'i faith, because it was the Bab's mission to prepare the way for Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i faith. Like John the Baptist nearly 2,000 years earlier, the Bab called upon the people to purify themselves for the coming of the day of God. Unlike John, however, he founded an independent religion and claimed equal station with the likes of Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. Baha'is view the Bab and Baha'u'llah both as "Manifestations of God," even though by the Bab's own testimony his mission was subordinate to Baha'u'llah's. There is no prescribed way for marking the occasion of his birth, and each Baha’i community and family is free to celebrate this occasion as they choose. Celebrations typically include prayer, music, and feasting.