Event Date
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The Multicultural Calendar serves as a resource for students, staff, and faculty to plan events, activities, meetings, retreats, and courses throughout the year. It is a resource for understanding religious and cultural observances.
Multicultural Calendar - August 2026
Lammas
Christian
Christian festival of the wheat harvest observed by placing bread baked from first harvest on the altar. From the Celtic Christian tradition.
Date Details: August 1 annually in northern hemisphere; February 1 annually in southern hemisphere.
Saturday, August 1, 2026
Lughnasadh / Imbolc
Wiccan
This day celebrates the ancient festival of the first harvesting of grain in August. It is one of the eight yearly sabbats of their Wheel of the Year, following Midsummer and preceding Mabon. It is seen as one of the two most auspicious times for handfasting, the other being at Beltane.
General Practices: Some Wiccans mark the holiday by baking a figure of the "corn god" in bread, and then symbolically sacrificing and eating it.
Saturday, August 1, 2026
Fast in Honor of the Holy Mother of Lord Jesus / Dormition Fast
Eastern Orthodox Christian
Recommended Accommodation: If planning an evening event, provide food accommodations as stipulated.
Fourteen-day fasting period in preparation for the celebration of the Great Feast of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary.
Orthodox and Eastern Catholics fast from red meat, poultry, meat products, dairy products (eggs and milk products), fish, oil, and wine.
Saturday, August 1 to Friday, August 14, 2026
Transfiguration of the Lord
Eastern Orthodox Christian
Recommended Accommodation: In the Orthodox view the Transfiguration is not only a feast in honor of Jesus, but a feast of the Holy Trinity.
Transfiguration falls during the Dormition Fast, but in recognition of the feast the fast is relaxed somewhat and the consumption of fish, wine, and oil is allowed on this day. Grapes are traditionally brought to church to be blessed after the Divine Liturgy on the day of the Transfiguration.
Thursday, August 6, 2026
Transfiguration Sunday
Christian
Christian commemoration of the experience on Mt. Tabor when Jesus' physical appearance became brilliant as his connection with traditional Jewish holy figures became evident to the disciples.
Thursday, August 6, 2026
Obon
Buddhist, Shinto
Japanese Buddhist festival to honor the spirits of deceased ancestors. This Buddhist-Confucian custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves, and when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars. Involves lighting of bonfires, traditional meals, paper lanterns, and folk dances.
Thursday, August 13 to Friday, August 15, 2026
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Roman Catholic
A Catholic feast day commemorating the belief that the Blessed Virgin Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven at the end of her earthly life.
General Practices: In some churches, Assumption is celebrated by decorating streets with different colors of light and firework displays.
Saturday, August 15, 2026
Dormition of the Theotokis
Eastern Orthodox Christian
Orthodox Christian commemoration commemorates the death, resurrection, and glorification of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ.
General Practices: The Feast of the Dormition is celebrated with the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom which is conducted on the morning of the Feast and preceded by a Matins (Orthros) service.
Saturday, August 15, 2026
Mawlid al-Nabi
Islam
"Birth of the Prophet," the observance of the birthday of Islamic prophet Muhammed. The day is commemorated with recollections of Muhammad's life and significance.
General Practices: Fasting, religious singing, family and other social gathering, decorations of streets and homes, public processions.
Date Details: Begins at sundown on the first day.
Tuesday, August 25 to Wednesday, August 26, 2026
The Ghost Festival / Ullambrana
Buddhist, Taoist
In Chinese culture, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month, in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm. During Ghost Month, the gate of hell will open to allow the ghosts and spirits go back to the living world.
General Practices: Elaborate meals (often vegetarian) are served with empty seats for each of the deceased in the family treating the deceased as if they are still living. Other festivities include buying and releasing miniature paper boats and lanterns on water, which signifies giving directions to the lost ghosts and spirits of the ancestors and other deities.
Thursday, August 27, 2026
Raksha Bandhan
Hindu
A festival that celebrates the love and duty between brothers and sisters. The festival is also popularly used to celebrate any brother-sister relationship between men and women who are relatives or not related. It is celebrated on the full moon in the month of Sravana in the lunar calendar. The word raksha means protection, whilst bandhan is the verb to tie.
General Practices: Traditionally, during the festival sisters tie a rakhi, a bracelet made of interwoven red and gold threads, around their brothers' wrists to celebrate their relationship. Rakhis are often shared between close friends, as well.
Friday, August 28, 2026
Beheading of John the Baptist
Christian
Christian remembrance of the death of John who is known for preparing the people so they would recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
Saturday, August 29, 2026