Help in brainstorming what seasonal celebrations and commemorations you might want to use in programming in your Ethical Society or humanist group.

1. THE ETHICAL YEAR
Holiday and Special Days in Ethical Societies:
Traditions and Opportunities

2. AUTUMN
September - November

3. AUTUMN: SEPTEMBER - NOVEMBER
 Opening Sunday
 Labor Day
 Rosh Hashanah / Yom Kippur / Sukkot
 9/11 Anniversary
 Columbus Day
 UN Sunday (on or before October 24)
 Halloween / collecting for UNICEF
 All Saints Day
 A favorite of Felix Adler’s – for
remembering people
 DST ends
 Election Day
 Veterans’ Day
 Harvest festivals e.g. Wampanoag
 Stone Soup
 Sunday before Thanksgiving?
 Thanksgiving
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4. WINTER
December - February

5. WINTER: DECEMBER - FEBRUARY
 Hanukkah
 Winter Equinox
 Winter Festival (before Christmas
or after New Year’s)
 New Year
 Superbowl Sunday (Feb 2, 2014)
 Sometimes it’s lower attendance, a kind
of anti-holiday
 Martin Luther King Day
 Groundhog Day
 Valentine’s Day
 Darwin Day / Lincoln’s Birthday
 Presidents’ Day
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6. SPRING
March-May

7. SPRING: MARCH - MAY
 Spring Festival (various formulae)
 April Fool
 DST begins – some may come late
 Hold a pre-meeting brunch?
 Tax Day
 Spring Equinox
 Passover (moveable feast)
 Palm Sunday, Easter (moveable)
 Earth Day (April 22)
 Day of Reason (May 1, 2014)
 Cinco de Mayo
 Buddha’s Birthday
 Chinese/lunar calendar dates: 2014/5/6;
2015/5/25; 2016/5/14
 Founder’s Day (around May 15)
 Mother’s Day (2nd Sunday in May)
 Memorial Day
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8. SUMMER
June - August

9. SUMMER: JUNE - AUGUST
 Flag Day
 Father’s Day
 Last meeting before summer
break?
 4th of July / Independence Day
 Interdependence Day (July 4th)
 Bastille Day
 Felix Adler’s Birthday
 Ramadan – 2014: June 28 – July 28
 moves around the year
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10. YOUR
TURN
Moving Into the Future

11. YOUR TURN
 What holidays does your society celebrate now – listed or not?
 What holidays does your society deliberately not celebrate?
 What are your annual themes (by month? by season?)
 What would you like to have your society begin to celebrate regularly?
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12. LET THE
CREATIVITY
BEGIN!