2008 - compiled by Pattie L.

January: Birthstone: Garnet Flower: White Carnation/ Snowdrop
January 1 Gantan-sai (Shinto)/New Year’s Day
January 3 Feast of Pax (honest!)
January 5 Twelfth Night
January 6 Epiphany/Little Christmas
January 7 Seven Herbs Day (shepherd’s purse, chickweed, parsley, cottonweed, radish, hatoke-no-za, aona)/ St Distaff’s Day/Plough Monday God speed the plough!
January 10 Al-Hijra/Muharram 1429
January 14 Coming of Age Day - Seijin no hi/Makar Sankranti
January 17 Twelfth Night Olde Style
January 19 Ashura
January 20 St Agnes’ Eve
January 21 M.L.K. Day
January 22 Full Moon—Snow Moon 13:36 Tu B’shvat
January 25 Burn’s Night
January 27 Lewis Carroll’s Birthday

February: Birthstone: Amethyst Flower: Violet
February 1ish The Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries (1st of 3 days) Feast of St Brigid
February 2 Imblog/Candlemas/Groundhog Day
February 3-4 Setsubun (Bean Scattering)/St Blaise’s Day
February 5 Fat Tuesday
February 6 Ash Wednesday
February 7 Chinese New Year 4706 Year of the Rat Solar Eclipse
February 8 Nirvana Day
February 12 Darwin Day
February 13 Lupercalia begins
February 14 St Valentine’s Day
February 15 Lupercalia ends
February 18 Dead White Guys Day
February 21 Full Moon —Hunger Moon 03:22 Lunar Eclipse/Lantern Festival
February 22 Terminalia
February 27 First Equirria/Mars’ Feast
February 29 A little something extra from Pope Gregory XIII

March: Birthstone: Bloodstone Flower: Daffodil
March 1 St David’s Day (Eat a leek)/Matronalia
March 3 Doll festival-Hina Matsuri
March 6 Maha Shivaratri Get out and dance!
March 8 Woman’s Day
March 9 Daylight Saving Time begins
March 11 Johnny Appleseed Day
March 14 St Joseph’s Day/Pi Day/Second Equirria/White Day
March 15 Anna Perenna – Roman New Year/The Ides of March
March 16 Palm Sunday
March 17 St Patrick’s Day With love from, ‘One of the Snakes’
March 19 Quinquatria – Feast of Minerva begins
March 20 Mabon/Ostara/Shunbun no hi
March 21 Full Moon 18:41—Wakening Moon Purim/Good Friday/Holi
March 23 Easter/Quinquatria ends
March 25 Hilaria’s Feast/Lady Day - Olde Style New Year

April: Birthstone: Diamond Flower: Sweet Pea
April 1 Feast of Fools/Ghost Crab Days/Tuttimen on Hocktide
April 4 Ghost Crab Days end
April 5 Feast of Kwan Yin
April 6 Qingming Festival
April 8 Buddah’s Birthday
April 13 Rama Navami/ Abbotsbury Garland Day
April 15 Fordicidia – Festival of Terra Mater
April 16 Masada falls
April 20 Full Moon 17:16—Grass Moon 10:27 Passover
April 21-22 Lyrids Meteor Shower/Palilia/Rome founded
April 22 Earth Day
April 23 Feast of St George
April 28 Floralia
April 30 Walpurgis’ Night

May: Birthstone: Emerald Flower: Lily of the Valley
May 1 Beltane/Bona Dea
May 5 Boy’s Day/Koi no bori/Kodomo no hi/Eta Aquarida
May 8 Helston Furry Dance
May 11 Mother’s Day/Pentecost
May 15 Mercuralia
May 18 Feast of Pan/Apollon Day
May 20 Full Moon—Planting Moon 02:13
May 26 Memorial/Decoration Day
May 29 Oak Apple Day/Corn Mother Festival
May 30, 1431 Joan of Arc murdered for being a heretic
May 31 Lady Godiva’s historic ride

June: Birthstone: Alexandrite Flower: Rose
June 1 Pride Day
June 4 Rose Festival
June 7 Vestalia begins
June 8 Dragon Boat Festival
June 9 Al-Hijra – Muharram
June 11 Matralia - Feast of the Dawn
June 13 Feast of Epona
June 14 Birthday of the Muses/Flag Day
June 15 Father’s Day/Vestalia ends
June 16 Bloomsday
June 18 Full Moon—Rose Moon 17:32
June 20 Summer Solstice/Litha
June 23 Midsummer’s Eve
June 24 Fates Feast Day

July: Birthstone: Ruby Flower: Larkspur
July 3 Feast of Cerridwen/Dog Days begin
July 4 Independence Day
July 5 Tynwald Day (Isle of Man)
July 6 Running of the Bulls begins/Ludi Apollinares begins
July 10 White Holda/Black Hela/Skadi (a day for laughing and feet)
July 13 Birth of the Muses/Obon
July 14 Bastille Day/Running of the Bulls ends/Ludi Apollinares ends
July 15 St Swithin’s Day
July 16 Rosa - Feast of Roses/Rath Yatra
July 18 Full Moon—Thunder Moon 08:00 Jane Austen dies
July 22 St Mary Magdalene’s Day/Ratcatcher’s Day
July 25 Iluap’a – Thunder God Festival
July 26 Sleinper’s Feast/Great Panathenaia (1st of 6 days)
July 28 Lailat al Miraj

August: Birthstone: Sardonyx Flower: Gladiolas
August 1 Lughnassad/Lammas Solar Eclipse
August 2 Eisteddfod begins (Caerdydd, Cymru)/Panathenaia ends
August 7 Tanabata - Star Festival
August 9 Eisteddfod ends
August 12 The Glorious Twelfth—go hunting, or just eat grouse
August 13 Festival of Diana and Hecate
August 16 Full Moon—Red Moon 21:18 Raksha Bandhan/Lailat al Bara’a
August 18 Hungry Ghost Festival
August 19 Vinalia Rustica - in honor of Venus
August 24 Krishna Janmaashtami/St Bartholomew’s Day/Wedding of the Giants

September: Birthstone: Sapphire Flower: Aster
September 1 Labor Day
September 2 Ramadan begins
September 3 Ganesh Chaturthi
September 8 Abbots Bromley Horn Dance
September 9 Chrysanthemum Day - Kiku no Sekku
September 13 Banquet of Venus
September 15 Full Moon—Hunting Moon 09:15/ Greater Eleusinian Mysteries begin
September 17 Birth of Hildegard von Bingen
September 19 Talk Like A Pirate Day
September 22 Equinox/Mabon/Mean Foghamhar
September 25 Greater Eleusinian Mysteries end
September 27 Lailat al Kadr
September 29 Michaelmas/Rosh Ha Shanah/Eid al-Fitr
September 30 Navaratri begins

October: Birthstone Tourmaline Flower: Marigold
October 6 Navarata Dashara/Saraswati Puja
October 7 Chong Yang Festival
October 8 Yom Kippur/Navaratri ends
October 9 Dussehra/Leif Erikson Day
October 10 Devil’s Blackberry Day/Michaelmas Olde Style
October 11 General Casimir Pulaski Day/Meditrinalia/Thesmophoria begins
October 11-13 Thesmophoria/Libation to Poseidon
October 12 Pearly King and Queen Harvest Festival
October 13 Death to the indigenous population Day (a.k.a. Columbus Day)/Sukkot
October 14 Full Moon—Falling-Leaf Moon 20:04 Battle of Hastings/Thesmophoria ends
October 18-21 Durga Puja
October 22 The Great Disappointment
October 25 St Crispin’s Day (Once more unto the breach!)
October 28 Diwali
October 30 Mischief Night
October 31 Samhain

November: Birthstone: Citrine Flower: Chrysanthemum
November 1 All Saints’ Day
November 2 All Souls’ Day/Daylight Savings ends
November 4 Discovery of Tutankhamen’s Tomb/Daylight Savings ends
November 5 Guy Fawkes Night/Turning the Devil’s Stone
November 10 Martinmas/Manannon Mac Lir’s Feast
November 13 Full Moon—Mad Moon 06:19
November 15 Sadie Hawkins Day/Shichi-go-san
November 17 Feast Day of St Hugh of Lincoln/Leonids
November 23 Stir-up Sunday
November 25 St Catherine’s Day
November 27 Thanksgiving
November 30 Advent

December: Birthstone: Zircon Flower: Paper White
December 1 World AIDS Day
December 4 Bona Dea
December 5 Faunalia
December 6 Feast of St Nicholas/Reign of the Boy Bishop begins/Waqf al Arafa
December 8 Bodhi
December 12 Full Moon—Long-Night Moon 16:39
December 13 Geminids
December 15 Bill of Rights Day
December 16 Jane Austen’s Birthday
December 18 Saturnalia begins/New Jersey Day
December 21 Winter Solstice/Yule Mithras’ Birthday/First Night of Chanukah
December 25 Christmas
December 26 St Stephen’s Day/Kwanza begins/Boxing Day/Hunting of the Wren
December 28 Boy Bishop ends/Slaughter of the Innocents/Al-Hijra - Muharram
December 29 St Thomas Becket’s Day
December 30 New Year’s Eve - Hogmanay