Cultural Awareness Brief from The Justice William J. Murray Jr. Unity Bar Section  

January 1 is Feast Day of St. Basil, a holiday observed by the Eastern Orthodox Church to commemorate the death of Saint Basil the Great. January 3 is Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, which is celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church to commemorate the naming of the child Jesus. January 3 is also Mahayana New Year, celebrated by the Mahayana Buddhist branch on the first full-moon day in January. January 4 is World Braille Day, observed to raise awareness of the importance of Braille as a means of communication for blind and partially-sighted people; it is celebrated on the birthday of Louis Braille, the inventor of Braille.

January 5 is Twelfth Night, a festival celebrated by some branches of Christianity that marks the coming of the Epiphany. January 5 is also the Birthday of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the Tenth Guru of the Sikhs who initiated the Sikhs as the Khalsa and who is known as the Father of the Khalsa; some calendars celebrate the birthday on January 6. January 6 is also Epiphany or Dia de los Reyes (Three Kings Day), a holiday observed by Eastern and Western Christians that recognizes the visit of the three wise men to the baby Jesus twelve days after his birth. January 7 is Christmas as recognized by Eastern Orthodox Christians who celebrate Christmas thirteen days later than other Christian churches because they follow the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian version. January 12 is Coming of Age Day, a public holiday in Japan held to congratulate and encourage all those who reached the age of maturity between April 2 of the previous year and April 1 of the current year. January 13 is Maghi/Lohri, an annual festival celebrated by Sikhs commemorating the memory of forty Sikh martyrs.

January 14 is Orthodox New Year, celebrated by Orthodox Christians all over the world; it marks the start of the new year according to the Julian calendar. January 14 is also Makar Sankranti, a major harvest festival celebrated in various parts of India. January 15 to 16 (sundown to sundown) is Lailat al Miraj, a Muslim holiday commemorating the prophet Muhammad’s nighttime journey from Mecca to the “Farthest Mosque” in Jerusalem where he ascended to heaven, was purified, and given the instruction for Muslims to pray five times daily. January 18 is World Religion Day, observed by those of the Bahá’í faith to promote interfaith harmony and understanding. January 18 to 25 is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, during which Christians pray for unity between all churches of the Christian faith.

January 19 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which commemorates the birth of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who was the recipient of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize and an activist for nonviolent social change until his assassination in 1968. January 19 is also Timkat, a holiday observed by Ethiopian Orthodox Christians who celebrate the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River on Epiphany. January 23 is Vasant Panchami, a Hindu festival that highlights the coming of spring. January 24 is Unification Day, a holiday in Romania commemorating the union of the two Danubian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia in 1862.

January 26 is Republic Day of India, which recognizes the date when the Constitution of India came into law in 1950 replacing the Government of India Act of 1935; this day also coincides with India’s 1930 declaration of independence. January 26 is also Australia Day, an Australian holiday honoring the establishment of the first permanent European settlement on the continent. January 27 is Holocaust Remembrance Day, a time to “mourn the loss of lives, celebrate those who saved them, honor those who survived, and contemplate the obligations of the living”; and the International Day of Commemoration to remember the victims of the Holocaust.