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 | JUL-31 to AUG-4: International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) celebrates Jhulan Yatra, the swing festival for their deities Radha and Krishna |
| AUG-1: Wiccans and other Neopagans celebrate their first harvest festival on this day. It is called Lammas, (or Lughnasadh in Irish Gaelic). It is a joyous celebration; it is a time when Neopagans reap the harvest of what they have sown. Some Neopagans celebrate this festival on AUG-6; others on the evening of JUL-31. |
| AUG-4: Hindus celebrate Raksha Bandhan on the full-moon day in their month of Sravana. It is a festival honoring the loving relationships between brothers and sisters. Sisters offer food to their brothers, and tie an amulet on their brother's right wrist. |
| AUG-6: Catholics celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ. This recalls an event recorded in Matthew 17:1-6 and in other Biblical passages where Jesus "face did shine as the sun: and his garments became white as snow." |
| AUG-6: This is Hiroshima Day - the anniversary of the detonation in 1945 of the second nuclear bomb, and the first bomb to be used against humans. The decision to drop the bomb remains controversial today. Some claim that it saved millions of lives by averting an invasion of Japan. Others say that a dramatic demonstration of the bomb's effectiveness without endangering human lives, might also have convinced Japan to end the war. |
| AUG-9: This is the United Nations Day for Indigenous Peoples. Survival International has issued a report identifying the Jarawa people of India's Andaman Islands, the Bushmen of Botswana's Central Kalahari Game Reserve, and the Awá people of Brazil to be the most vulnerable tribes on their respective continents. |
| AUG-12: IBM announced their IBM5150 Personal Computer twenty years ago. It was a product that changed the world. |
| AUG-15: Catholics celebrate the Assumption of Mary. Pope Pius XII declared that at her death "Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory." This holy day is called the Dormition of The Theotokos" or "Falling Asleep of the Holy Mother of God" by the Eastern Orthodox churches. |
| AUG-15: Dharma Day is celebrated on this (and on other days) by followers of the Buddhist religion. It recalls the day after the Buddha's enlightenment when he first taught his followers. "The word 'Dharma' refers to the teachings of Buddhism, the essence of which is the impermanent and interdependent nature of all life. But 'Dharma' also refers to the everyday experiences...that teach...these truths and make them come alive." 1 |
| AUG-15/16: This is the first day of a eight-day observance by Janists called Paryushana. It marks the retreat of the nomadic months during the monsoon period. If they were to travel, they could not avoid killing many insects -- a violation of their principle of Ahimsa (non-violence). Various sects observe Paryushana at slightly different times -- e.g. AUG-22/23. |
| SEP-1: The First Parkash is observed by Sikhs. This recalls the day when their holy scripture was installed at the Golden Temple. |
| AUG-22: Ganesha Chaturthi is a festival marking the birthday of Ganesh, one of the major Hindu deities. He is generally portrayed with the head of an elephant. He is the son of Shiva and Parvati, and is widely worshiped as the god of wisdom and success. His support is often invoked at the start of new projects. |
| AUG-22: Dozens of listings of seasonal days of celebration and observance on the Internet state that, on this date, Sikhs celebrate Khamapana, a day of forgiveness. This is apparently a hoax, initiated by someone and replicated through the Internet. Still, a day of forgiveness sounds like a great idea for persons of all religions, and of no religion. Temporary withholding of forgiveness is normal and natural. But sustained lack of forgiveness can cause a lot of unhappiness in a person's life. |
| AUG 26: This is Women's Equality Day, the anniversary of the date in 1920 when three quarters of the state legislatures ratified the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It declared women to be voting citizens in the U.S. An entire generation passed before Quebec became the last political jurisdiction in the U.S. and Canada to allow its women to vote. |
Copyright © 2001 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Essay prepared on 2001-JUL-25
Latest update: 2001-AUG-24
Compiled by B.A. Robinson
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