List Of Winter Festivals

List of winter festivals - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
List of winter festivals. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Jump to: navigation, search ... incomplete list of festivals and holidays that take place ...
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Winter Festival (Tallahassee, Florida) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For numerous other festivals associated with winter, see List of winter festivals. ... Winter Festival - A Celebration of Lights, Music, and the Arts is an event held ...
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DiscoverHongKong - Heritage - Chinese Festivals
List of Chinese festivals and holidays, and activities based around them, in Hong Kong. ... The festivals are among the best ways to experience the unique ...
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Yahoo! Canada Directory > Winter Carnivals and Festivals
Burlington Winter Festival - Burlington, VT - Celebration of winter fun held in ... Canadian Winter Carnivals - List of winter carnivals and festivals in Canada and ...
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Winter Fairs and Festivals in Oregon - Oregon Winter Festivals and Fairs
... out about a number of different winter fairs, festivals, and other special events ... A long list of winter activities are on the schedule for Bend WinterFest, ...
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This is an incomplete list of festivals and holidays that take place during the winter in the northern hemisphere, especially those commemorating the winter holiday season. Many festivals of light take place in this period since the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere is the Winter Solstice.

Holidays are listed in chronological order under each heading.

Celtic

Samhain: November 1 - first day of winter in the Celtic calendar (and Celtic New Year's Day)
Winter solstice#Mean Geimrech (Celtic): December 21~December 22 - midwinter
Imbolc: February 1 - first day of spring in the Celtic calendar

Chinese

Dōngzhì Festival: Winter solstice
Signature of the Constitution of the Republic of China (Republic of China) : December 25 - a secular national holiday, which due to its date is celebrated in some respects like Christmas
Chinese New Year (late January - early February) - considered the end of winter in the traditional Chinese calendar

Christian

Advent: four weeks prior to Christmas - preparing for the birth of Christ.
Saint Nicholas' Day: December 6
Christmas Eve: December 24
Christmas: December 25 - celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.
Twelve Days of Christmas: December 25 through January 6
Saint Stephen's Day: December 26
Saint John the Evangelist's Day: December 27
Holy Innocents' Day: December 28
Saint Sylvester's Day: December 31
Watch Night: December 31
Feast of the Circumcision: January 1
Feast of Fools: January 1
Twelfth Night (holiday): Epiphany Eve January 5
Epiphany (feast) - January 6: the arrival of the Three Magi.
Eastern Orthodox Christmas according to the Julian Calendar: January 7
Candlemas: February 2
St. Valentine's Day: February 14

Germanic

Winter solstice#Modranicht, Modresnach (Anglo-Saxon, Germanic): or Mothers' Night, the Saxon winter solstice festival.
Yule: the Germanic winter solstice festival

Jewish

Hanukkah: Starting on 25 Kislev (Hebrew Calendar) or various dates in December (Gregorian calendar) - eight day festival commemorating the miracle of the oil after the desecration of the Temple by Antiochus IV Epiphanes and his defeat in 165 BCE.
Tu Bishvat: New Year of the Trees occurring on the 15th of Shevat, January or February.
Purim: Occurring on 14th or 15th day of Adar, late February to March, commemorating the miraculous deliverance and victory of the Jews of the Persian Empire in the events recorded in the Book of Esther

Muslim

Eid ul-Adha: Starting on the 10th of Dhul Hijja, a four day holiday commemorating the Prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son, Ishmael.

Pagan and neopagan

Samhain: November 1 - first day of winter in the Celtic calendar (and Celtic New Year's Day)
Yule: (Winter Solstice) - Germanic Pagan festival of the rebirth of the Sun
Imbolc : (February 1 or February 2) - festival of candles
Winter Solstice: (December 21) - New Age festival

Persian / Iranian

Sadeh: A mid-winter feast to honor fire and to "defeat the forces of darkness, frost and cold".
Yalda: The turning point. End of the longest night of the year (Darkness), and beginning of growing of the days (Lights). A celebration of Good over Evil.
Chahar Shanbeh Suri: Festival of Fire, Last Wednesday of the Iranian Calendar year. It marks the importance of the light over the darkness, and arrival of spring and revival of nature.

Polynesian

Matariki: (Māori New Year, usually early June) - Rising of the Pleiades star cluster before dawn.

Roman

Saturnalia: the Roman winter soltice festival
Festival of the birth of the Unconquered Sun: late Roman Empire - December 25
Lupercalia, the Roman end-of-winter festival - February 15

Secular

Winterval: Secular name for winter festivities coined by Birmingham City Council to encompass all holidays being recognized from October to January
Zamenhof Day: (December 15) - Birthday of Ludwig Zamenhof, inventor of Esperanto; holiday reunion for Esperantists
Winter Solstice, Yule: (December 21 or December 22) (Late June weekend in Australia) - Celebration of the Winter Solstice.
HumanLight: (December 23) - Humanist holiday originated by the New Jersey Humanist Network
Chrismukkah: Slang term for the amalgam of Christmas and Hanukkah celebrated by religiously mixed families and couples
Yule: (December 25) - Classic and modern, respectively, terms for the social and federal December 25th holiday
Boxing Day: (December 26) - Gift-giving day after Christmas.
Kwanzaa: (December 26 - January 1) - Pan-Africanism festival
Yulefest, Midwinter Christmas (around late June or July) - Australian New Zealand winter 'Christmas/Yuletide'
New Years Eve: (December 31) - Last day of the Gregorian year
Hogmanay: (Night of December 31 - Before dawn of January 1) - Scottish New Years Eve Celebration
New Year's Day: (January 1) - First day of the Gregorian year
Burns Night: (January 25) - Birthday of Robert Burns
Groundhog Day: (February 2)
Quebec City Winter Carnival: (February) - Annual celebration of winter.
Fur Rondy: (Late February and early March) - Winter celebration in [Anchorage, Alaska

Slavic

Karachun - the ancient Slavs polytheistic winter solstice festival

Zen Buddhist

Rohatsu

Fictional

Festivus: December 23 - quirky holiday famously invented on the show Seinfeld
Festival of the Bells: Midwinter celebration in Fraggle Rock, also mentioned in A Muppet Family Christmas.
Decemberween: December 25 - A holiday in the Homestar Runner universe, occurring 55 days after Halloween.
Discworld (world)#Hogswatchnight: Discworld calendar - New Year's Eve/Christmas in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels (plays on Hogmanay, Watch Night, and "hogwash")
Ctrl+Alt+Del#Winter-een-mas: January 25 - January 31 - from Ctrl Alt Del (webcomic)
Winterfair: from the Vorkosigan Saga of Lois McMaster Bujold; a Barrayarran cultural holiday
Chrismukkah: the modern-day merging of the holidays of Christianity's Christmas and Judaism's Hanukkah.
Chrismahanukwanzakah: the modern-day merging of the holidays of Christianity's Christmas, Judaism's Hanukkah, and the African-American holiday of Kwanzaa.
Pule: December 25 - Fictional replacement for Christmas created on the show Jimmy Neutron
Hedgehog Day: February 2 - supposed archaic European version of Groundhog Day, dating back to Roman times.
Kwanamus: Fictional blend of Christmas, Ḥannukah and Kwanzaa.