JANUARY 2023 MORE INFORMATION
Poverty in America Awareness Month is spotlighting one of the most pervasive and persistent problems in society. This year’s observance is more vital given the devastation in families and communities throughout the country due to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent economic upheaval. Slavery and Human Trafficking Awareness Month to acknowledge those experiencing enslavement and those who have escaped. Although slavery is commonly thought to be a thing of the past, human traffickers generate hundreds of billions of dollars in profits by trapping millions of people in horrific situations around the world, including here in the U.S. Traffickers use violence, threats, deception, debt bondage, and other manipulative tactics to force people to engage in commercial sex or to provide labor or services against their will. New Year’s Day celebrated in most Western countries, is the first day of the year according to the modern Gregorian calendar. Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus is celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church and commemorates the naming of the child Jesus. World Braille Day is observed to raise awareness around the importance of Braille as a means of communication for blind and partially sighted people. It’s celebrated on the birthday of Louis Braille, the inventor of Braille. Twelfth Night is a festival celebrated by some branches of Christianity that marks the coming of the Epiphany. Epiphany, or Dia de los Reyes (Three Kings Day), is a holiday observed by Eastern and Western Christians that recognizes the visit of the three wise men to the baby Jesus 12 days after his birth. Eastern Orthodox Christians recognize Christmas on this day, 13 days later than other Christian churches, because they follow the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian version of the Western calendar. Mahayana New Year, the day that Mahayana Buddhists celebrate the new year. The Birthday of Guru Gobind Singh Ji celebrates the Tenth Guru of the Sikhs who initiated the Sikhs as the Khalsa (the pure ones) and who is known as the Father of the Khalsa.
Lori-Maghi is an annual festival celebrated by Sikhs commemorating the memory of 40 Sikh martyrs. Makar Sankranti is a major harvest festival celebrated in various parts of India. Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemorates the birth of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the recipient of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize and an activist for nonviolent social change until his assassination in 1968. Timkat is a holiday observed by Ethiopian Orthodox Christians who celebrate the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River on Epiphany. Lunar New Year, a week-long festival that begins with the first new moon of the lunar calendar, celebrated in China as well as in Japan, Vietnam, Korea, and Mongolia. Republic Day of India 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. Vasant Panchami, a Hindu festival celebrating spring and Saraswati Devi, the goddess of art and culture. The International Day of Commemoration remembers the victims of the Holocaust. It’s the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp in 1945 and UN Holocaust Memorial Day.
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