Your month ahead – August ’25

13-15 – Obon, Buddhist 

One of Japan’s most important festivals, Obon is a time when people honour their dead. Because it is believed that, during Obon, ancestors can walk among the living, it is sometimes called Japan’s Day of the Dead. During the festival, many Japanese people will travel to their family homes, clean the graves of loved ones and leave offerings at shrines.

27 – Ganesh Chaturthi, Hindu

Ganesh Chaturthi celebrates the birth of Ganesha, the god of prosperity and wisdom. The festival lasts for ten days, beginning with the mounting of idols of Ganesha, who has the head of an elephant, on homes and other buildings. Then rituals are performed to bring life to the idols, followed by hymns. The idols are decorated with flowers and colourful pastes and given offerings. At the end of the festival, the idols are carried in processions to rivers and immersed.

The festival took on new importance during the late nineteenth century, when British colonisers banned public gatherings. An Indian nationalist leader called Bal Gangadhar Tilak harnessed the support for the previously private, family-based celebrations to unite Indians in the struggle for independence from British rule. It is now seen by many as a key moment in the movement.

August’s dates at a glance

Religious/cultural

1 –         Lammas Christian
Lughnasadh, Wicca and Pagan
Fast In Honour of the Holy Mother of the Lord Jesus, Orthodox Christian
3 –         Tish’a B’av, Judaism
6 –         Feast of Transfiguration, Christian
Transfiguration of The Lord, Orthodox Christian
9 –         The 15th of Av, Judaism
Raksha Bandhan, Hindu
10 –       Feast of Saint Lawrence, Christian
13-15 –  Obon, Buddhist
15 –       Arba’een, Islam
Assumption of Mary, Catholic Christian
Dormition of The Theotokos, Orthodox Christian
16 –       Krishna Janmashtami, Hindu
21 –       Paryushana Parvarambha begins, Jain
22 –       Feast of The Queenship of Mary, Catholic Christian
24 –       Feast of Saint Bartholomew The Apostle, Christian
Guru Grinth Sahib Jayanti, Sikh
27 –       Ganesh Chaturthi, Hindu
28 –       Samvatsari, Jain
29 –       Beheading of Saint John The Baptist, Christian

Awareness and Events

9 –         International Day of The World’s Indigenous People
19 –       World Humanitarian Day
22 –       International Day Commemorating The Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief
23 –       International Day for The Remembrance of The Slave Trade and Its Abolition