Major Feasts and Fasts

Pascha and the 12 Great Feasts are in bold.
Includes Major Civil Holidays in the United States and Canada
January 1
Circumcision of Our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ
Feast of St. Basil the Great
New Year's Day (Civil)
January 6
Theophany of Our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ
January 12
Sunday After Theophany
January 20 Martin Luther King Day (USA)
January 26 Sunday of Zacchaeus
January 30 Synaxis of the Ecumenical Teachers and Hierarchs: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom
February 2 Encounter of Our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ with Simeon and Anna
(Presentation of Our Lord Into the Temple)
February 2 Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee
February 9 Sunday of the Prodigal Son
February 15 First All-Souls Saturday
February 16 Sunday of the Second Coming of Christ (Meat-Fare)
February 17 President's Day (USA)
February 23 Forgiveness Sunday (Cheese-Fare)
February 24 Beginning of the Holy Forty Days Fast
March 1 First Sunday of the Great Fast (Sunday of Orthodoxy)
March 7 Second All-Souls Saturday
March 8 Second Sunday of the Great Fast (St. Gregory Palamas)
March 14 Third All Souls Saturday
March 15 Third Sunday of the Great Fast (Veneration of the Cross)
March 21 Fourth All-Souls Saturday
March 22 Fourth Sunday of the Great Fast (St. John of the Ladder)
March 24 Canon of St. Andrew of Crete
March 25 Annunciation to the Mother of God
March 28 Akathistos Saturday
March 29 Fifth Sunday of the Great Fast (St. Mary of Egypt)
April 4-11 Great and Holy Week
April 4 Lazarus Saturday
April 5

Palm (Flowery) Sunday - Entrance into Jerusalem

April 6 Great and Holy Monday
April 7 Great and Holy Tuesday
April 8 Great and Holy Wednesday
April 9 Great and Holy Thursday
April 10 Great and Holy Friday
April 11 Great and Holy Saturday
April 12
Pascha - Feast of the Resurrection of Christ (Easter Sunday)
April 12-19 Bright Week
April 19 Second Sunday of Pascha (Apostle Thomas)
April 26 Third Sunday of Pascha (Myrrh-Bearing Women)
May 3 Fourth Sunday of Pascha (Healing of the Paralytic)
May 6 Mid-Pentecost
May 10 Fifth Sunday of Pascha (Samaritan Women at the Well)
May 11 Saints Cyril & Methodius, Apostles to the Slavs
May 17 Sixth Sunday of Pascha (Man Born Blind)
May 21
Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ
May 24 Seventh Sunday of Pascha (Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council)
May 25 Memorial Day
May 30 Fifth All-Souls Saturday
May 31
Pentecost - Descent of the Holy Spirit
June 1 Feast of the Holy Trinity
June 7 All Saints Sunday
June 8-28 The Apostles' Fast
June 24 Nativity of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John
June 29 The Holy Glorious and All-Praised Leaders of the Apostles, Peter & Paul
July 1 Canada Day (Canada)
July 4 Independence Day (USA)
July 19 Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the First Six Ecumenical Councils
July 20 Holy, Glorious Prophet Elijah
August 1-14
Dormition Fast
August 6 Transfiguration of Our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ
August 15 The Dormition of our Most Holy Lady, the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary
August 29 The Beheading of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist John
September 1 Liturgical New Year (7527)
September 7 Labor Day (USA), Labour Day (Canada)
September 8 The Nativity of our Most Holy Lady, the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary
September 14 The Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross
October 1 The Protection of our Most Holy Lady the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary
October 11 Sunday of the Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council
October 12 Columbus Day (USA), Thanksgiving Day (Canada)
November 8 Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the Other Bodiless Powers
November 11 Veterans' Day (USA), Remembrance Day (Canada)
November 15 Nativity Fast (Philip's Fast also known as Advent)
November 21 The Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple
November 26 Thanksgiving Day (USA)
December 6 St Nicholas the Wonderworker and Archbishop of Myra in Lycia
December 9 (8) The Conception of the Most Holy Mother of God by the Righteous Anna
December 12 Our Lady of Guadalupe
December 13 Second Sunday Before Christmas (Holy Forefathers)
December 20 Sunday Before Christmas (Holy Fathers)
December 24

Christmas Eve

December 25 The Nativity of our Lord God and Savior, Jesus Christ
December 26
Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God
Boxing Day (Canada)
December 27 Sunday after Christmas: Commemoration of the Holy Righteous David the King, Joseph the Betrothed, and James the Brother of the Lord, First-Martyr and Archdeacon Stephen
December 28

20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia

December 29 14,000 Infants (the Holy Innocents) Slain by Herod at Bethlehem

Note: The Byzantine liturgical year starts on September 1 and ends on August 31. The movable feasts are determined by the date of Pascha (the feast of the Resurrection). There are two systems currently in use to calculate Pascha - Gregorian (Western) and Julian (Eastern). Roman Catholics, most Byzantine Catholics in America and some Orthodox (notably those in Finland) follow the Gregorian date. Some Byzantines in America and most Byzantines and Orthodox in Canada and elsewhere follow the Julian date. In the year AD 2020 the Gregorian date is April 12 and the Julian date is April 19.