Observing the holy days

{LDQUO}I’VE never seen a house with so many calendars,” she said,

then stood silently looking at me, as though expecting an

explanation.

My house is full of calendars. It’s true, though it took a visitor

to point it out. There’s at least one calendar in every room. Most of

them show up without much help from me.

They come from my alumni association, graphic arts magazines and

paper mills (because of the freelance graphic design I do), other

businesses and charities, and as gifts from family and friends.

Some hang. Some stand. Some tuck into my purse or briefcase. Some

are homely. Some are works of art.

Maybe I keep so many of them, even the unattractive ones, because

I have a hard time keeping track of what day it is. At times, I find

myself looking to confirm what month it is. It was just April and now

it’s, what, October?

But I also count on calendars, or at least some of them, to

position me in a more timeless world of tradition. I count on them to

mark the year in holy days -- foremost, those I observe, and

secondly, those observed by others.

Which is why this month I was astonished to discover, on most of

the calendars I have, that Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and, even more

often, Ramadan are missing among the days of October.

If you try to pull together all the holidays of the world’s

religions, there are a lot. In my office, I have a list that’s far

from comprehensive of 471 -- each an observance associated with

Judaism, Islam, Christianity (including Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman

Catholicism and Protestantism), Buddhism, Hinduism, Bahai, Sikhism,

Zoroastrianism or Wicca.

It sounds like a lot, but fitting 471 commemorations on a yearly

calendar hardly has to be a squeeze. Very few fall on the same date.

The calendar I have from Spicer Paper lists all of the National

Parks and Monuments west of the 100th meridian; the secular holidays

of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand,

Australia and Japan; the solstices and equinoxes; the birthdays of a

few notable folks, such as Edward Abbey and Ludwig Meis van der Roh;

the major religious holidays of Christianity, Judaism and Islam and a

few other odds and ends.

It even lists Rosh Hashana (begins at sundown, Oct. 3) and Yom

Kippur (though it is misspelled as “Yom Kipper”; it begins at

sundown, Oct. 12) and Ramadan (but it’s 10 days off on the date.)

This calendar does better than a half-dozen others do.

But forget 471 for now. Limit the list to the four religions with

the most adherents in the United States -- Christianity, Judaism,

Islam and Buddhism -- and limit it again to only the major holy days

of these four faiths.

I just don’t understand why Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Ramadan

more often than not aren’t there.

These are holidays as important to Jews and Muslims as Christmas

and Easter are to Christians.

Both share some things in common with the Christian pre-Easter

season of Lent: fasting, abstinence from common but disagreeable

behaviors such as indifference and gossip, soul-searching, repentance

and acts of contrition. All end with the breaking of a fast and a

sense of renewal.

The website of Aish HaTorah -- an international organization

dedicated to answering the question, “Why be Jewish?” -- describes

Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, together known as the High Holy Days, as

“a day of sweetness and a day of atonement, [which] are the

culmination of a month-long process of coming back to God.”

On Yom Kippur, the day of atonement and the holiest day of the

Jewish year, the faithful fast for 25 hours and seek forgiveness from

God, family, friends and acquaintances for transgressions committed

during the past year.

During the month-long Ramadan, Muslims abstain from food and drink

from sunup until after sundown.

They seek to banish bad habits and reconcile with those who have

wronged them. This year it begins on Oct. 4.

In Huntington Beach, the High Holy Days will be observed at

Congregation Adat Israel/Chabad of West Orange County on Warner

Avenue. A schedule of services, conducted by Rabbi Aron David

Berkowitz, is posted on the congregation’s website,

o7www.chabadhb.comf7. Information is also available from the

congregation’s office at (714) 846-2285.

With only the small (mostly Turkish Muslim) Tolerance Community

Center on Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach, most Muslims will

attend Ramadan services and events outside the city at the Islamic

Educational Center -- (714) 432-0060 -- on Airport Loop Drive in

Costa Mesa, or at another Orange County mosque.

* MICHELE MARR is a freelance writer from Huntington Beach. She

can be reached at o7michele@soulfoodfiles.com.

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