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July 08
| 01 Coming of the Light Festival |
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Torres Strait Islander // Australia
The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands that are a part of Queensland and are located in the Torres Strait between Cape York Peninsula (Australia’s far north/east tip) and Papua New Guinea.
It was on the 1st of July in 1871 that Reverend Samuel Macfarlane of the London Missionary Society arrived on Erub (Darnley Island) and introduced Christianity to the region. This day is referred to by the Islanders, who are predominately of Christian faith, as “The Coming of the Light” and every year, the festival is celebrated with religious and cultural ceremonies throughout the islands and across mainland Australia.
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| 04 Independence Day // USA |
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This 'birthday' celebration of the United States of America commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. It is the most significant patriotic occasion in the United States and has been a federal legal holiday for 67 years.
In an interesting series of coincidences, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, two of the nation's founding fathers and the only two signatories of the Declaration of Independence to later become President, both died on July 4, 1826 - the United States' 50th anniversary.
Today, the holiday is celebrated with parades, fireworks, picnics, sporting events and patriotic music - and it has been estimated that as many as 150 million hot dogs are consumed in tradition on this day.
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| 05 Birth of Guru Hargobind // Sikh |
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Guru Hargobind was the sixth of ten Enlightened Masters who founded the Sikh faith through the sharing of divine guidance. The first of these honoured teachers, Guru Nanak, was born in 1469; and the life of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru, ended in 1708.
The holiest scripture of Sikhism is known as Guru Granth Sahib and is the only world scripture to have been created during the lifetime of its compiler, the fifth Sikh Guru, Guru Arjan Dev. It is considered, like all honoured Gurus, to be an eternal source of guidance, wisdom and learning.
Sikhism is based on the belief of One God and the equality of all human beings. The five major virtues underpinning the faith are Chastity, Patience, Contentment, Detachment and Humility.
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| 06 NAIDOC Week / to July 13 |
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Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander // Australia
NAIDOC Week (the acronym originally stood for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee) occurs every year in July to celebrate the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; their remarkable cultural history; and the brighter future ahead.
Local role models are nominated for awards such as Apprentice of the Year, Artist of the Year, Elder of the Year (male and female), Scholar of the Year, Youth of the Year and the Lifetime Achievement Award.
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| 06 Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Sunday |
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Catholic
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| 06 Dalai Lama's Birthday / Buddhist // Tibet |
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Tenzin Gyotso is Buddhism’s 14th Dalai Lama, the current incarnation of a long line of Buddhist Masters who are free from the wheel of death and rebirth and who choose to be reborn in order to teach humanity. He is also the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people.
His Holiness was born Lhamo Thondup in 1935 to humble farming parents. The 13th Dalai Lama had died two years earlier so, in 1938, the Tibetan government sent a search party out to find the latest incarnation. Following a series of compelling signs, the group found themselves at the home of Lhamo Thondup. The 3 year old recognised the leader of the group immediately and correctly identified some belongings of the 13th Dalai Lama as his own.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been living in exile from his Tibetan homeland for almost 50 years.
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| 09 Martyrdom of the Bab // Baha'i |
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SCHEDULING CONSIDERATION
This solemn day commemorates the day in 1850 when the forerunner of the Bahá’í faith, “the Báb” (“the Gate”), was publicly executed in Tabriz, Iran. Siyyid Ali-Muhammad proclaimed himself the Báb in 1844 but he and his followers were increasingly persecuted until the Báb was eventually imprisoned and later killed.
Bahá’u’lláh, the subsequent founder of the Bahá’í faith, secretly transported the Báb’s remains from Iran to Haifa, Israel and his tomb is an important place for pilgrimage for Bahá’ís today.
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| 11 Imamat Day // Islam Ismaili |
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| 18 Dharma Day // Buddhist |
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The word ‘dharma’ can be translated as ‘truth’ and is the term for the path to enlightenment in Buddhism. Dharma Day, otherwise known as Asalha Puja Day, marks the beginning of Buddha’s teachings on his enlightenment and the inception of Buddhism itself.
Today, Dharma Day is an opportunity for Buddhists to demonstrate gratitude to the Buddha and other enlightened teachers by reflecting on Buddhist scriptures and their development in dharma.
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| 20 New Year's Eve // Mandaean |
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| 20 17th of Tammuz // Jewish |
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| 23 Birth of Guru Harkrishan // Sikh |
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| 24 Pioneer Day // Mormon Church |
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| 26 American Disabilities Act Anniversary // USA |
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The American Disabilities Act was signed into Law on July 26, 1990. The Act protects Americans with disabilities against discrimination in a similar way that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes discrimination based on race, religion, gender, national origin and other characteristics illegal.
On signing the American Disabilities Act, George H. W. Bush said, "Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down."
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| 29 Lailat al Mi'raj // Muslim |
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Lailat al Mi’raj is an Islamic observance commemorating the Prophet Muhammad’s revelation of Salat, the ritual prayer that Muslims carry out five times a day.
Lailat al Mi’raj is celebrated by telling the beautiful story of a sleeping Muhammad’s visit from two archangels who purified his heart and filled him with knowledge and faith. He journeyed that night on a strange winged creature from Mecca to Jerusalem where he ascended into Heaven and God told him of every Muslims’ duty to recite Salat.
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