The magic calendar
103 festivals, solstices, days of the dead and lucky and unlucky days, with the entries tied to each. Dates are worked out afresh every day; those marked "about" follow the moon or local calendars and can shift by a day.
Sponsored ClearTrust Solstices, festivals, days of the dead and omen days, with the dates each next falls on.
October 2026
On now, about 26 Sept to 10 Oct 2026Pitru PakshaThe fortnight of the ancestors, when water, sesame and rice balls are offered to the dead of the family.
On now, 1 to 31 Oct 2026Salem in OctoberThe Massachusetts town of the 1692 witch trials fills each October with a month of Halloween events, tours and memorials.
31 Oct to 1 Nov 2026SamhainThe Gaelic festival of the turn into winter, when the border with the Otherworld is said to thin and the dead and the fairies move about.November 2026
1 to 2 Nov 2026Dia de MuertosMexico's festival of the dead, with altars of marigolds, candles, food and photographs, welcoming the souls of the departed home.
1 to 2 Nov 2026Todos SantosAll Saints in Bolivia, Guatemala and the Andes, with bread dolls for the dead, tables of food at the grave and kites flown to speak to them.
1 to 2 Nov 2026Fete GedeThe Vodou festival of the Gede, the family of spirits of the dead, held at the cemeteries of Haiti on 1 and 2 November.
8 Nov 2026Dia de las NatitasIn La Paz, families bring human skulls, kept as protectors, to the cemetery to be decorated, blessed and given flowers and coca.
August 2027
about 13 to 16 Aug 2027ObonThe midsummer days when the spirits of ancestors are welcomed home with fires, offerings and dancing, then sent back.
16 Aug 2027Hungry Ghost Festival (Zhongyuan)The fifteenth night of the seventh lunar month, in a month when the gates of the underworld are said to stand open.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Salem Witch Trials: unattributed, Public domain, source
- Ghost Festival: Chong Fat, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Qingming Festival: Jacklee ., CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Obon: Batholith, Public domain, source
- Pitru Paksha: Firoz Shakir, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Malagasy mythology: Saveoursmile (Hery Zo Rakotondramanana), CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Jesa: by Joseph Steinberg (Baltimoron in Korea) at Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Day of the Dead: RubeHM, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Todos Santos Andes Guatemala: Fra Angelico, Public domain, source