Fasts, feasts and lunar calendars

At the conclusion of the interfaith panel on Holidays Across Cultures held as part of this year’s PeopleFest, an audience member asked for the best ways to support and honor the variety of holidays celebrated among Eden Prairie residents. 

The responses she received from both panelists and the approximately 25 audience members included calling religious organizations to ask about upcoming festivals and ways to participate, sharing food – whether Christmas cookies or Eid al-Fitr sweets – with neighbors, and listing various religions’ holidays on public calendars.

Panel participants included Zillehuma Ebrahim, Steve Lear, Sailaja Savanam and Bishop Christopher Davis, who spoke in the order listed.

Ramadan and more: ‘A lot of faiths have fasting involved’

Ebrahim, a leader in community health and racial equity efforts from Brooklyn Park, gave an overview of both the Islamic religion and its major holidays, Eid al-Fitr, the Hajj and Eid al-Adha. 

Eid al-Fitr is a celebration that occurs at the end of a 30-day period of fasting known as Ramadan. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan marks the completion of the faith’s holy book, the Quran, believed to have been revealed to the Prophet Muhammad over a period of several years.

The dates of Ramadan follow a lunar calendar, rather than the 12-month Gregorian solar calendar, so the dates change yearly. In addition to abstaining from food and drink, the point, Ebrahim said, is to disconnect from worldly things and connect with your Creator.

“I think that a lot of the faiths have fasting involved,” noted Ebrahim, who also said that recent occurrences of Ramadan in March and April have been physically easier than when it occurs in summer months with extended sunlight: the Ramadan fast lasts from sunrise to sunset. The 2025 Eid al-Fitr began at sundown on March 30.

“After the 30 days, everybody goes wild,” Ebrahim said. “It’s celebration time, and everybody’s food comes out, and everybody’s best clothes come out.”

Specific choices in both food and clothing depend on individuals’ cultural origins, Ebrahim said. Ebrahim, a daughter of Indian immigrants, said she would likely dress in a sari for Eid al-Fitr. 

She noted that Muslims of Asian cultural origins are likely to dress in bold colors during their celebration, while those with Arab origins are likely to dress in white. In general, Ebrahim said, varieties in Muslim women’s dress depend on their cultural origins. “It’s how you grew up. It’s your culture.”

Ebrahim also described the Hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. One of the pillars of Islam is that everyone physically able, who can afford to do so, must complete the Hajj at least once in a lifetime. It is a rigorous experience involving various rituals, she said. 

Those include wearing a white shroud, the Muslim burial garment, “to kind of resemble the fact that you’re going to have a rebirth of yourself.” They also include circling the Kaaba, a shrine within Mecca that is the directional focal point of Muslims’ daily prayers. 

At the end of the Hajj period comes the celebration of Eid al-Adha, Ebrahim said. “Even if you don’t go to Hajj, families will celebrate it all around the world,” she said. “They’ll just be happy that the Hajj was completed. This year’s celebration took place on June 7, beginning at sundown the previous day.

Celebrations include congregational prayer, food, dressing in nice clothing, and often fairs and children’s games hosted by mosques or community centers. The holiday, which translates as “Feast of Sacrifice,” also commemorates the Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son at God’s request. 

Ibrahim is known as Abraham in the Christian and Jewish religions, which also include the story of the averted sacrifice in their holy writings.

The Jewish Sabbath: ‘The concept of Shabbat is rest’

Steve Lear, a financial adviser and entrepreneur who spoke on Jewish holidays, noted that the three faiths also have in common a Sabbath, a day traditionally set aside for rest and worship. The Muslim Sabbath is Friday and the Christian is Sunday.

“I came to the conclusion that what God did is, he created three different Sabbaths, so that meant somebody would be working every day,” Lear said, before discussing the Jewish Sabbath, or Shabbat, which he considers to be the major holiday within the Jewish community.

Lasting from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, “the whole concept of Shabbat is rest,” Lear said. He noted that it commemorates God’s work in six days to create the world, followed by rest on the seventh. 

Shabbat may also include readings from the Torah, or the five books of Moses that comprise the beginning of the Hebrew Bible. “We don’t have a person,” Lear said of Judaism. “We don’t have a Muhammad, we don’t have Jesus Christ. We don’t have any of those individuals. We have a book, and that book was written over long periods of time, and in that book are all the stories and rules by which to live.” 

Also based on a lunar calendar, Judaism celebrates its New Year on Rosh Hashanah and follows that 10 days later with Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah, Lear said, is meant to commemorate the Creator’s creation of first humans Adam and Eve. In 2025, Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown Sept. 22, and Yom Kippur at sundown Oct. 1.

In the Days of Awe period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Lear said, Jews are supposed to visit people and ask forgiveness for sins or wrongdoings they have committed against them. The tradition is to ask for forgiveness three times. They may also visit a body of water and turn their pockets inside out in a symbolic dumping of sins.

The day of Yom Kippur itself is spent in a synagogue or temple, a Jewish house of worship, fasting and asking for forgiveness from God. 

Lear’s discussion of clothing included mentions of prayer shawls, worn over the shoulders as a reminder of being in the presence of God, and the tight-fitting hat that Jewish men wear in synagogue. Often known as a yarmulke, Lear also referred to it as a kippah, and said its purpose is to serve as recognition that “you are below God.”

Lear also discussed the religious holidays of Hanukkah and Purim. Hanukkah, he said, is about freedom, marking “the first time in recorded history where a group of people rebelled against another group of people for religious persecution.”

The specific events occurred in the area then known as Judea, now known as Palestine, approximately 46 years before the time of Jesus Christ. The Greeks ruling the area at the time wanted Jews to convert to a Greek style of religious practice, Lear said, “And the Maccabean family said, ‘No, we’re not doing this,’ and they had a guerrilla war.’” 

The story of Hanukkah, Lear said, says that, although the Maccabees defeated the Greeks, the Jewish temple was destroyed, leaving only enough oil to light a lamp for one day. Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days, leading to the eight-day celebration of Hanukkah. The first night of Hanukkah in 2025 is Dec. 15.

Purim, Lear said, commemorates an earlier event in which the beautiful queen Esther tricked a Persian king into killing Haman, an enemy of the Jews, instead of all the Jewish people in the kingdom. The complete story is found in the Biblical book of Esther. The 2025 Purim celebration occurred March 13-15.

Many, many Hindu holidays

Savanam, a 25-year Eden Prairie resident and women’s advocate originally from India, spoke on Hindu holidays. While approximately 80% of India’s population is Hindu, she noted that more than 36,000 idol gods are recognized in the country, including gods for the elements, the nine planets and individual villages.

“So, across India, we have a lot of festivals,” Savanam said. “I’m sure every single day there is a festival going on in some part of India.” For her presentation, she chose to focus on summarizing four main festivals “that are celebrated across the country, east to west and north to south” – and beyond, she said.

For instance, Diwali is celebrated internationally, and Pennsylvania and Connecticut have named it an official state holiday. The festival of lights also follows the lunar calendar and, for some Hindus, marks the beginning of a new year. In 2025, Diwali will be celebrated on Oct. 20 or 21.

“People start off new businesses,” Savanam said. “They’re like, ‘It’s a reset, right?’ It’s very auspicious.” The celebrations also incorporate prayer, family gatherings, food and gift exchanges, as well as decorating homes with multiple lights. Fireworks displays are also popular.

Although celebrated by people of many faiths, a Hindu significance of Diwali, Savanam said, is celebrating the return from exile of Lord Rama after the defeat of a demon king. It also honors Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth.

Despite a variety of cultural and regional differences in celebrations, “people pray to two main gods across India,” Savanam said, including Lakshmi and Ganesh, the elephant god, who is known for removing obstacles. 

The festival of Ganesh Chaturthi celebrates the elephant god’s birth. The celebration lasts for several days, during which people decorate home shrines or temporary structures and place Ganesh idols within them. At the end of the festival, which also includes singing, dancing and acts of charity, people immerse the Ganesh idols into a nearby body of water. 

“The belief is, Ganesha is born. We are celebrating him for 10 days, and we ask him to bless us. And then we send him off to do whatever he’s supposed to do and come back again next year to celebrate with us,” Savanam said. In 2025, the 10 days of festivities began on Aug. 26 or 27.

She also spoke of the festival of Navaratri and Dussehra, a celebration of women. The divine feminine energy, Shakti, is celebrated in all its forms, including that of girl children, over a period of nine days of Navaratri. Some people choose to fast during this time, which also includes dance performances featuring colorful clothing. 

The final day of the celebration, Dussehra, marks the victory of Lord Rama over the demon king Ravana, a story told in the Yuddha Kanda (“Book of War”) division of the the Hindu epic poem the Ramayana, symbolizing the triumph of good over evil. In 2025, Navaratri and Dussehra begins Sept. 22.

Savanam noted that the women’s festival is “a big favorite of mine.” She also said that she has chosen to celebrate her birthday separately from its occurrence on the same day as Ganesh Chaturthi. As a child, she said, her parents merged her birthday celebration with the holiday, and as an adult, she spends that time doing the holiday preparations.

Savanam’s slide presentation referencing the spring festival of Holi, celebrated with singing, dancing and throwing colored powders and water at other people, did not display at the event. In 2025, Holi was celebrated March 13-14.

Christian holidays ‘bookend the life’ of Jesus

Bishop Christopher Davis, a member of and teacher within the Eden Prairie ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spoke on the Christian holidays of Christmas and Easter. 

“Christmas is the beginning and Easter is the end of the life of Jesus Christ,” Davis said. “So these two holidays bookend his life.” 

Christmas, celebrated on Dec. 25, commemorates the birth, or nativity, of Jesus Christ, Davis said. Many common symbols associated with Christmas are related to the stories of this birth told in the Christian Bible.

Angels’ song of announcement of Christ’s birth are “where Christmas carols come from,” Davis said, while wise men from far away followed a star to visit the location of the newly born Christ, bearing gifts.  

Stars and other lights on Christmas trees also acknowledge that “Jesus was known as the light of the world,” Davis said, while Christmas trees are evergreen: “In other words, immortality. It represents that permanence of the Savior.”

Nativity scenes depict the scene of Jesus’s birth in a stable, “a very humble place for the son of God to be born,” Davis said. “We remember Jesus and his birth at the time of Christmas.”

Easter’s date varies according to the lunar calendar and commemorates Jesus’ resurrection after being killed. “He was killed upon the cross, crucified, buried in a tomb. Our belief is that if that had been the end, he would have been a prophet,” Davis said. 

“But the difference in our belief is that was not the end, and, in fact, he rose again from the dead.” In dying, Davis said, Jesus suffered for all humankind the weight of sin so that all may be forgiven and return to God, the father in heaven, of whom Jesus is the son.

In the 40-day period before Easter, known as Lent, many Christians may participate in fasting or reflection. The week preceding Easter commemorates the events, including Jesus’ death, leading up to the resurrection, which is celebrated on Easter Sunday. In 2025, Easter was celebrated on April 20.

Eggs, often colorfully dyed, symbolize birth, while rabbits, personified as an Easter Bunny, “are that new beginning,” Davis said. Crosses commemorate Jesus’ death as sacrifice.

Davis noted in his remarks that there are many denominations, or sects, within many religious identities. “My thoughts and understanding of Christianity are obviously covered by my own experience, just as each of these speakers’ experiences are,” he said. 

“There are differences between each of these denominations, and that difference is exactly what is being celebrated here (at the event),” Davis said. “I just wanted to highlight that although there are many differences, there are so many similarities.”