Abrahamic religions - a busy time for them.

[WildRosie]

Just now, Muslims have Ramadan, Jews have Passover and Christians are very close to Easter. When this occurred to me this morning, I also wondered if these festivals apply across the board to all branches of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. There must be loads but these are the ones I can think of without research:

Islam - Sunni, Shia, Shi'ite
Judaism - Orthodox, Ultra Orthodox, Ashkenazic
Christianity - Anglican C of E, Church of Scotland, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, United Reformed, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Coptic, Greek Orthodox.

I expect there's many branches of the three I'm unaware of. What have I missed? Thankyou.

I'm sure they do.

They've all been carried over from the pagan festivals that preceeded the abrahamic ones.

Humans celebrate the changing of the season from winter to spring and all that.

At the risk of sounding pedantic - and I may be wrong - but your list refers to groups who follow certain religious beliefs so I wouldn't group Ashkenazi as a 'religion' as it refers to ethnicity (see also Sephardim).

I'm completely atheist but agree it's a busy time of the year and I do think a lot of these spring festivals are lovely, across all religions.

Fair point NC. I'm no religious scholar so inaccuracies are inevitable, I fear!

I'd add Masorti, Liberal and Reform to the UK Jewish sects list. There are others but I'm not so clear on the more Orthodox end.

Ramadan isn't always in spring though, it is observed by a different calendar.

Thankyou Permanent. Agreed, Ramadan does get around but happens to coincide with Passover and Easter this year.

Easter marks the resurrection of Christ, literally the core belief of Christianity. I'm not aware of a branch of Christianity that doesn't mark it, but the timing may differ.

Any church or group claiming to be Christian, which does not mark Easter in some way, is lying. And it should always be at this time of year because Easter happened at the Jewish Passover.

Busy time for pagans too (which majority of Christian holidays are based on anyway!).

• Spring Equinox
• Ostara (Where the word “Easter” comes from, and all the bunnies and eggs!)
• Beltane

Lots of food, fires, singing and dancing!

The Islamic calendar has nothing to do with the seasons and anything pagan is shunned.
Do some research before trying to sound like an expert.

Ramadan just happens to be at this time of year, this year.

It isnt celebrating the change of the seasons, because it moves around the calendar year.

It can occur at Winter or summer.

The Anglican and Orthodox Christian churches celebrate Easter on different dates. The dates can concise but usually don’t.

*coincide!

Yes, I know Ramadan is not about celebrating spring and that it moves according to the Islamic calendar.

My point was all religions are influenced by and take bits from the preceding and existing ones.

Including Islam

They're all stories that have been around in one way or another since humans started telling stories to explain things they didn't understand

I'm Eastern Orthodox and our Easter is next week.

However we connect with our sense of self, our families, our wider communities, our world, this is a lovely time of year.

I'm taking a break from preparing for tonight's Passover Seder to wish all believers/practicers/spiritually connected people Chag Sameach, Ramadan Mubarak, Joyful Easter, and a Beautiful Spring.

OP, Judaism is very connected to the natural year cycle. Spring festivals and harvest festivals are integral to our observance. All branches of Judaism celebrate them, it's only a matter of degree of practice. Orthodox Jews will integrate the rituals into their lives much more than, say, Liberal Jews.

Thankyou Dilbert. Liberal is another branch of Judaism I wasn't aware of until now.

Anyone, are Shia and Shi'ite different spellings of the same thing ?

Shia/Shi'ite are the same.

Pronunciation wise, "Shia" is the right way 👍

Er, I’d like to suggest in my most loving, kind and patient Quaker tone that you might not be completely right about that.

Quakers are Christians (complicated Christians) who do not follow the formal liturgical year.

https://jollyquaker.com/2022/05/20/when-do-quakers-celebrate-easter-the-quaker-testimony-against-times-and-seasons/

Although we are spending Semana Santa in Andalucia and are going all out with the smells and bells 🙂

Thanks for that article, very interesting. I suppose I did have movements such as quakers at the back of my mind when I wrote "in some way".

As you say, Quakers are complicated Christians.

All sects of Islam celebrate Ramadan which moves around the year as it follows the lunar calendar. The only difference between some sects is that they might follow their respective Imam or leader if one says the moon has been observed and so today is the start of Ramadan while other leaders disagree and say the celebration is tomorrow. There is argument about when Ramadan starts some years which show where your 'loyalty' lays to which sect. Sounds insane.

Within Islam you also have Alevi and Alawites which are sometimes classified as a sect of Shia Islam but whose philosophies, customs and rituals are markedly different from mainstream Shia.

You then also have Sufism which is a practice found in both Sunni and Shia Islam and is not well defined but could be described as Islamic mysticism.

Thank you, and bless you.

OP, I think you missed out Mormons ( Latter Day Saints) who celebrate the Resurrection . Jehovahs Witnesses commerate the Death of Christ, but do not celebrate Easter.

Apologies to anyone of these faiths whom I have unintentionally misrepresented or simplified, I’m an ignorant Celtic Christian.

Happy.... everything! There was a debate in early Christianity about whether to celebrate Easter at Passover (which can start on any day of the week depending on the Jewish date) or to fix it so that it is always on Friday/Sunday.

If you're looking for more Christian groupings, you've left out Russian Orthodox and Lutheran. Calvinists in the UK have been merged with some other other "radical reformation" groups into the URC, but that's not true worldwide!