What are special dates in 2023?

New Year's Day

New Year's Day celebrates the new year on the Gregorian calendar. Although January 1st marks the new year in many countries, there are other countries around the world who celebrate New Year's Day on different dates throughout the year. 

Events/Calendar

Date: January 1st, 2023

Due to New Year's Day being on Sunday in 2023, the business date will be January 2nd. 

Martin Luther King Celebration of Human Rights Week

Recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthdate has been a tradition at the University of Iowa since 1969, and the national holiday has been observed through human rights programs since its inception in 1986. In 1990 the University initiated the Human Rights convocation program. 

An official University holiday was designated in 1995 to provide an opportunity to engage the University community in a discussion of the human values that the King holiday epitomizes. These initial events have grown into a campus-wide celebration that engages faculty, staff, students and community members to give lectures, discussions, and cultural arts presentations. 

Events/Calendar

Date: January 16th through January 20th, 2023

National Day of Racial Healing

National Day of Racial Healing aims to create a brighter future, support and build communities, and take the steps to create transformative change. It was intentionally placed the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to provide a day of reflection regarding the year-round pursuit for racial equity. 

Event/Calendar

Date: January 17th, 2023

Lunar New Year

Lunar New Year starts with the first new moon of the lunar calendar. It is often called Chinese New Year, although many other countries celebrate the Lunar New Year, such as Korea, India, Singapore, Malaysia, and more. 

Traditions include fireworks, traditional food, the giving of red envelopes, and lighting lanterns. 

Event/Calendar

Date: January 22, 2023

Use this free, printable Celebrations Around the World Calendar 2023 as a resource to learn more about holidays and celebrations of countries and cultures from all over the world. Great for schools, preschools and community groups.

Our list of celebrations is sorted by month and includes 101 diverse holidays including cultural festivals, religious festivals, international days that raise awareness of social and environmental issues, and even a few just-for-fun days. The choice of days is guided by those that are most likely to be of interest to children which makes this list a great planning tool for teachers and educators across schools, daycare and homeschool settings.

Each celebration is listed with the holiday date for 2023. For multi-day events, the date listed is the commencement date of festivities.

You can find the link and full printing instructions below for the calendar at the bottom of this article. 

Why include celebrations from around the world in your classroom or homeschool program?

Engaging students of all ages in learning about world holidays and celebrations is a fabulous way to help children expand their cultural understanding of the world beyond their own home, family and local community.

Through this exposure children gain greater respect for and acceptance of different cultures, and develop empathy for other people and their ideas, and a carefully planned program of learning activities can help students to see that no matter our differences, we also have much in common with people from different cultures.

Suggestions for how to use the world holidays calendar

• Choose the holidays that are most relevant to your students and engage students in researching the country, religion, culture or customs related to the celebration,

• Plan a fun day of learning activities inspired by a chosen celebration.

• Hang a printed copy of the calendar in your classroom or service to create awareness among the children and their families.

You may also like to pair the Celebrations Around the World Calendar with your choice of the following resources;

• Our free, printable Holidays Around the World worksheets explore a vast range of holidays from different cultures including Diwali, Hanukkah and both Chinese and Japanese New Years.

• Our free, printable Holidays Around the World Interactive Notebook or Lapbook invites students to take a closer look at six international holidays including Kwanzaa, Las Posadas and St. Lucia Day.

• Our Around the World in 40 Books booklist shares a fabulous collection of stories representing different countries and cultures from all over the world.

• Our collection of six Christmas Around the World Worksheets exploring how Christmas is celebrated in a diverse selection of countries from all across the globe.

• Our big list of Books Celebrating Christmas Around the World provides lots of insight into how the Christmas holiday is celebrated in different countries and cultures.

Download Instructions: Celebrations Around the World Calendar

Click here to download: Celebrations Around the World 2023 Calendar. Save the PDF to your computer. Open the PDF to print the pages you require. Please carefully read any printing instructions included within the document.
Having trouble accessing or downloading the file? Please try a different internet browser.
Please note: All Childhood 101 printables are for personal use only, you may not use any part of this content for commercial purposes-that includes selling the document, giving it away to promote your business or website, or printing the file to sell. You may not share, loan or redistribute these documents. Teachers may use multiple copies for students in their own classroom.

Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.