Diversity and Inclusion Calendar 2023
The GARE Steering Committee is excited to share with you this Diversity and Inclusion Calendar. This calendar has been developed to help to raise awareness, understanding, and appreciation for dates and events that are important to a wide range of cultural causes and interests of our multicultural workforce. This calendar includes a mixture of widely recognized cultural/religious festivals as well as diversity and inclusion related awareness months and key dates, and are not intended as a prescriptive list.
GARE asks that you share with us any widely recognized cultural or religious observances you believe should be included on this calendar. Staff are welcome to contact GARE at GARE@cdcr.ca.gov to suggest other noteworthy dates to add to this calendar. Questions or concerns can also be sent to the GARE email inbox.
Color Shape Key
 | Green Triangle – Diversity Leaders’ Birthdays |
 | Blue Circle – United States Holidays |
 | Red Bar – Religious / Cultural Holidays |
 | Purple Star- International Holidays |
 | Black Square – Equinoxes |
- January 2023
1/1
New Year’s Day
1/1 Emancipation Proclamation (Black American)
1/2 New Year’s Day Holiday
1/4 Birthday of Louis Braille (Creator of system of reading and writing for visually impaired)
1/4 National Braille Day
1/5 Guru Gobind Singh Ji Jayanti (Sikh)
1/6 Feast of Epiphany (Christian)
1/7 Mahayana New Year (Buddhist)
1/9 Guru Gobind Singh Birthday (Sikh)
1/11 Birthday of Alice Paul (Women’s Rights Pioneer)
1/13 Lohri- Maghi (Sikh)
1/15 Makarsankranti (Hindu festival to Sun God, Surya)
1/15 World Religious Freedom Day
1/16 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
1/18 World Religion Day
1/22 Lunar New Year (Year of Rabbit)
1/24 International Day of Education
1/26 International Customs Day
1/26 Vasant Panchami (Hindu)
1/27 International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust (UN)
- February 2023
2/1 National Freedom Day
2/2 Candlemas (Christian)
2/3 Korean New Year
2/3 Guru Har Rai Birthday (Sikh)
2/4 Rosa Parks Day
2/6 International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation
2/8 Safer Internet Day
2/12 Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday
2/14 Valentine’s Day
2/14 Frederick Douglas Birthday (Abolitionist and Social Reformer)
2/15 Susan B. Anthony Birthday (Women’s suffrage Leader)
2/15 Nirvana Day (Buddhist)
2/15 International Childhood Cancer Day
2/18 Maha Shivaratri (Hindu)
2/20 World Day of Social Justice
2/20 Presidents Day / George Washington’s Birthday
2/21 Mardi Gras
2/21 Shrove Tuesday (Christian)
2/22 Ash Wednesday (Christian)
- March 2023
3/1 Zero Discrimination Day (UN)
3/3 Employee Appreciation Day
3/6 Magha Puja Day (Buddhist)
3/8 International Women’s Day (UN)
3/8 Holi (Hindu)
3/10 Harriet Tubman Day
3/14 Equal Pay Day
3/17 St Patrick Day
3/20 Vernal Equinox
3/21 International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UN)
3/21 World Down Syndrome Day
3/21 New-Ruz (Baha’l New Year)
3/21 Nowruz (Persian)
3/22 Ramadan begins (Islam)
3/23 Atheist Day
3/25 International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
3/25 Guru Angad Dev Jotijot (Sikh)
3/30 Ram Naumi (Hindu)
3/31 International Transgender Day of Visibility
3/31 Cesar Chavez Day
- April 2023
4/2
World Autism Awareness Day
4/2 Palm Sunday (Christian)
4/5 Birthday of Booker T. Washington (Early Dominant Leader)
4/5 Passover begins (Jewish)
4/6 National Tartan Day (Scottish)
4/6 Holy Thursday (Christian)
4/6 Theravad New Year (Buddhist)
4/6 Hanuman Jayanti (Hindu)
4/7 World Health Day (UN)
4/7 Good Friday (Christian)
4/9 Easter Sunday (Christian)
4/10 Dolores Huerta Day
4/10 Easter Monday (Christian)
4/13 Passover Ends (Jewish)
4/14 National Day of Silence (LGBTQIA+)
4/17 Emancipation Day
4/17 Yom Hashoah (Jewish)
4/18 Laylat al-Qadr (Islam)
4/21 Ramadan Ends (Islam)
4/21 Start of Rivdan (Baha’i)
4/22 Earth Day
4/22 Akshaya Tritiya (Hindu)
4/22 Eid al-Fitr (Islam)
4/27 Gathering of Nations begins (Native American)
4/27 African Freedom Day
4/28 World Day for Safety and Health at Work
4/30 Gathering of Nations (ends)
- May 2023
5/1
May Day (International Workers’ Day)
5/4 National Day of Prayer
5/4 National Day of Reason
5/5 Cinco de Mayo (Mexican American)
5/14 Mother’s Day
5/15 International Day for Families (UN)
5/16 International Day of Living Together in Peace
5/17 International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia
5/19 Vesak Buddha Day (Buddhist)
5/19 Malcolm X Day
5/21 Multicultural Diversity Day
5/21 World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development
5/22 Harvey Milk Day (LGBTQ/Civil Rights Activist)
5/24 Declaration of the Bab (Baha’i)
5/25 Shavout (Jewish)
5/28 International Day of Action for Women’s Health
5/29 Ascension of Baha’u’llah (Baha’i)
5/29 Memorial Day
5/30 World Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Day
- June 2023
6/1
Global Day of Parents
6/2 Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 (Native American)
6/5 World Environment Day
6/11 Race Unity Day
6/11 National Puerto Rican Day Parade
6/11 National Children’s Day
6/12 Loving Day (Interracial Marriage anniversary)
6/16 Martyrdom of Guru Arjan (Sikh)
6/18 International Day for Countering Hate Speech
6/19 Father’s Day
6/19 Juneteenth
6/20 World Refugee Day
6/21 Summer Solstice
6/21 Litha, Summer Solstice (Pagan)
6/23 UN Public Service Day
6/27 Helen Keller Day (Disability Rights Activist)
6/28 Christopher Street Liberation Day (Anniversary of Stonewall Riots/LGBT Civil Rights Movement)
6/29 Eid-al-Adha (Islam)
- July 2023
7/2
Thurgood Marshall Birthday (Civil Rights Activist)
7/3 Guru Pumima (Hindu)
7/3 Asla-Dharma Day (Buddhist)
7/4 Independence Day
7/6 14th Dalai Lama Birthday
7/7 The Hajj (Islamic)
7/9 Eid al-Adha (Islam)
7/9 Martyrdom of the Bab (Baha’i)
7/11 World Populace Day
7/14 Bastille Day
7/14 International Non-Binary People’s Day
7/17 World Day of International Justice
7/18 Nelson Mandela International Day
7/18 Hijra- Islamic New Year (Islam)
7/24 Pioneer Day (Mormon)
7/25 Pioneer Day (Christian)
7/26 National Disability Independence Day
7/28 Day of Ashura/Muharram (Islam)
- August 2023
8/4
Barack Obama Birthday (US 1st Black President)
8/7 Purple Heart Day
8/9 International Day of the World’s Indigenous People (UN)
8/13 Left Handers Day
8/13 Obon (Buddhist)
8/15 Feast of the Assumption (Christian)
8/17 Marcus Garvey Day
8/19 World Humanitarian Day
8/21 Senior Citizens Day
8/21 Nag Panchami (Hindu)
8/22 International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief
8/23 International Day for the remembrances of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition
8/24 Marlee Matlin Day (People with Disabilities)
8/26 Women’s Equality Day
8/30 Raksha Bandhan (Hindu)
8/30 Al-Hijri (Islamic)
- September 2023
9/4
Labor Day
9/5 International Day of Charity
9/6 Shree Krishna Janamashtami (Hindu)
9/8 Literacy Day (UN)
9/10 Grandparents Day
9/11 Patriot Day
9/14 Holy Cross Day (Christian)
9/15 International Day of Democracy
9/15 Rosh Hashanah begins (Jewish)
9/15 National Latino/Hispanic Heritage Month (begins)
9/17 Native American Citizenship Day
9/17 World Patient Safety Day
9/17 Rosh Hashanah ends (Jewish)
9/18 Ganesha Chaturthi (Hindu)
9/20 HeForShe (UN promoting gender equality)
9/21 International Day of Peace
9/21 Mabon (Pagan)
9/21 World Gratitude Day
9/22 Autumnal Equinox
9/22 National Native American Day
9/22 American Business Women’s Day
9/23 International Day of Sign Languages
9/24 Yom Kippur begins (Jewish)
9/25 Yom Kippur ends (Jewish)
9/26 European Day of Languages
9/26 Mawlid al-Nabi
9/27 World Tourism Day
9/29 Sukkot begins (Jewish)
9/30 International Translation Day
- October 2023
10/2 Mahatma Gandhi Birthday
10/2 International Day of Nonviolence
10/6 Shemini Atzaret/ Simchat Torah begins (Jewish)
10/6 Sukkot ends (Jewish)
10/7 Shemini Atzaret/ Simchat Torah ends (Jewish)
10/9 Milad un Nabi (Islam)
10/9 National Indigenous Peoples’ Day
10/10 World Mental Health Day
10/11 National Coming Out Day (LGBTQIA+)
10/12 US Free Thought Day
10/12 World Sight Day
10/15 Navratri Begins (Hindu)
10/15 White Cane Safety Day (Blind Awareness)
10/16 Bosses Day
10/16 World Food Day
10/16 Birth of the Bab (Baha’i)
10/16 Waste Reduction Week
10/17 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
10/17 Birth of the Bab (Baha’i)
10/19 Spirit Day (LGBTQIA+ anti-bullying)
10/17 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
10/20 Sikh Holy Day (birth of Guru Granth)
10/22 International Stuttering Awareness Day
10/24 Dusshera (Hindu)
10/25 Larry Itliong Day
10/29 National Organization for Women (NOW)
10/31 Halloween
10/31 Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead begins)
- November 2023
11/1
All Saints’ Day (Christian)
11/2 National Stress Awareness Day
11/2 All Souls Day
11/2 Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead ends)
11/9 World Freedom Day
11/9 World Adoption Day
11/10 World Science Day for Peace and Development
11/11 Veterans Day
11/12 Birth of Bah’u’llah (Baha’i)
11/12 Deepawali (Diwali) (Hindu)
11/13 World Kindness Day
11/16 Dutch American Heritage Day
11/16 International Day for Tolerance (UN)
11/19 International Men’s Day
11/20 Transgender Day of Remembrance
11/20 Universal Children’s Day (UN)
11/23 Thanksgiving Day
11/24 Martydom of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib (Sikh)
11/25 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
11/26 Day of the Covenant (Baha’i)
11/27 Guru Nanak Dev Jayanti (Sikh)
11/28 Ascension of Abdu’l-Baha (Baha’i)
- December 2023
12/1
Worlds Aids Day
12/3 International Day of Persons with Disabilities
12/3 Advent (Christian)
12/5 International Volunteer Day
12/7 Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
12/7 Hanukkah begins (Jewish)
12/8 Bodhi Day (Buddhist)
12/9 International Genocide Prevention Day
12/10 International Human Rights Day
12/12 Our Lady of Guadalupe- Feast Day (Christian)
12/15 Guru Gobind Singh Guryai (Sikh)
12/15 Hanukkah ends (Jewish)
12/16 Las Posadas begins (Mexican)
12/18 International Migrants Day
12/21 Yule Winter Solstice (Pagan)
12/22 Geeta Jayanti (Hindu)
12/24 Christmas Eve (Christian)
12/24 Las Posadas ends (Mexican)
12/25 Christmas Day
12/26 Kwanzaa
12/31 New Year’s Eve
Disclaimer: This GARE Diversity and Inclusion Calendar highlights and showcases a number of nationally recognized months and events not limited to: religious, cultural, heritage, gender identity and expressions, disability, recognition of diversity leaders, United Nations (UN) international days, etc. This is not an all-inclusive list.