Mardi Gras - Fat Tuesday - Pancake Day

Happy Mardi Gras! The holiday also called Shrove Tuesday and Fat Tuesday is a Carnival celebration, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday (known as Shrove Tuesday). Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday", reflecting the practice of the last night of eating rich, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season.

In the photo: a poster inviting to the Mardi Gras celebrations from 1914

Mardi Gras is the last day before the "fast" of the Christians, a 40-day period of the Christians before Easter in which they do not consume animal products. The first day of Lent is called "Ash Wednesday" and it falls 46 days before Easter, always on Wednesday. The fasting period is 40 days, when on Sundays it does not take place.

The Tuesday before Lent is a day dedicated to celebrations in the Christian world. In many localities processions and parades are held, and in many homes large and solemn meals are held. Because on Tuesday it eats a lot of desserts and fattening things without making an account, it is called Fat Tuesday. Mardi Gras always falls between February 4th and March 10th.

One of the traditional customs at Mardi Gras is to eat pancakes so Mardi Gras is also Pancake Day.

The pancakes are made from flour, eggs, milk, sugar, baking powder, oil or butter.

Animal Pancake Pan Amazon

Pancakes are a dish that is eaten around the world, in different variations. In France the pancake is thin (what we know as crepe). In Germany it is eaten with powdered sugar, jam and lemons. In the Netherlands the rolled pancakes are eaten with savory and sweet toppings. In Russia, Belini is eaten. In Greece it is prepared with yogurt and eaten with honey. In Malaysia and Singapore it is sometimes prepared with soybeans instead of flour and stuffed with cheese, jam, nuts and peanuts. In China, the pancakes are thinly prepared with buckwheat and green onions and are part of the Peking-style duck dish. In India, pancakes are called Uttapam and are made from rice and vegetables. In Japan, they make a fluffy pancake cake called Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き o-konomi-yaki).

When will Mardi Gras be in the coming years?

2022- 1 March

2023 - 21 February

2024- 13 February

2025- March 4th

2026 - 17 February

Yom Kippur​ Coloring Pages - Jewish ​Day of Atonement

Drawings of Yom Kippur- the Jewish the Day of Atonement,  the holiest day of the year in Judaism.

Here you will find coloring pages for Yom Kippur. Printable coloring sheets for free you can come back to print and color again and again. You can paint in any colors you want. Choose the coloring page of Yom Kippur you want to paint, print and paint for your enjoyment. To print the page you would like to color, click on page and then click Ctrl+P. Have fun!

Eid al-Fitr

Eid al-Fitr (Arabic: عيد الفطر) is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of the month of Ramadan, the month of Muslim fasting.

Ramadan is the ninth month in the Muslim calendar. This month muslims fast all day and this command is one of the five pillars of Islam.

The date when the Eid al-Fitr is is the first two days of the month of Shawwal, the tenth month of the Muslim calendar.

The exact date of the holiday is determined by evidence of the moon's innate vision, that is, when the moon is very small, which symbolizes the beginning of the month of Shawwal.

Holiday Customs

Eid al-Fitr is a holiday of forgiveness, peace, community and brotherhood. Therefore, during the holiday, Muslims often visit their friends and relatives, and this is an opportunity to resolve quarrels and disputes.

In Eid al-Fitr it is customary to get up early in the morning, wear festive clothes (preferably new), pray special prayers in honor of the holiday and celebrate with family meals and fireworks. It is customary to give gifts to women and children. It is obligatory for every Muslim who has the minimum enough to live to give a special charity in his name and in the name of his family members (زكاة الفطر). The purpose of charity is to cleanse the person from mistakes he made during the fast such as nonsense he said (لغو) or profanity (رفث), and to help the poor and needy to celebrate the holiday. Zakat al-Fitr is usually a food such as rice, flour or money. This can be given to the poor from the sunset of the last day of the month of Ramadan until the holiday prayer.

Another tradition of the holiday is the belief that by this time the writing of the Quran was over.

The blessing for the holiday of Eid al-Fitr is in Arabic: عيد الفطر سعيد, pronounced: Eid al-Fitr Said, or Eid al-Fitr blessed, in Arabic: عيد الفطر المبارك, pronounced: Eid al-Peter Mubarak.

When is Eid al-Fitr in the next coming years?

2021- May 12 - May 13

2022- May 2 - May 3 (estimated)

Ramadan - the ninth month of the Islamic calendar

The month of Ramadan (Arabic: رمضان) is a month in the Muslim year in which one fasts during the day, at dawn, and celebrates during the night, from sunset. On Ramadan nights the atmosphere is of a holiday and a festival. Great family meals are held, relatives visit and lots of gifts are bought for each other. During Ramadan fasting (forbidden to eat and drink) and also forbidden to smoke and have sex. No marriages are held during the month of Ramadan.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim year. The month lasts for 29 or 30 days (depending on the lunar new moon at the end of the month) and towards the end of it falls the Laylat al-Qadr (Fateful Night), when according to Muslim tradition, the angel Jibril (Gabriel) was revealed to Muhammad for the first time. :  Sūrat al-ʿAlaq. This night occurs on one of the odd days from the 21st of the month until the end, in most places on the 27th night. There is a belief that this night is "better than a thousand months" and that this night there is always a clear cloud and pleasant weather, and temporary peace prevails all over the world. It is also believed that a wish expressed on this night will come true and one can ask God for forgiveness on this night as well.

At the end of the month,  Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that falls on the first three days of the month of Shawwal, the tenth month in the Muslim calendar.

Because the Muslim calendar depends on receiving evidence regarding the sighting of the lunar new moon, it is not possible to determine exactly when the Islamic holidays will apply in advance, and there can be a shift of one or two days between the expected date and the actual date. In different geographical places Ramadan can begin and end with a slight difference of a day or two, so determining the beginning and end of the month of Ramadan depends on an Islamic court that relies on eyewitness evidence of the lunar new moon.

Every adult Muslim (aged 11-13) must fast during Ramadan, women and men alike. Those who are exempt from fasting are patients, the elderly, travelers, pregnant and breasfeeding women and women in period, and these must complete the days of fasting they missed at a later date or donate to charity if they cannot fast at all.

To meet the fast of Ramadan, many Muslims get up very early, before sunrise, to eat the predawn meal, the  suhur- the last meal before the start of the fast. There is also a tradition of 'musaharati', a person with a special role who walks the streets and wakes the sleeping ones to the intermittent meal.

Before the sun goes down, the whole family gathers to eat the Iftar, the meal that ends the fast. At this meal it is customary to start eating a date, following the custom of Muhammad quoted in the Qur’an.

Muslims treat the month of Ramadan as a month of introspection, closeness to God, worship, modesty and restraint, atonement for sins, doing acts of kindness and empathy with hunger and difficulty which is the lot of the poor and needy. It is customary to adhere strictly to the laws of Islam that are not specific to Ramadan such as prayer, avoidance of gossip, hypocrisy and other moral sins.

Greetings for Ramadan

Ramadan is considered by Muslims to be a month of holiness, brotherhood and joy and the accepted blessings are the blessing of Ramadan Karim (رمضان كريم - meaning generous Ramadan), Ramadan Mubarak (رمضان مبارك - Blessed Ramadan), and kl eam wa'antuma bakhyar! (كل عام وانتم بخير - meaning Best wishes for a happy year).

 Ramadan kareem - رمضان كريم

Ramadan mubarak - رمضان مبارك