Calendar Highlights: January

The Berkley Schools printed calendar highlights heritage months, holidays, days of observances and recognition days. In the Berkley Beat, we’ll highlight these days with more information for community learning to help us achieve the District goal of creating an environment where all staff, students and community members feel a sense of belonging.
Orthodox Christmas Day - January 7
Many Orthodox Christians in the United States celebrate Christmas Day on or near January 7 in the Gregorian calendar. It is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, who is believed to be the son of God.
Orthodox Christians are estimated to number between 250 and 300 million people. The largest number of Orthodox Christians live in eastern and southeastern Europe, including Russia and Ukraine. There are also significant Orthodox Christian populations in the Middle East and in Ethiopia.
The difference in the timing of the Christmas celebrations stretches back to 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII, ruled that the Catholic Church should follow a new calendar – called the Gregorian calendar, as it was closer to the solar calendar than the Julian calendar.
Orthodox New Year - January 14
The Orthodox New Year, otherwise known as the Old New Year, is a traditional holiday, celebrated as the start of the New Year in the Julian calendar. In the Gregorian calendar, this holiday falls on January 14th every year. This holiday is observed by Orthodox Christians in the U.S., and all around the world. Learn more on the Holidays Calendar website.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - January 20
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (MLK Day) is a federal holiday and is observed in honor of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the third Monday in January. The day commemorates the life and legacy of Dr. King, who was a minister and leader in the modern American civil rights movement. Dr. King is the only non-president to have a national holiday. While Dr. King was assassinated in 1968, MLK Day was not signed into law until 1983 and was first observed in 1986. The official observance was written into all 50 states and federal law by 2000.
Learn more about Dr. King and the years-long process to honor him with a federal holiday in the links below.
- The 15 Year Battle for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - National Museum of African American History & Culture
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - Britannica
- 2025 King Holiday - The King Center
- Martin Luther King Jr. - History.com
January 27 - Holocaust Remembrance Day
The United Nations General Assembly designated January 27—the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau—as International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2005. This day is a time to remember the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and the millions of other victims of Nazi persecution during World War II.
The UN resolution for Holocaust Remembrance Day includes the following statement: Reaffirming that the Holocaust, which resulted in the murder of one third of the Jewish people, along with countless members of other minorities, will forever be a warning to all people of the dangers of hatred, bigotry, racism and prejudice; Rejects any denial of the Holocaust as an historical event, either in full or part; Commends those States which have actively engaged in preserving those sites that served as Nazi death camps, concentration camps, forced labour camps and prisons during the Holocaust; Condemns without reserve all manifestations of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief, wherever they occur.
Learn more on the United State Holocaust Memorial Museum website: https://www.ushmm.org/remember/international-holocaust-remembrance-day
Lunar New Year - January 29, 2025
Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year, falls on Wednesday, January 29th, 2025, and celebrations culminate with the Lantern Festival on February 12th, 2025.
Lunar New Year is a celebration of the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new year on the lunisolar calendar. It is the most important holiday in China, and it is also widely celebrated in South Korea, Vietnam, and countries with a significant overseas Chinese population. While the official dates encompassing the holiday vary by culture, those celebrating consider it the time of the year to reunite with immediate and extended family.
Commonly known as the Spring Festival in China, Lunar New Year is a fifteen-day celebration marked by many traditions. At home, families decorate windows with red paper cuttings and adorn doors with couplets expressing auspicious wishes for the new year. Shopping for holiday sundries in open-air markets and cleaning the house are also beloved traditions. The Lunar New Year’s Eve reunion dinner is the highlight that kicks off the holiday, a feast with a spread of symbolic dishes, such as a whole fish representing abundance, that bring good luck and fortune. The fifteenth and final day of the holiday is the Lantern Festival, during which people have tangyuan, or sweet glutinous rice balls, and children carry lanterns around the neighborhood at night to mark the end of the celebration.
In the Chinese zodiac, 2025 is the year of the snake.
Source: The National Museum of Asian Art