Can You Match the Holiday to the Religion?

By: Mark Lichtenstein
Estimated Completion Time
2 min
Can You Match the Holiday to the Religion?
Image: Shutterstock

About This Quiz

Christmas, Passover, and Eid, oh my! Religious holidays aren't just dates where you potentially get a day off from school or work. They are the basis for the faiths and practices all over the world. From Christianity to Islam, can you match the holiday to its religion?

While there are hundreds of different religions, there are a few that are more widely known than others. Christianity is the most practiced religion in the world with over 2.2 billion followers. Even this branch of religion breaks down further. The Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination with over 1.2 billion, while Protestantism follows next with 920 million.

The second most followed religion is Islam with over 1.6 billion followers. The list of top 10 most practiced faiths is rounded out with Hinduism (#3), Buddhism (#4), and Judaism (#8). 

When it comes to the holidays of these religions, it might be hard to recognize them all, but if you had a calendar, you'd probably see most of them. How many of them could you recognize?

Every December 25, you'll always find Christmas Day listed on your calendar. Which denomination does it go with? In September or October, you'll always see Yom Kippur on your calendar. Which religion celebrates this holiday? Sometime near the start of summer, you'll always see Ramadan written on your calendar. Which faith is celebrating this holiday? 

There are tons of religious holidays, and while some of them mean a day off from school or work, they play a significant role in their respective religion.

Can you match all these holidays to their religion? Let's find out!

Christmas
Catholicism
Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Many Christians observe this holiday.
Judaism
Hinduism
Islam

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Passover
Judaism
Passover celebrates the liberation of the Israelites from bondage in ancient Egypt.
Jainism
Scientology
Wicca

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Pentecost
The Church of England
Sometimes called White Sunday, Pentecost celebrates the birth of The Church as such.
Sunni Islam
Zen
Navajo Religion

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Ashura
Islam
For Muslims, this is the day of remembrance, when people look back on the sins they have committed in the last year and try to make amends.
Judaism
Jainism
Satanism

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Krishna Janmashtami
Catholicism
Hinduism
Krishna Janmashtami is the celebration of the birth of Lord Krishna
Zen
Judaism

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Carnivale
Catholicism
Carnivale is a celebration of vice in preparation for the days of Lent, when Catholics cannot indulge in vices.
Judaism
Satanism
Heaven's Gate

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Akshaya Tritiya
Jainism
Akshaya Tritiya is the day of fasting and pilgrimage in Jainism.
Islam
Zen
Arkeon

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Easter
Asura
Reform Judaism
Christians
Christians celebrate Christ and his resurrection on Easter. The date varies each year, according to a complicated formula.
Zen

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Oxóssi
The Church of Satan
Candomblé
Oxóssi is both the name of the spirit associated with the hunt, forests, animals and wealth, and the holiday celebrating the same.
Catholicism
Mayan Religion

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All Souls Day
Voodoo
Fet Gede is the term used in Voodoo for All Souls Day, and is celebrated as a national holiday in Haiti.
Scientology
Sikhism
Modern Orthodox Judiasm

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Grand Bois
Hinduism
Lutheranism
Catholicism
Voodoo
The Grand Bois is a celebration of the healing power of plants, in Voodoo. It is analogous but not identical to the Feast of Saint Sebastian.

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Purim, one month early
Liberal British Judaism
Reform Judaism
Heredi Judaism
Karaite Judaism
The Karaite movement never embraced the Rabbinical movement's use of documents other than the Torah, including the Talmud. As a result, some of their holidays and customs are a bit different.

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Yom Teruah
Bahá'í
Islam
Karaite Judaism
This day is named for shouting praise of God.
Coptic Christianity

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Dhamma Day
Voodoo
Santeria
Jainism
Zen
This Zen holiday honors the first public teachings of Buddha.

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Festival of Ridván
Bahá'í
This twelve-day holiday celebrates Bahá'u'lláh's announcement that he was the manifestation of God on Earth.
Quaker
Mohawk Religion
Sufi Mysticism

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Day of Recognition
Jainism
Hinduism
Jedi
The modern Jedi religion (yes, it is a real religion) celebrates the "bonds between us all" on this day.
Santeria

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The Birth of the Báb
Church of Satan
Bahá'í
This holiday celebrates the birth of The Báb, born Sayyed ʿAli Muhammad Shirāzi, who founded Bábism.
The Nation of Islam
Roman Polytheism

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Jnan Panchami
Orthodox Christianity
Jainism
Celebrating the worship of knowledge, this holiday reveres the Jain scriptures.
Raelianism
Jedi

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Raksha Bandhan
Buddhism
Islam
Hinduism
This Hindu holiday celebrates the bond of brotherhood and love.
Judaism

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March 19–20, 1997
Heaven's Gate
Marshall Applewhite commanded his followers to "evacuate the Earth" by committing suicide to board the space ship he claimed was trailing the Hale–Bopp comet.
Universal White Brotherhood
Vedanta Society
Agasha Temple of Wisdom

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Freyfest
Church of England
Hinduism
Islam
Asatru
On this holiday, figures of the goddess Freyr are baked and eaten.

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Eponalia
Rabbinical Judaism
Karite Judaism
Catholicism
Roman Polytheism
Eponalia celebrates Epona, protector of horses.

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Yule
Episcopalianism
Roman Polytheism
Asatru
Yule is the Norse midwinter festival.
Assemblies of God

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Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (December 25)
Islam
Catholicism
Roman Polytheism
While the celebration of the birth of the sun (Sol Invictus) is still celebrated by some neopagans, it has been folded into Christianity as the adjusted date of Christmas.
Norse Religion

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Nagar Kirtan
Ancient British Church of North America
Judaism
Church of Satan
Sikhism
This Sikh holiday involves processional singing of hymns.

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Walpurgis Night
Lutheranism
Catholicism
Jainism
Satanism
This night commemorates the founding of the Church of Satan.

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"Maitreya Rael’s first encounter with an extraterrestrial human being named Yahweh"
Chabad
Church of Satan
Raelians
This holiday celebrates the religion's founder (a former race car driver) meeting God.
Westboro Baptist Church

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Vaisakhi
Raelians
Art of Living Foundation
Sikhism
This Sikh holiday celebrates the births and lives of Sikh martyrs.
Aladura

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Christmas
African Hebrew Israelites
While they identify as "Israelites," this group adheres to the King James Bible.
Judaism
The United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors
3HO

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Crown of Peace Ceremony
Church of Unification
This holiday commemorates a blessing given by Reverend Moon of the Unification Church.
True Buddha School
Toronto Blessing
Twelve Tribes communities

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Kwanzaa
No specific religion
Created in the 1960s to give African Americans an alternative to Christmas, Kwanzaa has since become more mainstream, less about rejection of Christianity and more about embracing identity.
Voodoo
Christianity
Islam

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Juneteenth
No specific religion
Juneteenth isn't a religious holiday per se, as it celebrates the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation
Floyds of Mercury
Heaven's Gate
Nation of Islam

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Saviours' Day
Pentacostal Christianity
The Nation of Islam
Saviours' Day celebrates the birth of founder of The Nation of Islam, Wallace Fard Muhammad .
The Temple of Solomon
Voodoo

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Umrah
Zoroastrianism
Islam
Umrah is a "holiday" determined by the practitioner, when they make a pilgrimage to Mecca outside of the Hajj
The Nation of Islam
Judaism

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Selichot
Wicca
Satanism
Islam
Judaism
Selichot is a month of repentance, preceding Rosh Hashanah, in the month of Elul.

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