978-1-4222-3316-0

A Calendar of Bahaman Festivals

January Junkanoo , a festival that begins just before dawn on New Year’s Day, is a celebration of African culture. March Commonwealth Day is celebrated the second Monday in March. April Easter (which in some years falls in March) is the most important religious occasion for Bahamian Christians. May Whitmonday , the day after the Christian religious feast of Pentecost, is a traditional holiday throughout British lands. It falls seven weeks after Easter. June The first Friday in June is Labour Day , which honors working men and women. July July 10, Independence Day , commemerates the day in 1973 when the Bahamas gained independence from Great Britain. August The first Monday in August is Emancipation Day . It marks the freeing of all African slaves in

the Bahamas, which took place in 1834. October

October 12, Discovery Day , is a celebration of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in San Salvador in 1492. December Like Christians everywhere, Bahamians cele- brate Christmas on December 25. Boxing Day , a traditional English holiday, is celebrated on the 26th.

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