| Holi or Holika (second day) - Friday March 2, 2018 Hinduism : Hindu spring festival dedicated to the god of pleasure. It is observed in a colorful and boisterous manner. People shower each other with colored water and smear red and green powder on each other,
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| Optional holiday - Sunday March 18, 2018 Hinduism : Marks the beginning of Ramayana's week
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| Ramanavani - Sunday March 25, 2018 Hinduism : Festivities take place in the Rama temples. recitation of the Ramayana (Perayana), which can last up to 9 days. Classical music and sacred chants.
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| Mahavir Jayanti - Thursday March 29, 2018 Jainism : Jain festival honoring Lord Mahavira on the founder's birthday.
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| Good Friday - Friday March 30, 2018 Catholic or protestant : The First Council of Nicaea (a gathering of bishops in the early days of Christianity) wanted to find a day to commemorate the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.
This commemoration had to be linked to Jewish holiday traditions, since the last supper of Christ was believed to be a Jewish Passover meal. But the Jewish calendar is based on lunar and solar cycles, so the Easter celebration had to follow the same calendar.
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| April Fools Day - Monday April 1, 2019 cards/flowers : As the story goes, in 1564, France was one of the first nations to make January 1 officially New Year's Day, instead of the last week of March which was previously observed. In 1582, the Pope followed suit. Those who went on celebrating April 1st were mocked. As the zodiacal sign was the fish, The French placed dead fish on the backs of one another. Traditions vary from country to country.
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| Easter - Sunday April 1, 2018 Catholic or protestant : Not a paid holiday
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| Banks Inventory Day - Monday April 2, 2018 Banks only :
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| Vesak - Buddha Purnima - Visakha Bucha - Monday April 30, 2018 Buddhism (Theravada) : Only celebrated in Andaman & Nicobar Island, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, Mizoram, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh. Date is confirmed in 2018
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| Mothers' Day - Sunday May 13, 2018 cards/flowers : Mother’s day has evolved in many countries in different ways. This is because mother’s day has different origins in different countries and therefore occurs on different days in the year.
One school of thought claims that this day emerged from the custom of mother worship in ancient Greece. Mother worship which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of gods, and Rhea, the wife of Cronus, was held on March 15 to March 18 around Asia Minor. They insist that this custom spread around the world.
Mothering Sunday is the celebration of motherhood in the United Kingdom. It is also known as Mid-lent Sunday, Rose Sunday and Laetare Sunday. It originally comes from the Victorian practice of allowing servants to return home to visit their mothers on this day.
In the United States, Julia Ward Howe (May 27, 1819 - October 17, 1910) was a prominent American abolitionist, social activist, and poet. Howe’s Battle Hymn of the Republic was first published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1862 and quickly became one of the most popular songs for the Union during the American Civil War. After the war she focused her activities on the causes of Pacifism and women’s suffrage. In 1870 she was the first to proclaim Mother’s Day, with her Mother’s Day Proclamation. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson approved Mother’s Day in 1914
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| Royal wedding - Friday May 18, 2018 Special Events :
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| Bank strike - Wednesday May 30, 2018 Banks only :
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| Bank strike - Thursday May 31, 2018 Banks only :
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| End of Ramadan (may be changed to the nearest day) - Saturday June 16, 2018 Muslim, Sufi : Ends the ninth month in the Islamic calendar. There were 30 days of strict fasting from sunup to sundown in honor of the first revelation to the Prophet Mohammed.
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| Fathers' Day - Sunday June 17, 2018 cards/flowers :
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| Independence Day - Wednesday August 15, 2018 Secular holiday : Commemorates the day in 1947 when India achieved freedom from British rule
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| Eid-ul-Adha - Feast of the Sacrifice (may be changed to the nearest day) - Wednesday August 22, 2018 cards/flowers :
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| Sri Krishna Jayanthi (Janmashtami) - Monday September 3, 2018 Hinduism : Krishna (literally black , dark , dark-blue ) is a Hindu deity, regarded as an avatar of Vishnu and in some traditions considered the Supreme Being. Krishna is often depicted as an infant or young boy playing a flute as in the Bhagavata Purana or as a youthful prince giving direction and guidance as in the Bhagavad Gita. The stories of Krishna appear across a oad spectrum of Hindu philosophical and theological traditions.They portray him in various perspectives: a god-child, a prankster, a model lover, a divine hero and the Supreme Being.
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| El am Hejir New Year (may be changed to the nearest day) - Wednesday September 12, 2018 cards/flowers :
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| Awal Muharram (Maal Hijrah) - Friday September 21, 2018 Muslim, Sufi : The first day of the year is observed on the first day of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic calendar. The first Islamic year beginning in 610 AD during which the emigration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, known as the Hijra [Wikipedia]
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| Pitr-paksha - Tuesday September 25, 2018 Culture : Pitrapaksha gives a chance to repay debt to the deceased ancestors by gratifying their spirits. As such, Shraddha is a debt of the dead or ceremonies of the dead which should be performed, assuming that the dead ones are alive. The Lord of death, Yamaraja enables the dead ones to come to earth and receive offers from the descendants. This practice is made to the dead petras and pitras http://www.drikpanchang.com
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