In response to the shifting routines in our community and world-wide prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a temporary suspension of some of our supports and a gradual reopening of others. Things may seem different in this moment, but our mission remains the same.
Our main concern at this time is to ensure that we continue to provide the best support possible for the people we serve, while continuing to follow directives from our Provincial Government and following guidelines set out by the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Health.
Broadview Village provides programs, run out of our Railside Campus, with low stress and structured environments where individuals can develop social and work skills as well as real work opportunities to prepare for return to competitive employment.
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TEP is a vocational program for people coping with mental health challenges and /or concurrent disorders.
• Our Focus: to provide supported employees with work skills training and support, job coaching while performing real work for real wages. Staff shadow participants in their work, available to encourage participants, provide counselling and mental health first aid if needed, and liaise with customers when required. Our program promotes diversity, inclusion and equity through employee recruitment, person centered planning, and partnerships/working relationships.
• Our Goal: to encourage and empower the people we support in fulfilling meaningful contributions to society and to sustain good mental health and emotional wellbeing. Program Participants are supported to set personal goals through the ISP (Individual Support Plan) and Outcomes Star. Staff strive to support our participants in transitioning back into full competitive employment, developing a network of supports to be successful in their work, and sustain good mental health.
TEP has developed enduring community partnerships in order to provide opportunities for training, skill development and employment. TEP promotes a person-centered approach to support individuals back into the workforce.
The Transitional Employment Program is funded by the Ministry of Health and The Salvation Army (a registered charity). All proceeds generated from the services provided go directly to supporting our employees, linking them to potential permanent employers and providing Mental Health Awareness within our Community
People interested in joining TEP are assessed, interviewed, and hired by The Salvation Army as employees. We provide ongoing support, job shadowing, counselling, training, and education to each of our employees/ program participants.
The Salvation Army TEP is sensitive to the needs of our customers. We are committed to partnering with you to deliver the highest standard of service.
The people we support have acquired expertise and proficiency in general labour jobs. As a company or an individual, you can contract with our program to have a team of our employees provide service to your home or place of business. Our employees have developed strong work ethics and are valuable assets to our partnering organizations.
Job Coaches are available to provide support, information and coaching to our customers in understanding Mental Health Challenges in the workplace.
We strive for customer satisfaction.
TEP has a valid WSIB certificate and all our employees are covered under The Workplace Insurance Board.
We have an excellent team of dedicated employees who can provide you with services that are tailored to meet your specific needs.
The P.L.U.S. Program is a community-based program providing opportunities to develop social and life skills, vocational skills for people struggling with mental health challenges and/or concurrent disorders through various aspects of the Program.
Individuals can join life skills groups (cooking, nutrition, gardening, arts), volunteer through the Meals that Heal Program (see description below), engage in vocational skill development through the P.L.U.S. Partnership (see description below), learning the skills required for competitive employment and when job ready, can be employed in the Affirmative Business (see description below) engaging in real work and earning real wages. The working environment and schedule is intentionally low stress and structured to assist participants in developing personal development. Staff provide a person-centered approach and encourage participants to develop an individualized support plan and Outcomes Star to develop personal goals.
Each participant is teamed with a Counsellor who will assist in developing goals towards job readiness, employment and/or maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Counsellors provide supportive and crisis counselling, advocacy and referral assistance where needed or requested.
Activities include: Music, Garden Club, Walking Club, Arts and Crafts
Sessions include Living with Diabetes, Budgeting, Mindfulness, Deep Breathing Techniques and Daily Stretches
Participants prepare meals in an industrial kitchen for people at risk of homelessness. Participants receive training in safe food handling, nutrition, menu planning and meal preparation.
Participants attending the P.L.U.S. Program will receive work opportunities, training and support so that they can explore job readiness and develop the skills needed to transition into competitive employment.
Participants of the P.L.U.S. Program who are not yet ready for competitive employment have the unique opportunity of joining the PLUS Partnership and signing the Partnership Agreement. Partners of this agreement come together to make profits in business. The P.L.U.S. Partnership is managed by an elected Steering Committee from its members. The partners develop an understanding of managing a business. Partners share the profits of the revenue generated from the services they provided to our Affirmative Business and other Valued Customers.
When participants of the P.L.U.S. Program have developed the skills needed for competitive employment, their Counsellor will make a referral for eligibility to the TEP Program, or recruitment in the Affirmative Business.
The Affirmative Business is a Packaging and Light Assembly Business that supports individuals who are transitioning from the P.L.U.S. Program and CEPE Program who are ready for competitive employment: Real Work for Real Pay.
Our goal is to encourage and empower the people we support towards meaningful contributions to society and to sustaining good mental health and emotional well-being.
The Salvation Army is sensitive to the needs of our customers and we are committed to partnering with you to deliver the highest standard of service while helping you in reducing overhead service and manufacturing costs.
The Affirmative Business is committed to supplying cost effective and environmentally friendly packaging on time and on budget. We can solve packaging challenges and problems with innovative solutions. The Affirmative Business has been providing quality contract packaging at the right price and on time.
High Speed Shrink Wrapping
Repacking/Labeling
Heat Sealing
Bagging
Liquid Filling
Bodhi Day is the Buddhist holiday that commemorates the day that the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama (Shakyamuni), experienced enlightenment, also known as bodhi in Sanskrit and Pali. According to tradition, Siddhartha had recently forsaken years of extreme ascetic practices and resolved to sit under a peepal tree, also known as a Bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa), and simply meditate until he found the root of suffering, and how to liberate oneself from it.
Celebrated on the 8th day of the 12th lunar month of the Chinese calendar, or December 8 in Japan.
World Braille Day is an international day celebrated on January 4th and it celebrates awareness of the importance of braille as a means of communication in the full realization of the human rights for blind and visually impaired people. The date for the event was chosen by the United Nations General Assembly via a proclamation in November 2018, and marks the birthday of Louis Braille, creator of this writing system. The first World Braille Day was celebrated on January 4, 2019.
Eastern Orthodox Christians annually celebrate Christmas Day on or near January 7 to remember Jesus Christ’s birth, described in the Christian Bible. This date works to the Julian calendar that pre-dates the Gregorian calendar, which is commonly observed.
Makar Sankranti or Maghi or simply Sankranthi, is a festival day in the Hindu calendar, dedicated to the deity Surya (sun). It is observed each year in the lunar month of Magha which corresponds with the month of January as per the Gregorian calendar and is a day the people of India and Nepal celebrate their harvest. It is usually held on January 14th or 15th and it marks the first day of the sun’s transit into Makara rashi (Capricorn), marking the end of the month with the winter solstice and the start of longer days.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, officially Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., and sometimes referred to as MLK Day, is a federal holiday in the United States marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. King’s birthday is January 15 and this day is observed on the third Monday of January each year. It celebrates the life and achievements of Martin Luther King Jr., an influential American civil rights leader. He is most well-known for his campaigns to end racial segregation on public transport and for racial equality in the United States.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States – Timeanddate.com
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is an ecumenical Christian observance in the Christian kalendar that is celebrated internationally. It is kept annually between Ascension Day and Pentecost in the Southern Hemisphere and between 18 January and 25 January in the Northern Hemisphere. It is an octave, that is, an observance lasting eight days.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is annually coordinated by the World Council of Churches, with participation by its member Churches, which include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Old Catholic Church, the Moravian Church, the Lutheran Churches, the Anglican Communion, the Mennonite Churches, the Methodist Churches and the Reformed Churches, as well as the Baptist Churches and the Pentecostal Churches.[1] The Roman Catholic Church, which is an observer in the World Council of Churches, celebrates the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Bell Let’s Talk is an awareness campaign created by the Canadian telecommunications company, Bell Canada, in an effort to raise awareness and combat stigma surrounding mental illness in Canada. It is notably the single largest corporate commitment to mental health in Canada. Originally a five-year, $50 million program to help create a stigma-free Canada and drive action in mental health care, research, and the workplace, Bell Let’s Talk was renewed in 2015 for another five years with a target of committing $100 million. In 2020, the Bell Let’s Talk initiative was again renewed for a further 5 years, and a commitment of $155 million. The most prominent part of the initiative is “Bell Let’s Talk Day,” an annual one-day advertising campaign where money is donated to mental health funds based on the number of social media and communication “interactions” that include the branded hashtag, #BellLetsTalk, or its Canadian French equivalent, #BellCause. Bell Let’s Talk Day is usually held near the end of January.
Tu BiShevat, in Hebrew: ט״ו בשבט; tú bish’vat, is a Jewish holiday occurring on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat It is held in January or February. It is also called Rosh HaShanah La’Ilanot (Hebrew: ראש השנה לאילנות), literally ‘New Year of the Trees’. In contemporary Israel, the day is celebrated as an ecological awareness day, and trees are planted in celebration.
Lunar New Year (traditional Chinese: 農曆新年, 中國新年; simplified Chinese: 农历新年, 中国新年; pinyin: nónglì xīn nián, zhōngguó xīn nián) is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunar calendar. In Chinese culture and East Asian countries, the festival is commonly referred to as the Spring Festival (traditional Chinese: 春節; simplified Chinese: 春节; pinyin: Chūn Jié) as the spring season in the lunisolar calendar traditionally starts with lichun, the first of the twenty-four solar terms which the festival celebrates around the time of.[2] Marking the end of winter and the beginning of the spring season, observances traditionally take place from New Year’s Eve, the evening preceding the first day of the year to the Lantern Festival, held on the 15th day of the year. The first day of Lunar New Year begins on the new moon that appears between 21 January and 20 February.
Since 1976, the month has been designated to remember the contributions of people of the African diaspora.
Black History Month is an annual observance originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It has received official recognition from governments in the United States and Canada, and more recently has been observed in Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom in October.
World Interfaith Harmony Week is a UN resolution for a worldwide week of interfaith harmony proposed in 2010 by King Abdullah II and Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan. The World Interfaith Harmony Week falls in the first week of February of every year and aims to promote harmony between all people regardless of their faith.
An observance honouring the signing of what later became the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on February 1, 1865 by President Abraham Lincoln, outlawing slavery.
Shrove Tuesday is the last day before the long fast for Lent for some Christians in Canada. It has many names, including Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, the Tuesday of Carnival, and Pancake Day. It often coincides with or falls close to the dates for the winter carnival celebrations that occur in the January/February period. Though named for its former religious significance, it is chiefly marked by feasting and celebration, which traditionally preceded the observance of the Lenten fast. It is observed by various Christian denominations. Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, observed in many Christian countries through participating in confession and absolution, the ritual burning of the previous year’s Holy Week palms, finalizing one’s Lenten sacrifice, as well as eating pancakes and other sweets.
Shrove Tuesday is exactly 47 days before Easter Sunday, a moveable feast based on the cycles of the moon. The date can be any between 3 February and 9 March inclusive.
Shrove Tuesday – TimeAndDate.com
Ash Wednesday is a Christian holy day of prayer and fasting. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and falls on the first day of Lent, the six weeks of penitence before Easter. Ash Wednesday is traditionally observed by Western Christians. It is observed by Catholics in the Roman Rite, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Moravians, and Independent Catholics, as well as by many from the Reformed faith (inclusive of the Congregationalist, Continental Reformed, and Presbyterian traditions).
Ash Wednesday derives its name from the placing of repentance ashes on the foreheads of participants to either the words “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” or the dictum “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”[6] The ashes are prepared by burning palm leaves from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebrations.
World Hearing Day is a campaign held each year by Office of Prevention of Blindness and Deafness of the World Health Organization (WHO). Activities take place across the globe and an event is hosted at the World Health Organization on March 3. The campaign’s objectives are to share information and promote actions towards the prevention of hearing loss and improved hearing care. The first event was held in 2007.[1] Before 2016 it was known as International Ear Care Day.[2] Each year, the WHO selects a theme, develops educational materials, and makes these freely available in several languages. It also coordinates and reports on events around the globe.
International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on the 8th of March every year around the world. It is a focal point in the movement for women’s rights.
After the Socialist Party of America organized a Women’s Day in New York City on February 28, 1909, German delegates Clara Zetkin, Käte Duncker, Paula Thiede and others proposed at the 1910 International Socialist Woman’s Conference that “a special Women’s Day” be organized annually. After women gained suffrage in Soviet Russia in 1917, March 8 became a national holiday there. The day was then predominantly celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted by the feminist movement in about 1967. The United Nations began celebrating the day in 1977.
Commemoration of International Women’s Day today ranges from being a public holiday in some countries to being largely ignored elsewhere. In some places, it is a day of protest; in others, it is a day that celebrates womanhood.
Purim (Pûrîm “lots“, from the word פור pur, translated as ‘lot’ in the Esther, perhaps related to Akkadian pūru ‘stone, urn’;[2] also called the Festival of Lots) is a Jewish holiday which commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, an Achaemenid Persian Empire official who was planning to kill all the Jews, as recounted in the Book of Esther (מגילת אסתר Megillat Ester in Hebrew; usually dated to the 5th century BC).
Many Jewish Canadians celebrate it on the 14th day of the month of Adar in the Jewish calendar, which is in February or March in the Gregorian calendar.
Holi ( /ˈhoʊliː/) is a popular ancient Hindu festival, also known as the “festival of spring”, the “festival of colours”, and the “festival of love”. The festival signifies the triumph of good over evil. It originated and is predominantly celebrated in India, but has also spread to other regions of Asia and parts of the Western world through the diaspora from the Indian subcontinent.
Holi celebrates the arrival of spring, the end of winter, the blossoming of love, and for many it’s a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair broken relationships. The festival also celebrates the beginning of a good spring harvest season. It lasts for a night and a day, starting on the evening of the Purnima (Full Moon day) falling in the Hindu calendar month of Phalguna, which falls around middle of March in the Gregorian calendar. The first evening is known as Holika Dahan (burning of demon holika) or Chhoti Holi and the following day as Holi, Rangwali Holi, Dhuleti, Dhulandi, or Phagwah.
The Israʾ and Miʿraj (Arabic: الإسراء والمعراج, al-’Isrā’ wal-Miʿrāj) are the two parts of a Night Journey that, according to Islam, the Islamic prophet Muhammad took during a single night around the year 621. Within Islam it signifies both a physical and spiritual journey. The Quran surah al-Isra contains an outline account, while greater detail is found in the hadith collections of the reports, teachings, deeds and sayings of Muhammad. In the accounts of the Israʾ, Muhammad is said to have traveled on the back of a winged baby-horse-like white beast, called Buraq, (Arabic: الْبُرَاق al-Burāq or /ælˈbʊrɑːk/ “lightning” or more generally “bright”) to “the farthest mosque“. By tradition this mosque, which came to represent the physical world, was identified as the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. At Masjid-e-Aqsa, Muhammad is said to have led the other prophets in prayer. His subsequent ascent into the heavens came to be known as the Miʿraj. Muhammad’s journey and ascent is marked as one of the most celebrated dates in the Islamic calendar.
Saint Patrick’s Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit. ‘the Day of the Festival of Patrick’), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (c. 385 – c. 461), the foremost patron saint of Ireland.
Saint Patrick’s Day was made an official Christian feast day in the early 17th century and is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland), the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Lutheran Church. The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general. Celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals, céilís, and the wearing of green attire or shamrocks. Christians who belong to liturgical denominations also attend church services and historically the Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol were lifted for the day, which has encouraged and propagated the holiday’s tradition of alcohol consumption.
The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually on 21 March. On that day, in 1960, police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville, South Africa, against the apartheid pass laws. Proclaiming the day in 1966, the United Nations General Assembly called on the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination.
International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination – United Nations
International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD) is marked each year on March 21, beginning in 2006. The 21st day of March (the 3rd month of the year) was selected to signify the uniqueness of the triplication (trisomy) of the 21st chromosome which causes Down syndrome. It is not yet know why this syndrome occurs, but Down syndrome has always been a part of the human condition. It exists in all regions across the globe and commonly results in variable effects on learning styles, physical characteristics and health.
Adequate access to health care, to early intervention programs, and to inclusive education, as well as appropriate research, are vital to the growth and development of the individual.
For over 400 years, more than 15 million men, women and children were the victims of the tragic transatlantic slave trade, one of the darkest chapters in human history.
Every year on 25 March, the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade offers the opportunity to honour and remember those who suffered and died at the hands of the brutal slavery system. The International Day also aims to raise awareness about the dangers of racism and prejudice today.
International Transgender Day of Visibility is an annual event occurring on March 31 dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide, as well as a celebration of their contributions to society. The day was founded by US-based transgender activist Rachel Crandall of Michigan in 2009 as a reaction to the lack of LGBT recognition of transgender people, citing the frustration that the only well-known transgender-centered day was the Transgender Day of Remembrance, which mourned the murders of transgender people, but did not acknowledge and celebrate living members of the transgender community. The first International Transgender Day of Visibility was held on March 31, 2009. It has since been spearheaded by the U.S.-based youth advocacy organization Trans Student Educational Resources.
World Autism Awareness Day is an internationally recognized day on 2 April every year, encouraging Member States of the United Nations to take measures to raise awareness about people with autistic spectrum disorders including autism and Asperger syndrome throughout the world. It was designated by the United Nations General Assembly resolution “62/139. World Autism Awareness Day”, passed in council on 1 November 2007, and adopted on 18 December 2007. It was proposed by the United Nations representative from Qatar, Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, Consort of His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of the State of Qatar, and supported by all member states.
World Autism Awareness Day – TimeAndDate.com
Vimy Ridge Day is a day to commemorate the deaths and casualties of members of the Canadian Corps in the Battle of Vimy Ridge, which took place during First World War. The holiday has been observed annually on 9 April since 2003. It is a non-statutory observance.
In 2003, the Government of Canada declared 9 April to be “Vimy Ridge Day”, to honour and remember the Battle of Vimy Ridge which took place during the First World War at Vimy Ridge, France, in 1917.[1] The initiative to create the day of commemoration was spearheaded by Robert Manuel, a Korean War veteran.[2] The annual holiday was created through passage of Bill C-227, introduced by Brent St. Denis, the Member of Parliament for Algoma-Manitoulin.[3] By law, it is required that the Canadian flag on the Peace Tower of Parliament Hill in Ottawa be lowered to half-mast.[4] Small ceremonies, including the laying of wreaths, also normally take place at the Canadian National War Memorial in Ottawa, the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France and other areas across Canada.
Vaisakhi (IAST: vaisākhī), also pronounced as Baisakhi marks the beginning of solar “Sikh” New year. Vaisakhi marks the first day of the month of Vaisakha and is usually celebrated on 13 or 14 April every year. This holiday also is known as Vaisakha Sankranti and celebrates the Solar new year, based on the Hindu Vikram Samvat calendar. It is additionally a spring harvest festival for many Indians.[5]
Vaisakhi is also a historical and religious festival in Sikhism. It is usually celebrated on 13 or 14 April every year for Sikhs, the day commemorates the formation of Khalsa panth of warriors under Guru Gobind Singh in 1699.[10][1][11][12]
Vaisakhi observes major events in the history of Sikhism and the Indian subcontinent that happened in the Punjab region. The significance of Vaisakhi as a major Sikh festival marking the birth of Sikh order started after the persecution and execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur for refusing to convert to Islam under the orders of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. This triggered the coronation of the tenth Guru of Sikhism and the historic formation of Khalsa, both on the Vaisakhi day. Ranjit Singh was proclaimed as Maharaja of the Sikh Empire on 12 April 1801 (to coincide with Vaisakhi), creating a unified political state. Sahib Singh Bedi, a descendant of Guru Nanak dev, conducted the coronation. Vaisakhi was also the day when the British colonial empire official, General Reginald Dyer, committed the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on a gathering, an event influential to the Indian movement against colonial rule.
Earth Day is an annual event celebrated around the world on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First celebrated in 1970, it now includes events coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network in more than 193 countries.
In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be celebrated on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. This day of nature’s equipoise was later sanctioned in a proclamation written by McConnell and signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations. A month later a United States Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed the idea to hold a nationwide environmental teach-in on April 22, 1970. He hired a young activist, Denis Hayes, to be the National Coordinator. Nelson and Hayes renamed the event “Earth Day”. Under the leadership of labor leader Walter Reuther, the United Auto Workers was the most instrumental outside financial and operational supporter of the first Earth Day. According to Hayes, “Without the UAW, the first Earth Day would have likely flopped!” Nelson was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom award in recognition of his work. The first Earth Day was focused on the United States. In 1990, Denis Hayes, the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international and organized events in 141 nations.
On Earth Day 2016, the landmark Paris Agreement was signed by the United States, China, and some 120 other countries. This signing satisfied a key requirement for the entry into force of the historic draft climate protection treaty adopted by consensus of the 195 nations present at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.
Saint George’s Day, also known as the Feast of Saint George, is the feast day of Saint George as celebrated by various Christian Churches and by the several nations, kingdoms, countries and cities of which Saint George is the patron saint including Bulgaria, England, and regions of Portugal and Spain (Catalonia and Aragon).
Saint George’s Day is normally celebrated on 23 April. However, Church of England rules denote that no saints’ day should be celebrated between Palm Sunday and the Sunday after Easter Day so if 23 April falls in that period the celebrations are transferred to after it. 23 April is the traditionally accepted date of the saint’s death in the Diocletianic Persecution of AD 303.
St George’s Day is a provincial holiday in Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada. It is observed on the Monday closest to April 23 each year.
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Holy Week, the last week of the Christian solemn season of Lent that precedes the arrival of Eastertide.
In most liturgical churches, Palm Sunday is celebrated by the blessing and distribution of palm branches (or the branches of other native trees), representing the palm branches which the crowd scattered in front of Christ as he rode into Jerusalem. The difficulty of procuring palms in unfavorable climates led to their substitution with branches of native trees, including box, olive, willow, and yew. The Sunday was often named after these substitute trees, as in Yew Sunday, or by the general term Branch Sunday.
Many churches of mainstream Christian denominations, including the Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Anglican, Moravian and Reformed traditions, distribute palm branches to their congregations during their Palm Sunday liturgies. Christians take these palms, which are often blessed by clergy, to their homes where they hang them alongside Christian art (especially crosses and crucifixes) or keep them in their Bibles or devotionals. In the period preceding the next year’s Lent, known as Shrovetide, churches often place a basket in their narthex to collect these palms, which are then ritually burned on Shrove Tuesday to make the ashes to be used on the following day, Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of Lent.
Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of Passover. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, and Black Friday.
Good Friday occurs two days before Easter Sunday.
Members of many Christian denominations, including the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, Oriental Orthodox and Reformed traditions, observe Good Friday with fasting and church services. Communicants of the Moravian Church have a Good Friday tradition of cleaning gravestones in Moravian cemeteries.
The date of Good Friday varies from one year to the next on both the Gregorian and Julian calendars. Eastern and Western Christianity disagree over the computation of the date of Easter and therefore of Good Friday. Good Friday is a widely instituted legal holiday around the world, including in most Western countries and 12 U.S. states. Some countries, such as Germany, have laws prohibiting certain acts, such as dancing and horse racing, that are seen as profaning the solemn nature of the day.
Easter, also called Pascha (Greek, Latin) or Resurrection Sunday, is a festival and holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred on the third day after his burial following his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary c. 30 AD. It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus, preceded by Lent (or Great Lent), a 40-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance.
Most Christians refer to the week before Easter as “Holy Week“, which contains the days of the Easter Triduum, including Maundy Thursday, commemorating the Maundy and Last Supper, as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. In Western Christianity, Eastertide, or the Easter Season, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts seven weeks, ending with the coming of the 50th day, Pentecost Sunday. In Eastern Christianity, the season of Pascha begins on Pascha and ends with the coming of the 40th day, the Feast of the Ascension.
Easter and the holidays that are related to it are moveable feasts which do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian or Julian calendars which follow only the cycle of the Sun; rather, its date is offset from the date of Passover and is therefore calculated based on a lunisolar calendar similar to the Hebrew calendar. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established two rules, independence of the Jewish calendar and worldwide uniformity, which were the only rules for Easter explicitly laid down by the council. No details for the computation were specified; these were worked out in practice, a process that took centuries and generated a number of controversies. It has come to be the first Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or soonest after 21 March. Even if calculated on the basis of the more accurate Gregorian calendar, the date of that full moon sometimes differs from that of the astronomical first full moon after the March equinox.
The Vikram era, or Vikram samvat is a Indian (Hindustani) calendar starting in 57 BC. The Vikram Samvat calendar starts half a century before the Gregorian calendar and works on an Indian calendar cycle.
The calendar starts in the month of Vaisakha, which usually falls in the Gregorian month of April.
The date marks the day when the King Vikramāditya beat the Sakas, who had invaded Ujjain. A new calendar was started to honor this achievement.
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Red Dress Day, also known as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two-Spirit People, is observed on May 5th. The day honours and brings awareness to the thousands of Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people who have been subject to disproportionate violence in Canada. Red Dress Day was inspired by Métis artist Jaime Black’s REDress Project installation, in which she hung empty, red dresses to represent the missing and murdered women. Red dresses have become symbolic of the crisis as a result of her installation.
See at left: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Art installation at Seaforth Peace Park in Vancouver, BC, inspired by Métis artist Jaime Black’s REDress Project. The red dresses symbolize the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada.
