We are creating our very own calendar, including dates that are important to you and your family. We would like you to help with this.
There are so many different religions, cultures and communities in Australia. Many families, communities and individuals have a sense of belonging with a particular one or more of these. It may be the religion, culture or community of their family or a choice they have made at some time in their life. There are also others who don't connect with any religion. We are all equal.
All religions, cultures and traditions have much in common and differences too. Often people don’t know very much about religions and cultures other than their own, except something about the religion of most people in their state or country. Sometimes people are not included because they are of a different religion or culture. Has that happened to you? How would you feel if that happened to you? Everyone should be included as an equal, regardless of his or her religion and culture, and treated with respect. Why not learn about each other’s similarities and differences? We all would be happier and safer if we understood each other better.
Australia uses the Gregorian calendar, a calendar used in many parts of the world, with each new year beginning on January 1st and public holidays for the religions of the majority of people living in Australia. You may recognise and celebrate another new year on a different date also. Everyone enjoys public holidays and respect for why those holidays are in the Australian calendar are important too. The national public holidays in Australia are the only dates in our calendar until you submit dates that are important to you. The state in which you live may have some different public holidays too. When you submit a public holiday from where you live, please place in brackets which state that is after the name of that holiday, if someone else has not put it in our calendar already.
We are designing our calendar for 2023 honouring Janusz Korczak, the person who respected all as equals and whose work and life formed the basis for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Our calendar will include photos and words of Janusz Korczak and photos of the children who lived in an orphanage in Warsaw, Poland. Korczak chose to live in the orphanage, as an equal with all who lived there.
As a start the only dates in it are Australian National Public Holidays. We need you to submit dates important to you. We want our calendar to be meaningful and helpful for you and many others also. Together we can show respect for different religions and cultures and build more understanding of differences by developing our own calendar recognising and including many more dates of importance for people living in Australia.
All you need to do to help create this calendar is go to the Activities page and submit dates important to you.