September Inclusion calendar

International Literacy Day is celebrated on 8 September every year. It reminds the global community about the importance of literacy for everyone, including individuals, communities, and societies. It began as an initiative to remind the common people about the importance of literacy to ensure dignity and human rights.

Anant Chaturdashi, also famously known as Ganesh Visarjan, happens precisely after ten days of Ganesh Chaturthi. It falls on the fourteenth day of the lunar fortnight and is considered a day for special prayers for Hindus.

World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) is an awareness day observed on 10 September every year, in order to provide worldwide commitment and action to prevent suicides, with various activities around the world since 2003. The International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) collaborates with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) to host World Suicide Prevention Day. In 2011, an estimated 40 countries held awareness events to mark the occasion.

International Day of Democracy – this was established through a resolution passed by the UN General Assembly in 2007, encouraging governments to strengthen and consolidate democracy. International Day of Democracy is to provide an opportunity for people to participate in democracy and urges the government to respect the rights of people.

The Bisexual Awareness Week, also known as #BiWeek, is an annual celebration held in September, from 16 to 23 September. It is an extension of Celebrate Bisexuality Day, held annually on 23 September The celebration promotes cultural acceptance of the bisexual community as well as attempts to create a platform for advocating bisexual rights.

According to a 2013 Pew Research Center survey, bisexuals represent approximately 40% of the LGBTQ community. Bisexual Awareness Week is a platform to recognise bisexual and LGBTQ advocacy throughout history.

International Equal Pay Day, celebrated for the first time in 2020, represents the longstanding efforts towards the achievement of equal pay for work of equal value. It further builds on the United Nations commitment to human rights and against all forms of discrimination, including discrimination against women and girls.

Across all regions, women are paid less than men, with the gender pay gap estimated at 23 per cent globally. Progress on narrowing this gap has been slow, and while equal pay between men and women has been widely endorsed, applying it in practice has been widely endorsed, applying it in practice has been difficult. At the current rate, it will take the next 257 years to close the global gender pay gap.

Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on 21 September. The UN General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire.

How do we celebrate International Day of Peace?

Look for Peace Day activities in your own community and around the world that might include: 

• Minute of silence at 12 noon (all time zones)
• Peace education events
• Intercultural and interfaith dialogues
• Workshops on the UN Peace Day theme
• Meditation and prayer 
• Planting peace poles 
• Community gatherings
• Vigils
• Concerts and festivals

Mabon (Wicca/Pagan) – Mabon is a pagan holiday, and one of the eight Wiccan sabbats celebrated during the year. Mabon celebrates the autumnal equinox.

Many civilizations have celebrated a harvest festival around the equinox. In the 1700s, the Bavarians (part of present-day Germany) began a festival that starts in the last week of September. They called this festival Oktoberfest. The festival had lots of feasting and celebrating. Oktoberfest is still celebrated in Bavaria today.

To celebrate this holiday, pagans might pick apples. Apples are a common symbol of the second harvest. They may use the apples in an apple harvest ritual that thanks the gods for the bountiful harvest. Others might perform a ritual to restore balance and harmony to their lives, as this holiday celebrates a day with equal light and day. Another common ritual is to set up an altar with symbols of the season, such as apples, grapes and other seasonal harvests. Any sabbat would not be complete without a feast for family and friends.

Autumn Equinox – The Pagan community celebrates the autumn equinox with a festival, called Mabon, to honour the changing seasons. Mabon rituals focus on the balance of light and dark, their inextricable link, and the coming darkness of winter.

Bisexual Visibility Day – Bi Visibility Day raises bi awareness and challenges bisexual and biromantic erasure. With biphobia impacting many bisexuals' mental health, Bi Visibility Day is shining a spotlight on the harmful effects of discrimination.

The International Day of Sign Languages is a unique opportunity to support and protect the linguistic identity and cultural diversity of all deaf people and other sign language users. The 2021 theme, declared by the World Federation of the Deaf, was “We Sign For Human Rights,” highlighting how each of us – deaf and hearing people around the world – can work together hand in hand to promote the recognition of our right to use sign languages in all areas of life.

According to the World Federation of the Deaf, there are more than 70 million deaf people worldwide. More than 80% of them live in developing countries. Collectively, they use more than 300 different sign languages.

World Deaf Day is celebrated every year on the last Sunday of September with the aim to draw the attention of the general public, politicians and development authorities towards the achievements of deaf people as well as the deaf people community. This day marks the birth of an advocacy organisation, which has as one of its main goals, the preservation of sign languages and deaf culture as pre-requisites to the realisation of the human rights of deaf people.

Rosh Hashanah (Judaism) – Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is one of Judaism's holiest days. Rosh Hashanah commemorates the creation of the world and marks the beginning of the Days of Awe, a ten-day period of introspection and repentance that culminates in the Yom Kippur holiday, also known as the Day of Atonement.

During Rosh Hashanah, Jewish people will traditionally greet each other with L'shanah tovah, which means "for a good New Year". Many Jewish families will spend some of Rosh Hashanah at a Synagogue. One of the traditions of Rosh Hashanah is to blow a big horn called a Shofar.

Navaratri begins (Hindu) – Navratri  begins on the same day as Durga Puja, a ten-day festival devoted to the victory of the goddess Durga, which is particularly celebrated in certain eastern states.

Navratri is one of the most significant festivals of the Hindus celebrated all across the world. This is also one of the most ancient festivals – dating back to time immemorial. 

As per Hindu scriptures, the first day of Navratri is the Pratipada Tithi which marks the arrival of Goddess Durga. The first form of Goddess Durga is Mata Shailputri, who is worshipped on Pratipada.

UK National Inclusion Week begins – National Inclusion Week is an essential celebration of diversity, promoting the importance of equality in the workplace. With understanding and acceptance, a more inclusive society will allow everyone to be the best versions of themselves, empowering minority groups to share their unique and valuable perspectives.

Meskel (Ethiopian Orthodox Christian) – Meskel is a festival in celebration of Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, finding the true cross upon which Jesus was crucified. Mirrored in many ways by Ash Wednesday in the West, the festival competes for top billing and is considered the most important festival for the laity and ordained alike.

The Meskel celebration includes the burning of a large bonfire, or Demera, based on the belief that Queen Eleni, as she is known, had a revelation in a dream. She was told that she should make a bonfire and that the smoke would show her where the True Cross was buried.

International Right to Know Day – the right of access to information is an important human right, necessary for the enjoyment of other human rights.

The right to information is essential for transparent and accountable government. The right of access to information makes possible the public involvement in formulating social policies and in the decision-making processes of governance.

The right to information can only be effectively exercised and implemented on the basis of laws, regulating this right in accordance with international standards.

The aim of Right to Know Day is to raise awareness of every individual’s right of access to government-held information: the right to know how elected officials are exercising power and how the tax-payers’ money is being spent.

Michaelmas, Christian feast of Saint Michael the Archangel, is celebrated in the Western churches on September 29. Given Saint Michael's traditional position as leader of the heavenly armies, veneration of all angels was eventually incorporated into his feast day.