Cultures · the year, month by month
The yearthis cityalready keeps.
Ottawa celebrates something in every month of the year, and most of the city walks past it. Twelve months, the celebration each one carries, and the community that keeps it.
Draft 01 · 28 August 2026 · dates for 2027 go up as each community confirms its own
Twelve months, and who is celebrating.
One row per month. The communities named are the ones that keep the celebration in this city; where an article about that community exists, the name links to it.
Draft · months confirmed, dates pending
| Month | What is kept | Whose it is |
|---|---|---|
| January | Orthodox Christmas and the Julian New Year · Lunar New Year in some years | Eastern European Ottawa, including Ukrainian Ottawa |
| February | Lunar New Year in most years · Black History Month across the whole month | Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean Ottawa · African and Caribbean Ottawa |
| March | Nowruz, the spring new year, on the equinox · Holi | Iranian, Afghan, Kurdish and Central Asian Ottawa · South Asian Ottawa |
| April | Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, which fall in this month for the next several years · Vaisakhi · Orthodox and Western Easter | Muslim communities across every shelf · Punjabi Ottawa · Eastern European and Middle Eastern Ottawa |
| May | Asian Heritage Month · the Tulip Festival, which the city keeps for a wartime debt | Asian Ottawa · the whole city |
| June | Eid al-Adha, on the same moving calendar · Portugal Day · Italian Week · Filipino Independence Day | Muslim communities · Portuguese Ottawa · Italian Ottawa · Filipino Ottawa |
| July | Canada Day, and the arrival stories that sit under it · the Lebanese festival at St. Elias | The whole city · Lebanese Ottawa |
| August | Ethiopian and Eritrean summer feasts · Ottawa GreekFest from mid-month | Ethiopian and Eritrean Ottawa · Greek Ottawa |
| September | Ethiopian New Year, Enkutatash · Rosh Hashanah · Mid-Autumn Festival | Ethiopian Ottawa · Jewish Ottawa · Chinese and Vietnamese Ottawa |
| October | Navratri and Durga Puja · Thanksgiving as a harvest feast in a dozen kitchens | South Asian Ottawa · communities across every shelf |
| November | Diwali · Independence and remembrance days across several communities | South Asian Ottawa · communities across every shelf |
| December | Christmas in three calendars · Hanukkah · Las Posadas | Eastern European, Western European and Middle Eastern Ottawa · Jewish Ottawa · Latin American Ottawa |
Why the festival keeps a calendar.
Two days in September sit inside a year that is already full. Writing the year down is the cheapest way to show that.
Cultures · the year-round half of this project
A festival that meets a community once a year meets it as a supplier. A calendar is the other posture: it says we know when your year begins, we know which month you cook for, and we are around in the eleven months the field is empty.
Middle East & Maghreb
58,180 residents counted as Arab, and Ottawa's largest non-official mother tongue. Census 2021.Africa
The largest and youngest racialized group in the city, and the shelf with the most left to write. Census 2021.South & East Asia
China and India are the two largest birthplaces in Ottawa. Census 2021.Eastern Europe
A century-deep diaspora and a wave the May 2021 census closed too early to count.Latin America
14,350 residents counted as Latin American, and Spanish third among mother tongues. Census 2021.Crafts & kitchens
Trades that belong to more than one community: wax and dye, thread, metal, bread, light.
Your month is missing.
Twelve rows cannot hold what seventy communities keep. Tell us what belongs in yours, in one line or in ten, and it goes in with your name on it.