The Overlapping of Three Important Holidays

This year, a truly special event has occurred in the world of religion: that is, the overlapping of three important holidays from the “Abrahamic faiths”: Passover or Pesach for Jews, Easter for Christians, and Ramadan for Muslims.

It should be noted that while not all adherents of these ways of life accept the term “Abrahamic” to name or group them, it remains that many scholars use the term for the groups’ common worship of the same God of Abraham/Ibrahim.

Without wading into the debate on that, we wanted to highlight how rare of an occurrence this really is! Due to the shifting days of the month of Ramadan (which goes back about 11 days per solar year due to Muslim use of the lunar calendar), these three holidays only overlap a few times a century! 

There are many themes that overlap in all three holidays, but the one we’d like to focus on is the concept of redemption, or being saved from error, sin, or evil.

Passover represents the story of God freeing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt; Easter represents the celebration of the Christian understanding of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection; and Ramadan is a time of fasting, prayer, charity, and both religious deepening and renewal. 

Overall, this overlap also offers insight into two major things besides their religious meanings: first, the fact that so many people are practicing their holidays at the same time is a reminder of the ever-present importance and place of religion in the lives of the global majority; and secondly, the emphasis on gatherings of family and friendship have people taking the time of the “grind” of everyday life under hypercapitalism to gather together, share food and stories, and engage in the essential acts of remembrance together.