Religious Holidays Quiz

Numerous fixed feast days recall the lives of important saints as well as significant moments in the lives of Jesus and his mother Mary. Two significant events in the life of Jesus include the day his parents presented the infant in the Temple (February 2, The Presentation) and the Transfiguration in which he appeared in divine glory to several Apostles (August 6). Jesus' baptism by his cousin John is, in the western liturgical tradition, a movable feast that always occurs within the first two weeks of January. Feasts honoring Mary include those commemorating her being conceived without sin (Immaculate Conception, December 8); her birth (September 8); her presentation in the Temple (November 21); Elizabeth's visitation with Mary (May 31); and her bodily ascension into heaven (Dormition/Assumption, August 15). In some churches well over half the days of the year are associated with holy persons, often commemorating the death date. A major saint such as John the Baptist might even merit an observance of both his birth (June 24) and his death (August 29).

From The Handy Religion Answer Book, Second Edition by Jack Rendard, Ph.D., (c) 2012 Visible Ink Press(R). Your Guide to the World's Major Faiths