It is Lent, Ramadan, the Chinese Year of the Horse. Celebrations for our Chinese friends are under way, and now begins self-inflicted misery for earnest Christians and Muslims.
Very unusually, Lent and Ramadan both have their first full day today. It’s all due to the moon.
Ramadan, officially, began at sundown last evening, as confirmed by moon spotters in Saudi Arabia, home to Mecca. This official start of Ramadan is determined by sightings of the waning crescent moon, which shifts annually.
Between now and March 18th, Muslims will fast from food and water between sunrise and sunset, concluding with the major celebration that is Eid al-Fitr, which involves more prayer but lots of food.
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Islam follows the Hijri calendar, on a lunar cycle of 12 months, each consisting of 29 or 30 days. So, every year, Ramadan begins about 11 days earlier than the previous year, on the Gregorian calendar.
[ How to be supportive during Ramadan: yes, it’s okay to ask questionsOpens in new window ]
Dates for Lent too are calculated using the lunar calendar, but backwards, itself an exercise in penance every bit as good as fasting.
Easter Sunday is on April 5th this year. Every year the date is fixed on the Sunday following the first full moon after March 21st, the vernal (Spring) equinox. So, it can never be earlier than March 22nd or later than April 25th any year. Is that clear, there at the back?
We are only beginning. Now, calculate 46 days backwards from April 5th (this year), 40 fast days and six Sundays that are not days of penance, and you arrive at February 18th – today. Welcome to Ash Wednesday.
Technically, Lent ends on Holy Thursday, April 2nd next, but many Christians also fast on Good Friday. The 40 days are intended to reflect the time Jesus spent fasting in the desert and resisting temptation by the Devil.
Catholics wear ashes on their foreheads today, some ostentatiously so (beware!), while many give up meat, fish, eggs and more for the 40 days. Others give up chocolate, beer, sweets, beer, tea, milk in tea, beer and whatever you’re not having yourself.
No one gives up newspapers or their online versions. That would be lunacy, whatever the cycle.
[ Is it wrong to treat Lent as purely a time for self-improvement?Opens in new window ]
The Chinese new year began on Tuesday, with a date chosen using lunar calendars, solar calendars and the Chinese Zodiac. Suffice to say that this 15-day festival begins on the first new moon of the lunar calendar cycle and ends 15 days later, with the next first full moon (March 3rd, this year).
This, 2026, is the Year of the (Fire) Horse, an animal that symbolises freedom, vitality and unbridled ambition, even more so where the “fire” horse is concerned.
These symbolic animals represent restraint and painstaking calculations ... such as go with finding out when Lent, Ramadan and even the Chinese new year begin.
