Holidays

Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas, Easter, birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, Halloween, national holidays, or any other traditional religious or secular holidays. Their reasons vary by holiday: Christmas and Easter are considered to have pagan origins (identified with pre-Christian winter and spring festivals) and to perpetuate false teachings (the immortal soul; the wrong date for Christ's death). Birthdays are linked in Scripture to pagan rulers (Pharaoh in Genesis 40:20; Herod in Matthew 14:6), and the Watch Tower Society has taught that birthday celebrations honor the individual rather than Jehovah. National holidays are viewed as encouraging excessive devotion to the state.

The only observance Jehovah's Witnesses celebrate is the Memorial of Christ's Death (the Lord's Evening Meal), held once annually on the evening of Nisan 14 (Jewish lunisolar calendar). This is their most sacred religious occasion. They also gather for semi-annual regional conventions and circuit assemblies, but these are not 'celebrations' in the traditional sense. This comprehensive rejection of holidays is a significant social marker that sets Jehovah's Witnesses apart from surrounding society, sometimes causing difficulty in workplace, school, and family settings.