Holy Days

2 books of the 6 large law books of the ancient Jewish laws of society and religion.

The book of Mishna law was written a few centuries after the birth of Christ, and was commented on by many rabbis over the generations.

There are literally volumes of additional comments by thousands of rabbis, primarily Eastern Europeans.

The first two books are about agricultural and religious holidays, and are therefore somewhat less relevant than some of the social and municiple laws of the other 4 books.

Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations. By J. Gordon Melton, Editor, with James A. Beverley, Christopher Buck, and Constance A. Jones. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011. ISBN: 978-1-59884-205-0. eISBN: 978-1-59884-206-7 Pub. date: September 13, 2011. [See below for entries.]

From the "Introduction" (p. xxi):

A review of the Baha’i Faith is particularly edifying. It is the newest of the major world religions and underwent some significant repression during its founding years. Through the twentieth century, it went through a lengthy process of establishing a new Baha’i calendar and designating holy days, including commemorations of the birth and death of the faith’s early founder/leaders. In a century, the Baha’is accomplished what it sometimes took other religions multiple centuries to complete. Meanwhile, a few of the twentieth-century new religions have moved to create an annual cycle of celebration within their first generation of existence.

Articles on Baha’i Holy Days in: Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations:

1. “‘Abdu’l-Baha, Ascension of (November 28).” (Vol. 1, pp. 1–4.)  
2. “Ayyam-i-Ha (Baha’i Intercalary Days) (February 25–March 1).” (Vol. 1, pp. 60–63.)  
3. “Bab, Festival of the Birth of the (October 20).” (Christopher Buck and J. Gordon Melton.)  (Vol. 1, pp. 65–67.) 
4. “Bab, Festival of the Declaration of the (May 23).” (Vol. 1, pp. 67–73.)  
5. “Bab, Martyrdom of the (July 9).”  (Vol. 1, pp. 73–76.)  
6. “Baha’i Calendar and Rhythms of Worship.” (Christopher Buck and J. Gordon Melton.)  (Vol. 1, pp. 79–86.) 
7. “Baha’i Fast (March 2–20).”  (Vol. 1, pp. 94–96.)  
8. “Baha’u’llah, Ascension of (May 29).” (Vol. 1, pp. 96–99.)  
9. “Baha’u’llah, Festival of the Birth of (November 12).” (Christopher Buck and J. Gordon Melton.)  (Vol. 1, pp. 99–102.) 
10. “Covenant, Day of the (November 26).” (Vol. 1, pp. 225–228.)  
11. “Naw-Rúz, Festival of (March 21).” (Vol. 2, pp. 225–228.)  
12. “Nineteen-Day Feast (Baha’i).”  (Vol. 2, pp. 641–645.)
13. “Race Unity Day.”  (Vol. 2, pp. 727–731.)   
14. “Ridvan, Festival of (April 20–May 2).”  (Vol. 2, pp. 744–747.)  
15. “World Religion Day (January).”  (Vol. 2, pp. 936–939.)  

Historians have never properly dealt with the Twelve Great Feasts (the Dodekaortion) of the Eastern Orthodox Church.  While some feasts have received much attention, others have been almost totally ignored, making an understanding of these feasts as a group difficult.  More importantly, scholars have largely disregarded the historical causes behind the feasts' existence.  When the feasts are studied as a group, it becomes clear that their original purpose was not to commemorate events in Christ's life, as has been claimed (Dix), but rather to put forth theological and ultimately political propositions in an accessible and convincing form.
The early Church observed only three feasts as independent celebrations (what I call the Core Group: the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and Pentecost).  It was not until centuries later, after the Council of Constantinople, that the other feasts were observed throughout the East.  These post-Nicene feasts followed a similar pattern of institution for the most part.  A feast usually originated at one specific Church as the popular manifestation of opposition to a particular heresy or schismatic doctrine.  Observance of the feasts was at first strictly local.  The rest of the Eastern Church usually adopted them for the same reasons that the local Churches had; but, occasionally, because of the Orthodox character of the feasts, their doctrinal potential was redirected toward other controversies.
Like so much of Christian theology, whose original simplicity became more and more complicated, the post-Nicene feasts were formed in reaction to the various heresies.  The Core Group corresponds to the early stage of Christian theology, commemorating from the beginning the essential tenets of salvation.  The Cyrillian Group (the Raising of Lazarus, Palm Sunday, and the Ascension) comprises the first feasts formed in conscious reaction to a heresy--Arianism.  Before Cyril of Jerusalem, there were no universal feasts apart from the Core Group; with him, the feast as an anti-heretical device became established.  The Epiphany and the Nativity were likewise directed against Arianism, but they derived from pre-existing feasts of local significance that probably had no original connection with heresy.  The Marian Group (the Presentation, the Dormition, and the Annunciation) arose in opposition to the next great threat to Orthodoxy, Nestorianism.  In this group, the first documentary evidence of institution by imperial decree appears, testimony to the importance of festal practice.  The last feast to be adopted, the Transfiguration, seems to have been a statement of the ultimate sanction of Chalcedonian Orthodoxy as the official government position at the end of a long period of Christological argument.
The Twelve Great Feasts took on the superficial character of a life cycle of Christ for two reasons.  First, by presenting their theology in the form of feasts commemorating events in the life of Christ they became more accessible to the faithful and more likely to make an impression on them.  Second, as appeals in theological controversies, they called upon the ultimate theological authority--Christ himself.
The canon of the Twelve Great Feasts began to take shape as the great Christological controversies began.  By the time those controversies reached their indecisive conclusion, all the feasts had been instituted.  Thus, the post-Nicene feasts arose during the period of the great controversies, but the feasts themselves were more than the mere results of these arguments, they played an active, and at times even crucial, part in their outcome.
Written when I was a graduate student, this article received prize for best interdisciplinary essay, and is cited as the principal authority on the subject in the 3rd ed. rev. of the highly authoritative Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church).

Within Arthuriana, a study of the Goddess, Alchemical Essentials, Elements and their Beings, Planets and Days (in the ancient associations, not modern Germanic-based days/planets), Planetary Linkages, Zodiacals in Sabbath Order, Zodiacals in their True Yearly Progression (as corrected, due to Precession of Equinoxes), Holy Days (High Sabbaths), and Miscellaneous Notes from a Friend.

Christopher Buck,
“World Religion Day.” 
Religions of the World:
A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices. 2nd edition.
Edited by J. Gordon Melton and Martin Baumann.
Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2010.
Vol. 6, pp. 3138–3140.

David Calderwood (1575–1650) was a Scottish minister and arch-presbyterian.  This new translation of Calderwood is taken from his large Latin work (1623) refuting the polity of the Church of England being sought to be imposed on Scotland.

Specifically, these propositions were set against the Articles of Perth (1618) which had instituted in the Church of Scotland (1) kneeling in receiving Communion, (2) observing religious festival days (such as Christmas, Easter, etc.), (3) episcopal confirmation of youth, and (4 & 5) administering baptism and the Lord’s Supper in private places.

Calderwood’s propositions are solid, timeless and are pardigmatic of classical presbyterianism.  Please enjoy and seek to reform further according to the Word of God.