The festivals that involve major shutdowns of shops and public services, such as transport, are: New Year (Rosh HaShannah), usually in September; Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) ten days later, the most serious and solemn day of the Jewish year, observed with a 25-hour fast, during which the whole of Israel more or less shuts down; Succot (Tabernacles), five days after that; Simhat Torah a week later; Passover (Pesah), around Easter time, when no leavened bread may be eaten for a week, though only the first and last days are holidays as such; and Shevuot (Pentecost), seven weeks after that.

Festivals that don't involve major shutdowns are: Hanukkah , a winter solstice festival of lights which celebrates the Maccabees' 164 BC rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its profanation by the Seleucids, and during which Jewish homes light candles for eight days, starting with a single one on the first day, and building up to eight on the last; Purim in early spring, honouring the events of the biblical book of Esther, when a Jewish Queen of Persia saved her people from the empire's racist prime minister Haman; and Tu Bishvat , a tree festival in autumn, in which there is much planting of trees.

Religious Jews also celebrate a number of minor fast days such as Tisha Be'Av , in the summer, which commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples, held to have occurred on the same date. The seven-week period between Passover and Shevuot is a Lent-like period called the Omer , when celebration is generally discouraged and various calamities that befell the Jewish people are remembered. It is punctuated by a number of commemorative days: Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Day), on the 22nd day, mourns the victims of the Holocaust with a two-minute silence at 11am and the closure of cinemas, theatres, nightclubs and concert halls; a week later, Yom HaZikaron (Remembrance Day) honours Israel's war dead with prayers and another two-minute silence, and leads into Independence Day (Yom Ha'Atzma'ut), which begins at nightfall and celebrates Israel's 1948 independence from British rule. Lag Be'Omer , on the 33rd day of the Omer, is another, much older lull in the period of restraint, and a popular day for marriages.

Muslim holidays
Muslim holy days start with al-Hijra , the Islamic New Year, commemorating the flight of the Prophet Mohammed from Mecca to Medina. The feast of Moulid al-Nabi , celebrates the Prophet's birthday and Leilat al-Miraj is the night on which the Koran was first revealed to the Prophet. However, Ramadan is the most important event in the Muslim calendar with fasting from dawn to dusk and much celebration at night. Shops stay open as usual but close before sunset so that people can eat; cafés and restaurants are shut sunrise to sunset but may open after dark. Its end, and therefore the breaking of the fast, is marked by Eid al-Fitr . The holiday Eid al-Adha (also called Eid al-Kabir) recalls Abraham's attempted sacrifice of his son Ishmael, and the end of the haj (pilgrimage to Mecca) season.

Secular Palestinian holidays
Of the main secular Palestinian holidays and commemorations, all of which follow the Gregorian calendar, most commemorate political events (usually tragic from the Palestinian point of view) and only two are official public holidays: Fatah Day , marking the founding in 1965 of Fatah, the largest grouping in the PLO; and Independence Day , celebrating the declaration of a State of Palestine by the Palestine National Council in 1988. Other anniversaries and commemorations may be marked in East Jerusalem by strikes, demonstrations and shop closures, depending on the current political climate. Jerusalem Day is marked throughout the Muslim world to commemorate the Israeli occupation of the city. Land Day recalls the death of six Israeli Arabs defending their land in the Galilee in 1976; the 1948 massacre of the inhabitants of Deir Yassin is similarly recalled by Deir Yassin Day . Next, Black September marks the attack on Palestinians by Jordanian forces in 1970 as well as that by the Phalangists in Lebanon during the Israeli invasion of 1982, while Balfour Day recalls the 1917 Balfour Declaration, in which the British Foreign Secretary promised the Jewish people a homeland in Palestine. Palestine Day was declared by the UN as a "day of solidarity with the Palestinian people". May 14 , the anniversary of Israel's independence, is marked by Palestinians as al-Nakba ("the catastrophe").

Christian holidays
In Jerusalem, Christian holidays are far more religious affairs than their counterparts in most Western countries. They are also rather spread out because of their celebration on different dates by different churches, each working according to a different calendar. As an example, Christmas is celebrated by the Western churches on December 25, by the Eastern on January 7 and by the Armenians on January 19. The Roman Catholic/Protestant Christmas on December 25 is biggest in Bethlehem, of course, with visitors from around the world coming to celebrate the birth of Christ, and buses laid on from Jerusalem; arrangements vary year by year, so check with the Christian Information Centre. Easter is marked with pilgrims arriving en masse to follow the footsteps of Jesus along the Via Dolorosa. Lesser Christian festivals also celebrated here include Palm Sunday , when Jesus entered Jerusalem a week before Easter, Ascension , marking Jesus's departure from the earth five and a half weeks after Easter (on a Thursday), and Epiphany (Twelfth Night), twelve days after Christmas Day, when the three kings came to visit the infant Jesus in Bethlehem.