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Philippines marks 3 important events in 3 days; rare succession will repeat only in 2189
This is the first time since 1961 three events are happening in close succession. On February 15 that year, Lunar New Year and Ash Wednesday began within hours of each other, Ramadan followed next day
- PUBLISHED: Wed 18 Feb 2026, 7:34 PM
The Philippines is observing three important events in close succession – Lunar (Chinese) New Year, Ash Wednesday and Ramadan. The specific three-day succession seen this year is an exceptionally rare event that will not repeat until the year 2189.
After the ‘Chinese New Year’ was celebrated on Tuesday, many Christians observed Ash Wednesday to mark the holy period of Lent leading to Easter Sunday after six weeks. The two successive events will be followed by the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that officially starts on Thursday, February 19, in the Philippines.
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While the Lunar New Year is celebrated with food and fanfare especially by the Chinese, the Christian Lent and the Ramadan are characterised by piety and fasting.
This year is the first time since 1961 that the three events are happening in close succession. On February 15 of that year, the Lunar New Year and Ash Wednesday began within hours of each other, with Ramadan following the day after. Such alignment usually happens every three decades, but this year’s three-day succession of the events is rarer as it last happened 65 years ago.
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This is made possible as Ramadan moves backwards yearly by at least 10 days, cycling through the Gregorian calendar every 33 years. The Lunar New Year and the start of the Christian Lent have a fixed window of between February and March.
In the predominantly Christian Philippines today, Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, and many Presbyterian and Reformed churches will have their foreheads marked an ash cross, reminding each penitent of their sins and mortality and the need to repent, based on the Bible that says, “…for dust you are and to dust you shall return.”
Bangsamoro Mufti Sheikh Abdulrau Guialani, meanwhile, declared that Ramadan in the Philippines will commence on Thursday, February 19.
