What is Yom Hashoah and why are there two memorial days for the Holocaust?
Yom Hashoah, the Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day, begins at sunset today.
On Yom Hashoah, Jewish people all over the world pay tribute to the six million Jewish men, women and children who perished as a result of the Holocaust.
It has become an annual memorial and officially started when commemorations took place in 1951.
With this in mind, here’s everything you need to know about Yom Hashoah, including when it is this year, and why there are two different memorial days dedicated to the Holocaust and its victims.
When is Yom Hashoah?
This year, Yom Hashoah begins at sunset on Wednesday 1 May, and ends the evening of Thursday 2 May, but the date changes year on year.
This is because Yom Hashoah is held on the 27th of Nisan, the first month in the Hebrew calendar, which naturally differs from the Gregorian calendar used commonly today.
On top of that, if Yom Hashoah clashes with the Jewish sabbath, the date of the memorial day will be adjusted accordingly.
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Why are there two memorial days dedicated to the Holocaust?
Aside from the fact that it’s one of the must brutal and horrific atrocities ever to have been committed, there are two different memorial days for the holocaust.
This is because, while Holocaust Memorial Day is for the whole world to remember the losses that the Holocaust represented, Yom Hashoah is a day specifically for those of the Jewish faith to reflect on what was done to their people.
What do people do on Yom Hashoah?
On Yom Hashoah, which was first marked in 1953, memorial services will be held all over the world.
They will often involve candles being lit and prayers being said in memory of those who died in the Holocaust, and at some of these events, survivors will speak.
There is often a candle lighting ceremony at London’s Jewish Museum, and this year, a Yom HaShoah service will be held at 11.30am on May 5 at the National Holocaust Memorial Gardens in Hyde Park.
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