March 2009 
March 2, Monday, Beginning of Great Lent : Eastern Orthodox Christian.
The Lenten fast is strict in the Greek Orthodox Church. It is preceded by a festive Meat Sunday featuring lamb and other meat dishes, and then a Cheese Sunday, the last day when dairy products are permitted. Lenten fare is restricted to dried beans, lentils, rice, pasta, and vegetables, with fish on special days. In Greece, a carnival season called apokria precedes the start of Lent. Apokria begins with a feast of roast kid or lamb, followed by two weeks of festivities including parades of masked figures. The third week begins with Tyrini—Cheese Sunday—when cheese, a food forbidden during Lent, is eaten in pies. The following day is called Clean Monday, and is a national holiday at which many children appear in their Carnival costumes. The pastime of the day is flying special hexagonal kites decorated with geometric designs. Traditionally, all animal foods including fish are forbidden in Lent and some people also eschew oil. Vegetables and legumes are therefore the main Lenten foods of Greece with a little shellfish – permitted because, unlike fin fish, it lacks blood. While many people no longer fast for forty days, most people observe the fast strictly for the two weeks preceding Easter.
March 3, Tuesday, Doll Festival (Hina Matsuri) : Japan.
The Japanese pay visits to family and friends, bringing with them gifts of dolls.
FOOD AND DRINK
Foods served include sekihan, rice flavored with red beans, and rice dumplings wrapped in cherry leaves and a sweet cake. Sekihan is made for many Japanese holidays because it is red, the color of happiness. It is made by precooking red beans, sasage mame, to release their liquid, then tinting the rice by soaking it overnight in this liquid. Finally, the precooked beans and the prepared rice are mixed together and steamed.
March 10, Tuesday, Purim (poor-îm) (Feast of Lots) : Jewish.
This festival commemorates the rescue of the Jews, living in what is now Iran, from a plot to kill them by Haman, an advisor to the king. The queen, Esther, who was Jewish, pleaded with her husband to save the Jews. When this story is read in the synagogue, children rattle noisemakers every time Haman's name is mentioned.
FOOD AND DRINK
The Purim treat best known in America is homentashen—three-cornered pastries, shaped like Haman's hat, with fillings such as poppyseeds, raisins, prunes, dates, figs, and apricot preserves. The Sephardic Jewish tradition has a different pastry—Hojuelos de Haman, Haman's ears, made from thin pastry, cut in crescents and twisted so the ends stick up like ears.
March 11, Wednesday, Holi (hah-lee) (3/11–12) : Hindu.
This joyous holiday celebrates the triumph of good over evil. Bonfires are lit to commemorate the burning of Holika, a demon who perished in the fire in which she had planned to burn a devotee of Lord Vishnu. Holi is a festival of colors. To celebrate the games Lord Krishna played with his followers, people toss brightly colored powders at each other.
FOOD AND DRINK
Holi is especially important in northern India. It coincides with the arrival of spring, by which time the weather is already very hot. The rambunctious festivities take place outdoors, so by the end of the day people are exhausted. They return home to recover by eating barfi, a fudge-like candy, or drinking beverages made with bhaang, a form of marijuana. Unlike alcoholic drinks, which are generally taken only by Indian men, bhaang is also eaten or drunk by women. Holi is the only moment in Indian life when families consume bhaang together.
March 17, Tuesday, St. Patrick's Day : Ireland.
This is the anniversary of the death of St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland in A.D. 493. In Ireland and in the Catholic community of Ulster, where the saint is buried, it is celebrated as a religious day of obligation.
FOOD AND DRINK
Traditionally, festivities in Ireland are limited to a meal of ham with parsley sauce and potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and other winter vegetables. Among the Irish community in America, and increasingly in Ireland itself, St. Patrick's Day has a less religious tone. Parades and parties are its hallmark. In this country, Irish immigrants adopted the Eastern European Jewish dish of corned beef for their holiday. Another Irish food served at every festive occasion is soda bread, and drinks include tea, Guinness stout, Irish whiskey, and cream drinks such as Bailey's Irish Cream. Today Irish cooks often use these drinks in recipes, some of which have become popular. Guinness, for example, is used in a traditional fruit cake called Porter Cake and in Guinness Beef Stew. Whiskey, Irish Mist, or Bailey's is often used to flavor cakes and desserts (see recipe for Irish Cream White Chocolate Mousse and Irish Cream Cheesecake). Another Irish food served at every festive occasion is Soda Bread. Another contemporary favorite at Irish holidays is smoked salmon, generally served as a first course or on sandwiches. Corned beef and cabbage is also a popular dish.
March 20, Friday, Now Rouz (now-rooz) (New Year) : Afghanistan, Iran.
This holiday is important in Iran and also in Afghanistan, where it is called Nauroz. It is celebrated as both the first day of spring and the first day of the new year. This holiday predates Islam, going back to the Zoroastrian solar calendar, and begins when the sun reaches the sign of Aries in the zodiac.
FOOD AND DRINK
In Iran, families gather around a table set with seven symbolic foods—sprouted seeds, hyacinth, sweet wheat pudding, vinegar, sumac, apples, and olives. (The names for all these begin with sen, the Iranian letter s.) Similarly, Afghans celebrate with special dishes, including kulcha naurozee, a cookie made of rice flour, and miwa naurozee, a compote made of seven fruits, each name containing the Iranian letter s.
March 20, Friday, Vernal Equinox Day (Shumbun No Hi) : Japan.
This holiday of the vernal equinox celebrates the beginning of spring. It's a national holiday in Japan.
FOOD AND DRINK
The Japanese celebrate the start of spring with "nightingale cake," made from pounded sticky rice filled with a sweet paste made from white beans. Other springtime foods include raw squid and a special fresh-water fish, ayu, grilled and eaten with green vegetables. Seaweed is especially popular in spring because it is tender and sweet.
March 25, Wednesday, The Annunciation : Christian.
In the religious calendar, this marks the day when the Angel told Mary that she would give birth to Jesus. In the secular calendar, this is Greek Independence Day, dating from the 1821 Greek rebellion against Turkey, which led to independence in 1829. The Lenten rules are relaxed for this holiday and fish is eaten. Today the nearest Monday to March 25 is observed as a holiday. Businesses and towns fly the blue and white Greek flag and there are often patriotic parades and speeches. Since the date falls in Lent, the Orthodox churches relax the Lenten fasting rules for the day.
March 25, Wednesday, Independence Day : Greece.
In the religious calendar, this marks the day when the Angel told Mary that she would give birth to Jesus. In the secular calendar, this is Greek Independence Day, dating from the 1821 Greek rebellion against Turkey, which led to independence in 1829. The Lenten rules are relaxed for this holiday and fish is eaten.
Today the nearest Monday to March 25 is observed as a holiday. Businesses and towns fly the blue and white Greek flag and there are often patriotic parades and speeches. Since the date falls in Lent, the Orthodox churches relax the Lenten fasting rules for the day.