Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah)

Culture of origin: Jewish · Historical

Holiday sources: Israel · Judaism

Yom HaShoah, in full Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day, also honours the Jewish resistance. The Knesset chose 27 Nisan, a week after Passover, in 1951 and anchored the day in law in 1959. The evening before, Holocaust survivors light six torches at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem; at 10 a.m. a siren sounds across Israel for two minutes and people stop where they are, drivers standing beside their cars.