At the hight of the carnival season, I noticed that the holy month of Ramadan starts this year, provided moon sighting, on 18 February, that is Ash Wednesday. This seems to be a remarkable coincidence. Both Catholics and Muslims start their seasonal fasting, although in a completely different fashion.

Ash Wednesday is also celebrated by Protestants. It is especially a day of reflection and repentance. There is some voluntary fasting throughout the entire 40 day periods. Especially on Good Friday, that is the day, Christians memorize Jesus’ crucification, no meat is allowed.

I tried to get some information on whether this coincidence has been recorded before, to no avail. In the early 1990s and in 2024 and 2025, there was some overlap of fasting periods, sure. But exact alignment on the same day seems to be extremely rare.

For example, in 1992, 1 Ramadan theoretically fell on 5 March, a Thursday (but there are is a high probability that Ramadan started on Friday, 6 March, see below. All depends on whether the new moon has been sighted the evening before). Ash Wednesday in 1992 was 4 March. So, if the new moon was indeed sighted in the evening of 4 March 1992, Muslims would start fasting (the next day).

Astronomically, the new moon on 4 March 1992 occurred at 13:22 UTC. So, would it be possible to see it in the evening? Probably not. In Mecca, sun set on this day at 18:26 (UTC+3), about eight hours later. Nobody would be able to see the crescent of the new moon then.

So, this seems a true one of a kind coincidence this year. Christians and Muslims let celebrate it together!

2 February 2026 @ 10:45.

Last modified February 2, 2026.