Festivals
What time of year is Sham en Nisim celebrated?
Egypt
Egypt Egyptian calendar Sham el-Nessim Oren Nissim List of Jewish prayers and blessings
Egypt-Festivals Egyptian_calendar-Reformed_calendar Sham_el-Nessim-Abstract Oren_Nissim-Abstract List_of_Jewish_prayers_and_blessings-Blessing_for_the_miracles_of_Hanukkah
Egypt celebrates many festivals and religious carnivals, also known as "mulid". They are usually associated with a particular Coptic or Sufi saint, but are often celebrated by Egyptians irrespective of creed or religion. Ramadan has a special flavor in Egypt, celebrated with sounds, lights (local lanterns known as "fawanees") and much flare that many Muslim tourists from the region flock to Egypt to witness during Ramadan. The ancient spring festival of Sham en Nisim (Coptic: "shom en nisim") has been celebrated by Egyptians for thousands of years, typically between the Egyptian months of Paremoude (April) and Pashons (May), following Easter Sunday.
The reformed Egyptian calendar continues to be used in Egypt as the Coptic calendar of the Egyptian Church and by the Egyptian populace at large, particularly the peasants, to calculate the agricultural seasons. Contemporary Egyptian farmers, like their ancient predecessors, divide the year into three seasons, namely winter, summer and inundation. It is also associated with local festivals such as the annual Flooding of the Nile and the ancient Spring festival "sham en nisim". The Ethiopian calendar is based on this reformed calendar but uses Amharic names for its months and uses a different era. The French Republican Calendar was similar, but began its year at the autumnal equinox. British orrery maker John Gleave represented the Egyptian calendar in a reconstruction of the Antikythera mechanism. 
Sham ennisim (, , from Coptic: "shom ennisim") is an Egyptian national holiday marking the beginning of spring. It always falls on the day after the Eastern Christian Easter (following the custom of the largest Christian denomination in the country, the Coptic Orthodox Church). Despite the Christian-related date, the holiday is celebrated by Egyptians regardless of religion. The name of the holiday is derived from the Egyptian name of the Harvest Season, known as "Shemu", which means a day of creation. According to annals written by Plutarch during the 1st century AD, the Ancient Egyptians used to offer salted fish, lettuce, and onions to their deities on this day. After the Christianization of Egypt, the festival became associated with the other Christian spring festival, Easter. Over time, "Shemu" morphed into its current form and its current date, and by the time of the Islamic conquest of Egypt, the holiday was settled on Easter Monday. The Islamic calendar being lunar and thus unfixed relative to the solar year, the date of Sham el-Nessim remained on the Christian-linked date even after most Egyptians had become Muslims. As Egypt became Arabized, the term "Shemu" found a rough phono-semantic match in "Sham el-Nessim", or "Smelling/Taking In of the Zephyrs," which fairly accurately represents the way in which Egyptians celebrate the holiday. In his book, "Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians", Edward William Lane wrote in 1834:A custom termed 'Shemm en-Nessem' (or the Smelling of the Zephyr) is observed on the first day of the Khamaseen. Early in the morning of this day, many persons, especially women, break an onion, and smell it; and in the course of the forenoon many of the citizens of Cairo ride or walk a little way into the country, or go in boats, generally northward, to take the air, or, as they term it, smell the air, which on that day they believe to have a wonderfully beneficial effect. The greater number dine in the country or on the river. This year they were treated with a violent hot wind, accompanied by clouds of dust, instead of the neseem; but considerable numbers, notwithstanding, went out to 'smell' it. The modern Sham ennisim is celebrated by both Christians and Muslims, so it is considered a national festival, rather than a religious one. The main features of the festival are:  People spend all day out picnicking in any space of green, public gardens, on the Nile, or at the zoo. Traditional food eaten on this day consists mainly of "Feseekh" (a salted Grey Mullet), lettuce, scallions or green onions, "tirmis" or Lupini Beans, and colored boiled eggs.  
Oren Nisim (, born 4 November 1976) is an Israeli footballer currently playing for Hapoel Kfar Saba. 
Transliteration: "Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam, she'asa nisim la'avoteinu ba'yamim ha'heim ba'z'man ha'ze. "Translation: "Blessed are You, our God, King of the universe, Who performed miracles for our ancestors in those days at this time..." 