Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Also sometimes known as the Feast of the Cross, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Triumph of the Cross, and the Holy Cross Day, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross commemorates the cross used in the crucifixion of Jesus. Unlike Good Friday, which is dedicated to the passion of Christ and the crucifixion, this day celebrates the cross itself, as the sign of salvation.

General Practices: Prayer and reflection.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Time

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Mabon/Autumnal Equinox

Also referred to as Harvest Home, the Feast of the Ingathering, and Meán Fómhair,

Mabon is the second celebration of the harvest, a ritual of thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth, and a recognition of the need to share them to secure the blessings of the Goddess and the God during the coming winter months. One of the eight major annual sabbats or festivals.

Helpful Links: Learn Religions, YouTube

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Rosh Hashanah

Start of the Jewish New Year, day of judgment and remembrance; the Jewish calendar celebrates the New Year in the seventh month (Tishrei) as a day of rest and celebration ten days before Yom Kippur.

General Practices: Prayer in synagogue and festive meals.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events, or activities on this date. If planning an event, provide food accommodation as requested (kosher restrictions apply).

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Time

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Navaratri/Dussehra

Navaratri, the nine-night festival, is also known as Dussehra in the south, a ten-day festival, and Durga Puja in Bengal.

The festival marks the victory of the divine mother over a demonic power and celebrates various aspects of the feminine. In North India, it coincides with the Rama Lila festival which also celebrates the triumph of good over evil.

General Practices: Fasting and praying. There are parties and public gatherings with music, dance, and drama which all contribute to the carnival atmosphere.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Trip Savvy

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Feast of St. Michael the Archangel (Michaelmas)

Michaelmas (also known as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a Roman Catholic festival celebrating Saint Michael the Archangel.

General Practices: A special church service may be held and a Michaelmas daisy may be handed out to symbolizing saying farewell. In Lewistown, Pennsylvania, many local restaurants and civics groups offer goose dinners, local festivals, and other county-wide activities. In honor of the holiday, painted fiberglass goose statues can be found throughout the county all year long.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, The Feast of Saint Michael

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Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur is often considered the holiest day of the year for Jews, and the day is dedicated to atonement and abstinence.

General Practices: During Yom Kippur, Jews fast from before sundown until after sunset, and light a Yahrzeit memorial candle at sundown on the night of Yom Kippur.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events, or activities on this date and after a day of fasting.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, YouTube

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Mawlid al-Nabi

Mawlid al-Nabi, the observance of the birthday of Islam founder Prophet Muhammad, celebrated during the month of Rabīʽ al-Awwal, the third month of the Muslim calendar. Shi’a Muslims celebrate it five days later than Sunni Muslims.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Pluralism

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Sukkot

A week-long celebration which begins with the building of Sukkah for sleep and meals, Sukkot is named for the huts Moses and the Israelites lived in as they wandered the desert before reaching the promised land.

General Practices: Families in the United States commonly decorate the sukkah with produce and artwork.

Date Details: Work holiday varies by denomination.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events, or activities on the first two days. If planning an event, provide food accommodation as requested (kosher restrictions apply – although it is customary to eat dairy for this celebration).

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, My Jewish Learning

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Shemini Atzeret

Also known as Atzereth, this is a fall festival, which includes a memorial service for the dead and features prayers for rain in Israel.

General Practices: Jews light a Yahrzeit memorial candle at sundown on Shemini Atzereth (the eighth night of Sukkot).

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events, or activities on this date. If planning an event, provide food accommodation as requested (kosher restrictions apply).

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, My Jewish Learning

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Simchat Torah

Simchat Torah marks the completion of the annual cycle of the reading of the Torah in the synagogue and the beginning of the new cycle.

General Practices: Practitioners dance in synagogues as all the Torah scrolls are carried around in seven circuits.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events, and activities on this date (kosher restrictions apply).

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, My Jewish Learning

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Diwali

Diwali – the Hindu “festival of lights” – is an extremely popular holiday for multiple religions throughout Southern Asia.

Diwali extends over five days, and celebrates the victory of good over evil. The Times of India described Diwali as “a reaffirmation of hope, a renewed commitment to friendship and goodwill, and a religiously sanctioned celebration of the simple.” Fireworks, oil lamps, and sweets are common, making this a favorite holiday for children. The lamps are lit to help the goddess Lakshmi find her way into people’s homes.

General Practices: Lighting oil lamps and candles, setting off fireworks, and prayer.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events, and activities on this date. Hindu employees will likely request a vacation day on this date.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, National Geographic

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Birth of Báb

This holiday celebrates the birth of the Báb, whose revitalizing message prepared the way for the coming of Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Bahá’i faith.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events, or activities on this date.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, 2019 Bicentenary

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Birth of Bahá’u’lláh

This holiday celebrates the birthday of Bahá’u’lláh, one of the Bahá’í faith’s most important figures. For Bahá’ís, the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh is a Holy Day celebrating the rebirth of the world through the love of God, just as Christmas is for Christians.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events, or activities on this date. (Bahá’í employees will likely request to have this day off.)

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Bahá’í Teachings

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Samhain

One of the four “greater Sabbats” and considered by some to be the Wiccan New Year.

A time to celebrate the lives of those who have passed on, welcome those born during the past year into the community, and reflecting on past relationships, events, and other significant changes in life.

General Practices: Paying respect to ancestors, family members, elders of the faith, friends, pets, and other loved ones who have died.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Time

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All Saints' Day

All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, Hallowmas, the Feast of All Saints, or Solemnity of All Saints, is celebrated in honor of all the saints, known and unknown. Its intent is to celebrate all the saints, including those who are no longer celebrated, or are not celebrated individually, either because the number of saints has become so great or because they were celebrated in groups, after suffering martyrdom collectively.

General Practices: Since it is a Catholic Holy Day of Obligation, all Catholics are required to attend Mass on that day, unless they have an excellent excuse such as serious illness.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events, and activities on this date.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Catholic Online

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Día de los Muertos

Día de los Muertos or Día de Muertos originated and is mostly observed in Mexico but also in other places, especially by people of Mexican heritage elsewhere. Although associated with the Catholic celebrations of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, it has a much less solemn tone and is portrayed as a holiday of joyful celebration rather than mourning.

General Practices: Honoring the deceased using calaveras and aztec marigold flowers known as cempazúchitl, building home altars called ofrendas with the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these items as gifts for the deceased. The celebration is not solely focused on the dead, as it is also common to give gifts to friends such as candy sugar skulls, to share traditional pan de muerto with family and friends, and to write light-hearted and often irreverent verses in the form of mock epitaphs dedicated to living friends and acquaintances, a literary form known as calaveras literarias.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Dedicated Day of the Dead website

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All Souls' Day

All Souls' Day, also known as the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed and the Day of the Dead, is a day of prayer and remembrance for the souls of those who have died.

General Practices: Practitioners of All Souls' Day traditions often remember deceased loved ones in various ways on the day. Some practitioners may fast and pray.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events, and activities on this date.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Catholic Online

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Hanukkah/Chanukah

Hanukkah is the Jewish festival of lights, and lasts for eight days.

Hanukkah commemorates the Jewish struggle for religious freedom. The history of the holiday involves a historic military victory in which a Jewish sect called the Maccabees defeated the Syrian Greeks. The celebration commemorates a miracle in which a sacred temple flame burned for eight days on only one day’s worth of oil.

General Practices: On each of the eight nights of Hanukkah, Jewish families light an additional candle of the menorah candelabrum until all eight candles are lit. Jews celebrate with food and song, as well as exchanging gifts for eight days.

Recommended Accommodations: Academics and work permitted. Provide food accommodation as requested (kosher restrictions apply – potato pancakes, doughnuts, or other fried food is customary).

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Chabad

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Yule/Midwinter/Winter Solstice

Also known as Alban Arthan; the longest night of the year followed by the sun’s “rebirth” and lengthening of days.

In most traditions, Yule is celebrated as the rebirth of the Great God, who is viewed as the newborn solstice sun. One of the eight major annual sabbats or festivals.

Helpful Links: Druidry, National Day Calendar

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Christmas

Christmas is an annual celebration commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah whose message and self-sacrifice began the Christian religion.

General Practices: Many celebrate this holiday by giving gifts, attending church services, decorating Christmas trees, and visiting family.

Date Details: Begins at sundown on December 24 annually and continues with all day celebration on December 25.

Recommended Accommodations: This is a national holiday in the United States, so special accommodations are likely not required.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, History

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Gantan-sai

Gantan-sai is the annual New Year festival of the Shinto religion.

General Practices: Practitioners pray for inner renewal, prosperity, and health, as well as visiting shrines and visiting friends and family.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events, and activities on this date (work holiday).

Helpful Links: Shirley Two Feathers, Faith Wikidot

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Epiphany/Twelfth Night/Three Kings Day

This date is also known as Befana Day; commemorates the revelation of God through Jesus Christ and marks the time the three wise men arrived in Bethlehem and presented gifts to the baby Jesus.

General Practices: Prayer, festive meals, offerings, gifts.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Newsweek

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Christmas (Orthodox)

Christmas is an annual celebration commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah whose message and self-sacrifice began the Christian religion.

General Practices: Many celebrate this holiday by attending church services, holding celebratory meals, and visiting family.

Date Details: Eastern Orthodox Christmas is determined by the Julian calendar which regulates ceremonial cycle of the Eastern Orthodox Christian churches.

Recommended Accommodations: Because this holiday typically falls during winter break, academic accommodations may not be required. However many Eastern Orthodox employees will probably request this day off.

Helpful Links: Time and Date, National Geographic

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Chinese New Year

This is the most important of traditional Chinese holidays.

General Practices: Families gather together to spend the evening preparing boiled dumplings and festive meals and giving of money to children in red envelopes.

Date Details:

Corresponds to the New Moon in Aquarius, which can fall from late January to mid-February.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events, and activities on this date. Many Chinese employees will probably request this day off.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, YouTube

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Imbolc/Candlemas

Also referred to as the Feast of Pan, Feast of Torches, Feast of Waxing Lights, and Oimele.

Celebrates the coming of spring and recovery of the Earth Goddess after giving birth to the Sun God at Yule. For many traditions, a time for initiations and pledges for the coming year. One of the four “greater Sabbats.”

General Practices: Activities might include making candles, reading poetry, and telling stories.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, History

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Setsubun-sai

Setsubun-sai marks the beginning of spring, and is known as the “bean-throwing festival.”

General Practices: The faithful scatter roasted beans to bring good luck to the new season.

Helpful Links: World Religion News, Japan Guide

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Maha Shivaratri

An annual Hindu festival, Maha Shivaratri gives reverence to the Lord Shiva god. The festival is also known as 'Great Night of Shiva' or 'Shivaratri’.

The festival is solemn and marks a remembrance of "overcoming darkness and ignorance" in life and the world.

General Practices: Remembering Shiva through chanting prayers, fasting, and meditating on ethics and virtues such as honesty, non-injury to others, charity, forgiveness, and the discovery of Shiva.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling major academic deadlines on this day, since it is likely that students will be operating on very little food or sleep. (Hindu employees will likely request to have this day off.)

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Isha Institute of Inner Sciences

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Ash Wednesday/Beginning of Lent

This is the first day of Lent, the period of forty days before Easter in which many Christians sacrifice ordinary pleasures to reflect on Christ’s sacrifice.

General Practices: On this day, there are special church services, and the faithful wear a cross of ashes marked on foreheads. Most Christians abstain from meat on this day.

Recommended Accommodations: Provide food accommodation as requested-prohibitions include animal products.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, The Independent

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Beginning of Lent (Clean Monday)

This period of time is called a great period of Lent, or “Great Lent.” It is a time of fasting and repentance in remembrance of the account of Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the desert.

General Practices: People will enter into a time of contemplation, which can include a conscious review of spiritual life and journey. People may fast or make a personal sacrifice, e.g., abstain from caffeine or sugar.

Recommended Accommodations: Be aware that many people may fast or give up certain foods or activities during Great Lent. This may not be a good time for large celebrations centered on food. (Orthodox Christian employees may request days off during this period.)

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, The Athens Key

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Magha Puja Day

Magha Puja Day commemorates an important event in the life of the Buddha, in which the four disciples traveled to join the Buddha.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, World Religions News

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Purim

Purim commemorates the time when the Jews were living in Persia and were saved by the courage of a young Jewish woman called Esther.

General Practices: Many Jews hold carnival-like celebrations on Purim, dressing in costumes, and read the Book of Esther. Triangular, fruit-filled pastries are eaten in opposition to the villain Haman, who wore a three-cornered hat.

Recommended Accommodations: Purim is not subject to the restrictions on work that affect some other holidays; however, some sources indicate that Jews should not go about their ordinary business at Purim out of respect for the festival. If planning an evening event, provide food accommodations if requested (kosher restrictions apply).

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, My Jewish Learning

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Holi

Also known as the “Festival of Colors,” this holiday can be traced to Hindu scriptures commemorating good over evil.

This date is also a celebration of the colorful spring and a farewell to the dull winter.

General Practices: Hindus often sprinkle colored water and powder on others bonfires and lights, signifying victory of good over evil.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events, and activities on the first two and last two days of the holiday; provide food accommodation as requested (kosher restrictions apply; the use of leavening is prohibited so, for example, matzah is eaten in place of bread.)

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Time

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Ostara/Spring Equinox

Also known as Eostre or Alban Eilir. Regarded as a time of fertility and conception.

In some Wiccan traditions, it is marked as the time when the Goddess conceives the God’s child, which will be born at the winter solstice. One of eight major annual sabbats or festivals.

General Practices: Lighting fires to commemorate the return of light in the spring and to honor the God and Goddess.

Helpful Links: Learn Religions, Patheos

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Naw Rúz

This is the Bahá’í New Year, a traditional celebration in Iran adopted as a holy day associated with Bahá’í. It is a celebration of spring and new life.

General Practices: Festive music dancing, prayers, meetings, meals.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, YouTube

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Ramadan

Ramadan is an occasion to focus on faith through fasting and prayer and is one of the most important Muslim holidays.

Ramadan is notable because the Qur’an was first revealed during this month, and Muslims see the Qur’an as the ultimate form of guidance for mankind. The night that the Qur’an was revealed to Muhammad is called Laylat al-Qadr, and standing in prayer this one night is thought to eclipse months of worship.

General Practices: Fasting is required during the entire month of Ramadan. Muslims refrain from food and beverages during the daylight hours, and smoking and sexual relations are forbidden. Worshipers break the fasting each night with prayer, reading of the Qu’ran, and a meal called the iftar. In addition, many Muslims also attend night prayers at Mosques. Muslims also believe that their good actions bring a greater reward during this month than any other time of the year, so almost all Muslims try to give up bad habits during Ramadan.

Date Details: Dates are determined by the lunar calendar. Lunar calendars can vary based on region and practice. The observed date marks the beginning of a 30-day observation.

Recommended Accommodations: If possible, avoid scheduling major academic deadlines during this time. Be sensitive to the fact that students and employees celebrating Ramadan will be fasting during the day (continuously for 30 days) and will likely have less stamina as a result. If planning an evening event, provide food accommodations if requested (Islamic dietary restrictions apply).

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, National Geographic

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Rama Navami

Rama Navami is a Hindu day of worship and celebration of the seventh avatar of Vishnu (Lord Rama).

General Practices: Devotees typically wear red and place extravagant flowers on the shrine of the God.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Seniority

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Palm Sunday

A commemoration of Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem as crowds lined his path with palm fronds.

General Practices: Prayer, distribution of palm leaves commemorating Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem prior to his crucifixion.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Christianity

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Maundy (or Holy) Thursday

Thursday before Easter, commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus with the Apostles.

General Practices: Prayer, Communion (Eucharist), meals, and foot-washing ceremonies among some Christian denominations.

Date Details: Always falls on the Thursday before Easter Sunday.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Christianity

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Passover/Pesach

Pesach is a week-long observance commemorating the freedom and exodus of the Israelites (Jewish slaves) from Egypt during the reign of the Pharaoh Ramses II (one of three pilgrimage festivals).

General Practices: Family gatherings, ritualized meals called Seders, reading of the Haggadah, lighting of Yahrzeit memorial candle at sundown on the last night of Passover.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events, and activities on the first two and last two days of the holiday; provide food accommodation as requested (kosher restrictions apply; the use of leavening is prohibited so, for example, matzah is eaten in place of bread.)

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, My Jewish Learning

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Good Friday

Held the Friday before Easter, commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ; among some sects of Christianity and in many countries marks a day of fasting.

General Practices: Prayer, fasting, and noon or afternoon services in some Christian denominations.

Date Details: Always falls on the Friday before Easter Sunday.

Recommended Accommodations: Provide food accommodation as requested; meat (fish is not considered meat) is prohibited during meals for some.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, YouTube

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Easter

Annual commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

General Practices: Celebratory meals, family gatherings, and distribution of colored eggs, baskets, and chocolate bunnies. It is a celebration of renewal.

Date Details: Easter Sunday is determined by the Gregorian calendar (Gregorian calendar regulates ceremonial cycle of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches).

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Crosswalk

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Vaisakhi

Vaisakhi is the Sikh new year festival and commemorates 1699, the year Sikhism was born. Vaisakhi is also a long-established harvest festival.

General Practices: There are often parades, dancing, and singing throughout the day. These celebrations involve music, singing, and chanting of scriptures and hymns.

Helpful Links: Sikh Wiki, Davora

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Holy Friday/Good Friday

Friday before Easter commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ among some sects of Christianity, and in many countries, marks a day of fasting.

General Practices: Prayer, fasting, confession, and church services as well as the wrapping or dying of eggs (often red) in preparation for Easter Sunday.

Date Details: Good Friday is determined by the Julian calendar which regulates ceremonial cycle of the Eastern Orthodox Christian churches.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events and activities on the date.

Helpful Links: Time and Date, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

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Easter (Pascha)

Annual commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

General Practices: Celebratory meals, family gatherings, distribution of colored eggs and baskets of breads, meats, eggs, cheeses and other foods. It is a celebration of renewal.

Date Details: Easter Sunday is determined by the Julian calendar which regulates ceremonial cycle of the Eastern Orthodox Christian churches.

Helpful Links: Orthodox Wiki, Public Orthodoxy

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Yom HaShoah

Holocaust Remembrance Day; a day to remember the lives and names of Jewish victims and activists of the Holocaust.

General Practices: Ceremonies or events to remember Holocaust victims who died during World War II; activities may include lighting memorial candles and reciting the Kaddish, which is a prayer for the departed.

Recommended Accommodations: Provide food accommodation as requested, and offer vegetarian options when planning menus for events on this date.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, My Jewish Learning

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Laylat al-Qadr

Laylat al-Qadr, the holiest night of the year for Muslims, is traditionally celebrated on the 27th day of Ramadan.

It is known as the Night of Power and commemorates the night that the Quran was first revealed to the prophet Muhammad.

Helpful Links: Muslim Aid, Yaqeen Institute

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First Day of the Ridván Festival

The annual Baha’i festival commemorates the 12 days when Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Baha’i Faith, publicly proclaimed His mission as God’s messenger for this age.

General Practices: Elections for local, national and international Bahá’í institutions are generally held during the Festival of Ridvan.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events and activities on the date. (Bahá’í employees will likely request to have this day off.)

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Bahá’ís of the United States

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Eid al-Fitr

Eid al-Fitr means “break the fast” and is the last day of Ramadan, marking the end of a month of fasting. The phrase commonly used by Muslims to wish someone a happy Eid is “Eid Mubarak,” which translates to “Blessed Eid” in Arabic.

General Practices: Muslims often pray, exchange gifts, give money to children, feast, and celebrate with friends and family.

Date Details: Dates are determined by the lunar calendar. Lunar calendars can vary based on region and practice. Eid al Fitr is a three day celebration and begins at sundown.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events, or activities on this date. Employees will likely ask to take a vacation day on this day, and that request should be granted if at all possible. If planning an evening event, provide food accommodations if requested (Islamic dietary restrictions apply).

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Office Holidays

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Ninth Day of the Ridván Festival

The annual Baha’i festival commemorates the 12 days when Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Baha’i Faith, publicly proclaimed His mission as God’s messenger for this age.

General Practices: Baha’is often celebrate the ninth day of Ridvan with outdoor activities like picnics, games and hikes, enjoying the beauty of lakes, rivers and oceans as a reminder of Baha’u’llah’s momentous Declaration on the shores of the Tigris.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events and activities on the date. (Bahá’í employees will likely request to have this day off.)

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Bahá’í Teachings

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Beltane

The fire festival that celebrates the coming of summer and the fertility of the coming year. One of the eight major annual sabbats or festivals.

General Practices: Jumping the balefire, dancing around the Maypole.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, YouTube

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Twelfth Day of the Ridván Festival

The annual Baha’i festival commemorates the 12 days when Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Baha’i Faith, publicly proclaimed His mission as God’s messenger for this age.

General Practices: Baha’is usually observe the Twelfth Day of Ridván with a community gathering where prayers are shared, followed with a celebration.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events and activities on the date. (Bahá’í employees will likely request to have this day off.)

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Bahá’í Teachings

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Declaration of the Báb

This Holy Day commemorates May 23, 1844, when the Báb, the herald of the Baha’i Faith, announced in Shiraz, Persia (now Iran), that He was the Herald of a new Messenger of God.

General Practices: Praying, programs that tell the story of His declaration, a special prayer read two hours and 11 minutes after sunset, which is the moment when the Báb informed Mulla Husayn of his mission, and reflect on the process of searching for spiritual answers. It is one of the nine holy days of the year when work is suspended and children are exempted from attending school.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events and activities on the date. (Bahá’í employees will likely request to have this day off.)

Helpful Links: Oregan State, Bahá’í Teachings

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Buddha Day/Visakha Puja

This holiday is traditionally known as Buddha’s birthday. It is the major Buddhist festival commemorating the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha.

General Practices: Buddhists often decorate their homes and visit their local temples. Observers are encouraged to refrain from slaughtering and to avoid eating meat on this date.

Recommended Accommodations: Provide food accommodation as requested, and offer vegetarian options when planning menus for events on this date.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, YouTube

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Shavuot

Commemorates receipt of the Torah on Mount Sinai (two of three pilgrimage festivals).

General Practices: Evening of devotional programs and studying the Torah, lighting of Yahrzeit memorial candle at sundown on the second night of Shavuot.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events and activities on the first two and last two days of the holiday. Provide food accommodation as requested. (Kosher restrictions apply, though it is customary to eat dairy.)

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, The JC

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Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh

Bahá’ís observe the anniversary of the death in exile of Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, on May 29, 1892, outside Akko (also known as Akka or Acre), in what is now northern Israel.

General Practices: Bahá’ís will celebrate the Ascension of Baha’u’llah by gathering together in devotion and prayer. These meetings have a somber and meditative tone in remembrance of Baha’u’llah. The Ascension of Baha’u’llah is also one of the nine holy days of the year when work and school is suspended.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events and activities on the date. (Bahá’í employees will likely request to have this day off.)

Helpful Links: Boston Public Library, Bahá’í Teachings

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Asalha Puja

Asalha Puja or Dharma Day is one of Theravada Buddhism's most important festivals, celebrating the Buddha's first sermon

General Practices: The day is generally recognized as the beginning of the Buddhism movement approximately 2,500 years ago and is observed by donating offerings to temples and listening to sermons.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, HuffPost

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Martyrdom of the Báb

The holy day commemorates the anniversary of the execution of the Báb (Siyyid ‘Ali-Muhammad), the herald of the Baha’i Faith, by a firing squad on July 9, 1850, in Tabriz, Persia (now Iran).

General Practices: Bahá’í's commemorate the Martyrdom of the Báb with prayers and scripture. Specifically, the Bahá’í scripture called Tablets of Visitation. This scripture signifies the passing of an important figure. The Martyrdom of the Báb is also one of the nine holy days of the year when work and school is suspended.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events and activities on the date. (Bahá’í employees will likely request to have this day off.)

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Bahá’í Teachings

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Feast of the Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary

The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is regarded as the most important Marian feast day in the Church’s calendar. It celebrates Our Lady being assumed body and soul into heaven after the end of her earthly life.

General Practices: In many places, religious parades and popular festivals are held to celebrate this day. Some practitioners may fast and pray.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events, and activities on this date.

Helpful Links: Wikipedia, Catholic News Agency

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