2020-2021 Multifaith Religious Holiday Calendar

Multifaith Religious Holiday Calendar
Academic Year 2020-2021

Faculty (including coaches) receive annual reminders of this policy and are encouraged to work carefully with students in anticipating and resolving conflicts to their mutual satisfaction.

Because no Williams student should ever have to choose between important religious observances and academic or athletic commitments, college policy provides for students who wish to participate in religious observances that conflict with other obligations to make arrangements with their instructors and coaches to do so.

The policy, approved in 1984 by the faculty and trustees in compliance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, states that “Any student who is unable, because of his or her religious beliefs, to attend classes or to participate in any examination, study, or work requirement on a particular day shall be excused from any such requirement, and shall be provided an opportunity to make up such requirement which s/he may have missed because of such absence now provided, however, that such makeup examination or work shall not create an unreasonable burden upon the College. No adverse or prejudicial effects shall result to any student” who makes use of this provision of college policy.

The list that follows is not exhaustive. It includes notable festivals and holy days that may require appropriate accommodations for students and employees; although by no means are all religious traditions represented in the Williams community. (If this calendar does not include a significant date of your religious tradition, please let us know.) Every effort has been made to ensure that this information is accurate. Note that some holidays in some traditions are tied to the lunar calendar or to particular cultural patterns that vary by region or by which make their location in the calendar somewhat more fluid. Dates marked with a double asterisk (**) denote occasions on which the precept of a particular tradition and the practice of nearly all its adherents, includes significant restrictions on academic activity.

Islamic Holidays: Regional customs or moon sightings may cause a variation of the date for Islamic holidays, which begin at sundown the day before the date specified for the holiday. The Islamic calendar is lunar and the days begin at sunset, so there may be one-day error depending on when the New Moon is first seen.

For holidays associated with Christianity, the following notations are used to denote observance by particular strands of the Christian tradition: RC-Roman Catholic P-Protestant O-Orthodox

Please visit this link for more religious holidays.

INTERFAITH CALENDAR: Primary sacred times for world religions

Sun

Mon

Sundown-Sat

Sundown-Mon

Thu

Fri

Sat

Fri

**‘Alá’ (Loftiness) 19-day fast, sunrise to sunset each day.

Recommended Accommodations: Avoid scheduling important academic deadlines, events and activities on the date. Bahá’ís students and employees may be fasting.

Mon

Sat

Sundown-Mon

Sundown-Tue