Religious Holidays and Holy Days

Major Religious Holidays and Celebrations 2023-2024

Below is a list of holidays, traditional days of observances and important days of religious significance. This is not a comprehensive list of dates and a more detailed list can be found at www.interfaith-calendar.org.

Please take note of the dates in UPPER CASE and RED. These require abstinence from all secular activity and fall under the attendance policy adopted by the University Senate and the Board of Trustees.

Miami excuses class absences for religious observances. Students must give written notification to their instructors within the first two weeks of class of the religious event that prohibits class attendance and the date that will be missed, if officially known. For such an absence, Miami expects the instructor to provide students with reasonable accommodations for completing missed work. Read the full policy

The following template may be used as a guide when communicating an absence with a professor:

Dear Professor __________,

In celebration of the religious holiday ________________, I am requesting to miss class on ____________ (add additional holidays/dates as needed). My plan to get information on what I miss in class is ____________________ (for example, indicate if you would like to meet with the professor outside of class). I respectfully request this in accordance with the University Class Attendance policy website and associated holiday calendar. 

Thank you,

___________

NOTE:

• Dates with an asterisk (*) indicate holy days beginning at sundown the day before this date.
• Dates with two asterisks (**) indicate that regional customs or moon sightings may cause a variation of this date.

While other religious holidays listed or not listed may not necessarily require abstinence from all secular activity, one should be sensitive to certain other observations that may involve fasting, a dietary change, or special celebrations that may occur during the day or in the evening. Jewish and Islamic days begin at sundown of the day preceding the date shown and end at sundown of the (last) date shown. Orthodox and observant Conservative Jews stop all work-related activities from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday to observe Shabbat (Sabbath). Other religious traditions include similar practices. For example, Seventh-day Adventists observe the Sabbath from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. For more information on religious holidays, visit the Center for American and World Cultures. The Interfaith Calendar and other sources were used to develop this document. Revisions to the calendar should be directed to provost@MiamiOH.edu.