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Religious Holidays Calendar

In December of 2020 the University Faculty Senate passed the following motion:

Drake University values diversity, equity and inclusion. As part of our commitment to these values, we must support and embrace our students’ various religious traditions and faiths. To ensure equity, Drake University will make a good faith effort to provide reasonable religious accommodations to students whose religious beliefs and practices conflict with an academic requirement unless such an accommodation would create an undue hardship on the university community.

Please consult the following list of religious holidays where observance may compete withna the demandds of the academic calendar. This list is not a designation of all religious holidays recognized by the University; it is vaisakhisimply an aid for planning purposes. Any instructor with concerns regarding a given holiday, or the academic implications of a particular student’s religious observance, may seek guidance from the chair of their department, dean of their school, or their Provost.

Students can inform instructors of classes they will miss due to religious holidays via this form.

Students may request course registration assistance due to religious holiday observances via this form.

2026

     

January

1 New Years Day  
  7

Orthodox Christmas (Christian Orthodox)

 
  19 Martin Luther King Day  
  30-31 Mahayana New Year** (Buddhism)  
February 14 St. Valentine's Day (Christian)  
  15 Nirvana Day** (Buddhist)  
  15

Maha Shivaratri (Hindu)

 
  16

President's day

 
  17 Lunar New Year  
  18 Ash Wednesday/Beginning of Lent (Christian)  
  18

Beginning of Ramadan (Islamic)

 
March 2-3 Purim (Jewish)  
  3 Holi (Hindu)  
  16

Laylat al-Qadr (Islamic)

 
  19

End of Ramadan (Islamic)

 
  20 Spring Equinox  
  20

Eid al-Fitr (Islamic)

 
  21 Naw-Ruz (Baha'i)  
  26

Ram Navani (Hindu)

 
April 1-9 Passover* (Jewish)  
  3

Good Friday (Christian)

 
  5

Easter (Christian)

 
  10

Good Friday (Orthodox)

 
  12

Easter (Orthodox)

 
  13 Vaisakhi (Sikh/Hindu)  
May 1 Buddha's Birthday (Buddhist)  
  22-23

Shavuot* (Jewish)

 
  25 Memorial Day  
  27

Eid al-Adha* (Islamic)

 
June 16

Muharram (Al Hijrah New Year)

(Islamic)

 
  19 Juneteenth  
July 4 Independence Day  
August 16

Mawlid an-Nabi (Islamic)

 
September 3

Janmashtami (Hindu)

 
  7

Labor Day

 
  11-13

Rosh Hashanah* (New Year) (Jewish)

 
  22

Fall Equinox

 
  25-Oct 2

Sukkot* (Jewish)

 
October 11- Nov 20

Navaratri (Hindu)

 
  12

Indigenous People's Day

 
  20-21

Yom Kippur (Jewish)

 
  20

Dussehra/Dasara (Hindu)

 
  31

Samhain (Wiccan)

 
November 1-2

Dia de Los Muertos 

 
  8

Diwali (Hindu)

 
  11

Birth of Baha'u'llah* (Baha'i)

 
  11

Veteran's Day

 
  26

Thanksgiving day

 
  27

Native American Heritage Day

 
  28

Ascension of Baha'u'llah (Baha'i)

 
  29- December 24

Advent

 
December 4-12

Hanukkah* (Jewish)

 
  8

Bodhi Day (Rohatsu)* (Buddhism)

 
  21

Christmas Day (Christian)

 

 

Source: Interfaith Calendar

Please Note:

* Indicates Holy days that commence at dusk on the evening before the dates given.

** Local or regional customs may use a variation of this date.


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