Religious Observances Calendar

Note: all Jewish and Muslim observances begin at sundown on the evening of the first date given.

2024-2025 Academic Year (beginning August)

Rosh Hashanah (Judaism) - October 2-4, 2024
Expect Jewish students to attend synagogue locally on the evening of the first full day and the morning and possibly afternoon of the second day.  The holiday is traditionally two days not one; some students may choose to go home for the weekend.  This is considered a major holiday on which ordinary work is not pursued, although most Jewish students at Lawrence will go about their ordinary business after formal worship is concluded.

Yom Kippur (Judaism) - October 11-12, 2024
The holiest day of the year and a solemn day; a complete fast from before sundown on the first evening until dark on the second evening. Expect Jewish students to need time for a pre-holiday meal and then go to synagogue locally in the evening. More will attend this service than any other during the year. Expect many also to attend local synagogue for morning, afternoon, and concluding/evening services on the second evening, and then to break the fast after dark, either at the congregation’s communal meal or together with friends. Although Jewish students at Lawrence are generally not strictly observant in a traditional sense, most will deeply resent having academic or extra-curricular obligations on this day, i.e., from late afternoon on the first evening through the night of the second evening.

Sukkot (Judaism) - October 16-23, 2024
Although the first day and last day are major holidays, i.e., days on which ordinary work is not to be pursued, expect Jewish students at Lawrence only to gather for a festival evening service and meal on the weekend.

Samhain (Pagan) - October 31-November 1, 2024
This festival is the observance of the Celtic New Year beginning at sundown.  This is a time of harvest celebrations and rituals.  Students should not have interruptions to their academic work.

Diwali (Hinduism) Hindu Lunar Calendar - November 1, 2024
This festival of lights will most likely be celebrated in the evening and should not interfere with any academic commitments, unless there is an evening class scheduled on this day. 

Advent begins (Christianity) – December 1-24, 2024
This season in the Christian calendar observes the period of preparation leading up to the celebration of Christmas.  Students should not have any conflicts with the academic responsibilities.

Buddha’s Enlightenment Day / Bohdi Day (Buddhism) - December 8, 2024
This is the Buddhist holiday that commemorates the day that the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama (Shakyamuni), experienced enlightenment.   

Christmas (Christian-Catholic/Protestant) - December 25, 2024 
Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Imbolc (Pagan) - February 1, 2025
Celebrated as a fire festival and associated with fertility, this is a midpoint between the winter solstice and spring equinox in March.

Ramadan (Islam) - February 28 - March 30, 2025
During Ramadan, Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex from dawn to sunset. Ramadan fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam, along with the Muslim declaration of faith, daily prayer, charity and performing the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

The month of ‘Alá’ (Baha’i) - March 1-19, 2025
A nineteen-day period each year during which adult Bahá’ís fast from sunrise to sunset each day. This period immediately precedes the Bahá’í new year. It is a time of prayer, meditation, and spiritual rejuvenation.

Ash Wednesday (Christian-Catholic/Protestant) - March 5, 2025
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, the forty-day period (excluding Sundays) of prayer, repentance, and self-denial that precedes Easter (Western Churches).  Students may choose to fast, but the observance should not impact the normal academic day.  On-campus worship service may take place that evening. 

Purim (Judaism) - March 13-14, 2025
Purim (held on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar — usually March or April) commemorates the day Esther, Queen of Persia, saved the Jewish people from execution by Haman, the advisor to the Persian king. Esther bravely exposed her previously hidden Jewish heritage to her husband the king and asked him to save her people, which he did.

Holi (Hinduism) March 14, 2025
Sometimes called a 'festival of love,' Holi is a day to forget your resentments and bad feelings toward others, and express your love for life and humanity. It begins in the evening, Holika Dahan (lighting of the bonfires), and in the daytime the celebration is called Dhuleti.

Eid al-Fitr – last day of fasting (Islam) - March 29-30, 2025
This 'feast of breaking the fast") is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of Ramadan and the last day of fasting.

Passover (Judaism) - April 12-20, 2025
Begins at sundown on the first day, and ends at dark on the final day. The major celebration for Lawrence students will be the holiday meal called the Seder, held by more traditional Jews on both the first and second evenings of Passover and by liberal Jews only on the first night. The one aspect of Passover observance that our students generally do adhere to is refraining from eating products made from leavened grain (bread, cereal, noodles, beer, etc.) during the seven or eight days of the holiday’s duration.

Good Friday (Christian-Catholic/Protestant) - April 18, 2025
Commemorates the Passion of Jesus and his submission to death by crucifixion.  Some students may request time to attend special worship services during the day.

Easter (Christian-Catholic/Protestant) - April 20, 2025
Celebrates the resurrection of Jesus.  It is the oldest and most important festival in the Christian year and initiates the fifty-day period culminating in Pentecost.  Many Christian students will go home if possible for this observance.

Beltane (Pagan) - May 1, 2025 
Celebration of the midway point of the vernal equinox and the summer solstice. One of the 4 quarter day festivals, Beltane is important in the turning of the wheel of the year.