Calendar and guide to the most significant religious festivals2009-2013
related to religions commonly found inthe UK
This calendar and guide is a tool that requires you to take action. It comprises 3 elements:
Part A - Guide
Part B - Calendar (see separate Excel spreadsheet)
Part C - National Statistics
This document contains Parts A and C
Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge the series ‘Faith Guides for Higher Education[1]’ published by the Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies, Higher Education Academy, School of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Leeds for guiding us broadly in the development of this calendar. For making available long-term festival dates we would like to acknowledge the BBC[2] online multi-faith calendar. For brief descriptions of religious festivals we acknowledge the BBC online multi-faith calendar and the Shap Calendar of Religious Festivals[3]. For information around rights and responsibilities we would like to acknowledge the Equality Challenge Unit Briefingtitled ‘Religious observance in higher education’. For information about Human Rights, in particular Article 9, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, we acknowledge the Department for Constitutional Affairs publication ‘Human rights: human lives - A handbook for public authorities’.
We would like in particular, to express our sincere thanks to Hugh Beattie, Gwilym Beckerlegge, David Herbert, Helen Waterhouse, and Melanie Wright - our academic colleagues who willingly gave their expertise in identifying the most significant festivals, explaining their impact on staff and students, and for providing general support so that the guidance contained here is consistent and relevant. Special thanks as well go to Jane Duffield and Julie Tayler in Central Secretariat for their ideas on improving the usability of the calendar.
For making available statistical information about religious populations in the UK we acknowledge the National Statistics website: Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of theController Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI). Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence.
Published: July 2009
Comments about this calendar are most welcome and should be sent for the attention of the Manager, Equality and Diversity.
Equality and Diversity Office
Strategy Unit
The Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA
Telephone:+44(0) 1908 652867 or 652566
Minicom:+44(0) 1908 653074
Email:
Web:
Contents
Part A - Guide Page
- Overall aim.5
- What is the purpose of the calendar?5
- What information is included in the calendar and guide?5
- Who is the calendar for?6
- How should I use the calendar?6
- What are the main changes in the calendar compared to the previous version?7
- What is our policy on student examination arrangements and religious festivals?8
- What is our policy on staff annual leave entitlement for purposes of religious observance?8
- Health warning.9
- About the Buddhist festival.9
- About Christian festivals.9
- About Hindu festivals.9
- About Jewish festivals.9
- About Muslim festivals.10
- About Sikh festivals.10
- Multi-faith prayer room.11
- Publication, comments and other available supporting information.11
- Want to learn more about religion? How about completing an Open University course?11
Part B - Calendar (see separate Excel spreadsheet[4])
The calendar provides a range of information for the most significant festivals related to religionscommonly found in the UK: Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh.
- Festival dates are provided for the period 2009 to 2013 (where known). Where festivals last for several days the most important days have been shown explicitly.
- A flag indicator to identify the impact of festivals on staff and student activities.
- A brief description for each listed festival.
- A broad assessment of festival impact on staff and student activities.
Part C - National Statistics[5]
- Religious populations in Great Britain- April 2001.13
Contents continued
- Religion geographic distributionin Great Britain- April 2001.14
- Religion geographic diversityin England and Wales- April 2001.15
- Religion, age and sex distribution in Great Britain- April 2001.16
- Religion and education in Great Britain- April 2001.17
- Religion and ethnicity in Great Britain- April 2001.18
- Religion and the labour market in Great Britain- 2004.20
- Communities in Northern Ireland - April 2001.22
- Northern Ireland Labour Market - 2002/03.23
Part A - Guide
1.Overall aim
The aim is to create an inclusive working and learning environment where all individuals are valued and encouraged to participate fully.
2.What is the purpose of the calendar?
2.1.The purpose of this calendar is to provide staff (i.e. you) with a usable tool so that you can take account of the most significant religious festival dates in your long-term and short-term planning of University activities involving staff and students.
2.2.Whilst we are driven by our mission[6], our strong commitment to social justice, and our core values[7], the University does have legal responsibilities[8] to ensure its practices do not disadvantage staff and students on grounds of a person’s religion or belief,or interfere with their right to manifest their religion or belief, unless the requirement is proportionate in the circumstances and contributes to achieving a legitimate aim. Werecognise the need to strike a balance between the University’s needs and a person’s rightto manifest their belief. Normally there is no conflict, but where it does arise, the law requires us to seek a reasonable compromise.
2.3.Taking account of significant religious festival dates, anticipating and responding positively to different needs, is one way in which you can contribute to bringabout the inclusive learning and working culture we are working to achieve and at the same time, help meet the University’s legal obligations.
3.What information is included in the calendar and guide?
3.1.The calendar includes only the most significant festivals related to religions commonly found in the UK (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism). ‘Significance’ here means no more than impact on the workplace and learning environment, related to thosereligions with the largest populations in the UK.
3.2.For the festivals listed, the calendar provides the following information:
a)Festival dates for 2009 to 2013 (where known).
b)A flag indicator (red, amber, blue)to identify festival impacton staff and student activities.
c)A brief description of each festival.
d)A broad assessment of festival impact on staff and student activities.
3.3.Designed to be a helpful and effective tool for managers and staff involved in planning activities,the calendar includes only a small selection of festivals identified for their relevance and impact on University activities. Inclusion of all festivals for every religion represented in the UK would make the calendar unusable, however staff and students who observe other religious festivals not included in the calendar should make their needs known. For those who are interested in other religious festivals not included in this calendarmight want to usea multi-faith calendar, such as the Shap Calendar[9] or, use the online BBC calendar[10].
3.4.The guide (Part A) provides supporting information to help you get the most out of the calendar, as well as supplying information about related University policies, courses, and facilities.
3.5.To help you understand about the religious populations in the UKsome national statistics are provided at Part C of this document - these look separately at Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
4.Who is the calendar for?
4.1.This calendar is for you:
a)If you use a diary or calendar.
b)If you are involved in long-term and short-term planning arrangements for:
1)Day schools/other schools.
2)Examinations/assessment.
3)Residential schools.
4)Tutorials.
5)Committees, groups, networks, clubs etc.
6)Events, conferences, meetings, training, seminars, team-building etc.
7)Communications, and marketing activities.
8)Community liaison, and volunteering.
c)If you are involved in delivery of services to students, staff and visitors - either directly or via contractors or consultants e.g.
1)Student support.
2)Tutorials.
3)Catering provision.
4)Multi-faith prayer room provision.
5)Open days.
d)If you manage people.
e)If you have face-to-face or telephone contact with visitors, students, staff, and Council members.
5.How should I use the calendar?
5.1.Use the calendar to identify the festivals for religions commonly found in the UK most likely to impact on the workplace and student activities and incorporate these dates into your existing long-term and short-term planning tools, procedures and practices so that you can help create an inclusive working and learning environment within your OU activities. Where unavoidable clashes occur you should assess the impact, consider consulting participants and providealternative arrangements for those affected.
5.2.Recognising the need to balance avoiding festival dates and University operational demands, a simple ‘flag indicator’ system has been developed to identify festival impacton the workplace and student learning and assessment activities. Definitions of flag indicators are as follows:
a)Red: Festivals which should be considered as ‘essential dates to avoid’such as Christmas, Easter and Yom Kippur – these dates should be blocked from the start and not considered at all for your activities. These dates would have a major impact on staff and students observing these festivals.
b)Amber: Those dates which you should ‘avoid if at all possible’ as they relate to some of the most important festivals for people belonging to religions commonly found in the UK, and are likely to affect staff working or student learning/assessment activities. Where a clash is unavoidable, participants should be consulted and alternative arrangements made for those affected.
c)Blue: Other notable activities/festivals which staff should be sensitive to and take into accountbut which are unlikely to prevent staff working/student learning/assessment activities. However, these festivals might require some alternative arrangementsto be made for those affected.
5.3.Remember the overall aim is to create an inclusive working and learning environment. The flag system is intended to be a tool to support and guide you. If you find it helpful from a planning perspective to avoid all of these dates then so much the better - you would be taking very positive steps towards creating an inclusive culture. However, it is recognised that some areas are likely to find blocking all dates quite challenging and cause practical difficulties. These areas in particular are likely to find the flag system helpful in determining the key dates to be avoided, dates for which it would be highly desirable to avoid, and those festival dates which are unlikely to affect staff and students except in certain circumstances e.g. evening or weekend activities. If you keep the overall aim in mind you won’t go far wrong in using the calendar.
5.4.The calendar has been created as an Excel spreadsheet to enable you to sort data according to your need e.g. you can sort data by year in ascending order, by religion, by flag etc.
6.What are the main changes in the calendar compared to the previous version?
6.1.Festival dates are shown for the period 2009 to 2013 (where known).
6.2.Baha’i festivals have been removed in response to feedback received from academic advisers. It was felt that inclusion of Baha’i, a minority religion in the UK was an anomaly as festivals for other minority religions were not included so for consistency Baha’i festivals have been removed.
6.3.Two additional Muslim festivals have been included:
a)Ashura, 10th Muharram.
b)Milad an-Nabi, 12th Rabi al-Awwal.
6.4.Introduction of a flag indicator system (red, amber, blue) to identify festival impact on the workplace and student activities.
6.5.For those festivals lasting more than one day we have made explicit the most important dates, this includes those festivals or activities starting from sundown the previous day e.g. Jewish festivals and Shabbat.
6.6.The calendar has been produced as an Excel spreadsheet rather than a Word table to enable filtering and sorting of data e.g. sort festivals by year in ascending order.
7.What is our policy on student examination arrangements and religious festivals?
7.1.We try to avoid setting examinations that clash with major religious festivals. If a student is unable to attend an examination on religious grounds they are asked to contact their regional or national centre at the earliest opportunity - the exact deadline (normally at least 12 weeks before the examination) is published in the ‘Examination Timetable’ and in the ‘Examination Arrangements’ documents[11].
7.2.Where evidence is provided by a religious leader on the adverse effects of timetabled examinations,permission may be granted for alternative arrangements:
a)Alteration of the start and finish times of examinations.
b)For a student due to sit an examination scheduled for an afternoon session on the eve of a holy day, the examination will be sat in the morning session of the same day.
c)Where a student observes an entire period of a religious festival or series of holy days and is unable to sit an examination they will automatically be eligible for deferral to the next examination opportunity. If an examination deferral will have a significant detrimental effect on a student’s academic progress, or if the deferral date clashes with a religious festival, a case may be made to the Exceptional Examination Arrangements and Special Circumstances Sub-Committee to sit the examination prior to the next examination opportunity. If this is approved by the Sub-Committee, the relevant Examination and Assessment Board will be required to provide a separate question paper and this will be sat on a separate date. Such cases requiring a separate paper are expected to be exceptional and, in order to make appropriate arrangements, students must apply to the OU at the earliest opportunity.
7.3.For further details and information about arrangements for appropriate supervision of students,please see the Assessment Policy Office ‘Statement of Assessment Policy and Guidance’ (SAPP) 5.11‘Guidance on examination arrangements and religious festivals and/or holy days’, published on the Student Services Examinations and Assessment intranet site[12].
8.What is our policy on staff annual leave entitlement for purposes of religious observance?
Days taken in addition to normal Public holidays for purposes of religious observances e.g. Ramadan, Diwali, or the Jewish New Year etc, should be allowed by Heads of Unit but taken as part of the contractual holiday entitlement. Employers are not obliged to give time off for religious observances when the time is not made up. For details of other reasonable accommodation of religious observances please see the University’s leave policy (MOPP Section 11, paragraph 11.2.1), which is available on the Human Resources staff intranet site.
9.Health warning
9.1.This calendar comes with a health warning and you are reminded of its limitations.
9.2.As with many multi-faith calendars, the religions included tend to have the biggest or most effective voices in inter-faith networks. Once you go beyond dealing with the largest UK religious groups in terms of population it becomes increasingly hard to justify why some religions are included and others excluded. It is for this reason that this calendar covers festivals related to Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism.
9.3.Whilst we work towards achieving a more inclusive workplace and learning environment please remember that this calendar can only include so much and other groups (sects within the largest UK religious groups or those belonging to minority religious groups) will have different needs and might select different festivals as the most significant in their year. Although this would have little impact on the workplace or on student activities because of the relatively modest numbers of those affected, for the individuals concerned the festivals could have great significance.
10.About the Buddhist festival
The calendar includes only one Buddhist festival - Buddha Day, the date of which varies from year to year. Since the date varies for Buddhists from different countries there is no need to avoid meetings or other staff and student activities on this festival date, consequently this festival has been allocated to the ‘blue’ flag category.
11.About Christian festivals
Many of the UK’s Public holidays have their origins in observance of the Christian religion. Therefore as a matter of routine significant Christian dates are generally ‘blocked’ in our calendar e.g. Christmas and Easter, consequently these festivals have been allocated to the ‘red’ flag category.
12.About Hindu festivals
12.1.Two Hindu festivals are included in the calendar and both have been assigned ‘blue’ flags. The dates for Krishna Janmashtami and Diwali vary from year to year.
12.2.There is great diversity in Hinduism with no single version of Hinduism operating among Hindu communities in Britain. The comments on Hindu festivals in this calendar reflect a perspective from British Hindus ofGujarati descent, which seems appropriate as they are the largest UK group (and are most commonly represented in community groups), but other British Hindu groups might select different festivals as the most popular/important in their year, although this would have little impact on the workplace because of the relatively modest numbers of those affected.
13.About Jewish festivals
13.1.Shabbat the Jewish Sabbath starts every Friday about one hour before dusk and lasts for approximately 25 hours. The calendar entry for ‘Shabbat’ explains that Jewish law requires Jews to refrain from various acts of ‘work’ on the weekly Sabbath and that this observance applies to Jewish festivals - Shabbat is equally as important as Jewish festivals. Practicing Jews will want to leave work or learning activities in sufficient time to arrive home by the start of the Shabbat. However, you can accommodate Shabbat by avoiding scheduling meetings, or setting deadlines for the end of Friday afternoon - and this applies only for a few weeks in the winter when the sun sets during or immediately after the working day.
13.2.With the exception of the Seder meal at the beginning of Pesach/ Passover, and the fast on Yom Kippur, it is impossible to say that any of the Jewish festivals featured in this calendar is observed by everyone who identifies as Jewish. However, all modern movements within Judaism (Orthodox, Reform, Liberal, Masorti etc) share the basic festival calendar outlined in this document.