Calendar Error

Lawrence Finch wrote:

IdrisSeabright wrote:

seattleCubano wrote:

A holiday *typically* reflects a country's history, its 'major' religions, historic figures, etc.

According to whom? It's Apple's calendar, they can put "National Americans Isolationist Day" on it if they want to. Apple provides one possible calendar. If it somehow interferes with your personal idea of what it means for something to be a U.S. calendar, don't use that calendar.

Even with that view, the USA's 4 most widely observed religions are Christianity (in its dozen or more forms), Judaism (about 4-5 significant forms) Hinduism (too many forms to count), and Islam (~2 major forms). Those are the 4 that are included in Apple's calendar.

If the calendar were to take history into account, the vast majority of the founding fathers were none of the above. Many were Deists, Universalists, Friends, or outright atheists (Thomas Paine who wrote Common Sense was a rabid atheist, a fact that is not covered in standard history texts). There were also a number of Jews among the founding fathers, the most notable, Chaim Salomon. who arranged for French loans to be converted to cash to finance the American Revolution. Without his help there's a good chance the US would not exist.

And, what about the holidays of the indigenous peoples?

IdrisSeabright wrote:

And, what about the holidays of the indigenous peoples?

That would be a really interesting problem. Which indigenous peoples? Which nation? Which tribe within the nation? I know there's a list of the more common indigenous people's holidays, so that would be a start. From my work at the American Museum of Natural History I know a few of them, but compiling a complete list would be daunting. Still, a challenge in need of some intrepid volunteers.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

IdrisSeabright wrote:

And, what about the holidays of the indigenous peoples?

That would be a really interesting problem. Which indigenous peoples? Which nation? Which tribe within the nation? I know there's a list of the more common indigenous people's holidays, so that would be a start. From my work at the American Museum of Natural History I know a few of them, but compiling a complete list would be daunting. Still, a challenge in need of some intrepid volunteers.

Which was sort of my point. The definition of what is "American" is all a matter of perspective, not something absolute or fixed.

I know far less about indigenous American (and by that I mean North, Central and South) cultures than I ought. In part, because I'm never sure where to start.

According to whom? You mean what constitutes what a nation generally celebrates? It's observable by simply being a part of the community at large and understanding it's history, etc. If you live in Japan, you'll also see relevant celebrations there. It's no surprise that the 'Day of the Dead' or Bastille Day aren't generally celebrated in, I dunno, say Japan. How about we just include Bastille Day, and why not? French make up approximately 10% of our population. Or how about including 'Day of the Dead.' The Mexican American population might appreciate it. At some point, i'm pretty sure the 'tech heads' at Apple didn't need too much convincing to put Holi on everyone's calendar. No matter how you slice and dice it, it hasn't been included on most calendars in the United States, with some exceptions (including this one.) Of course Apple can do what they want, I'm simply providing my opinion as to why I think it's silly. There was a mention of 'not wanting to consign' people to what they should have on their phones, then let people decide to add their own calendar items or give them an easy way to include/exclude certain categories, perhaps 'non-observed' holidays is an option or to include added religions holidays. Some granular control would be nice, rather than simply 'consigning' everyone to the same bucket. Simply 'using another calendar' is silly if you are using the Apple platform. I do agree and think it's fair to let people decide for themselves, and if Apple wants to provide a user-friendly mechanism that enables that, great; rather than them simply assuming. But it's their OS, I'm just providing my own perspective.

Apple put it there. I hope you have a happy Holi. I know I will.

2018 Holi, Rangwali Holi, Dhulandi, date for Cupertino, California, United States

Get your bonfire ready.

It also shows up next year on a different day.

Wait till Hallmark hears about Holi

iMartha wrote:

Wait till Hallmark hears about Holi

I think they have. They have a Holi-gram section now. 😎

March 2 is TX Independence Day...and either way, this or this weird “Holi” some folks refer to, which is a Hindu thing, isn’t a US Holiday so it shouldn’t be on the calendar.

True but since it’s the “US Holiday” calendar option it should ONLY be those US govt recognized ones.

jrussell1179 wrote:

It also shows up next year on a different day.

Many holidays occur on a different date every year. For example, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving and, sadly, Presidents Day.