Why are Muslin holidays on my calendar? I am not a Muslin and prefer now to have them on my calendar. How can I remove them?

There is no such thing as an official US holiday - not one. Congress does not have the authority to declare a national holiday. Any US Holiday is nothing more than whatever any group of Americans decide. And ecah group of Americans can decide for themselves.

The US Federal Government may enact holidays only for federal institutions - that is, they have a federal government employee holiday schedule. Not unlink any other employer and whatever holiday schedule they set up for their employees. And nobody outside of the federal government is required or mandated to observe any or every US federal employee holiday. Many States do not observe some of the US federal employee holidays and have their own State legislated holiday(s).

jimwithjen wrote:

Because it (Eld al-Adha) is not an official US Holiday.

Easter is not an official US Holiday. Why is it on my calendar? And, as Michael Black says, there is no such thing as official US Holidays.

I had never noticed that before! Thanks for making my day. Although Muslin is a natural cotton fiber also. But whatever you do don't mix different fibers in the same weave. In the Bible that is a crime punishable by stoning to death.

Well if you're in America, those "Christian" holidays also happen to be recognized American holidays, I.e. Most people have those days off from school and work so it may be helpful to have that noted on your calendar. Of course, anything should be able to be removed, but I'm not convinced that was really the point of your comment!

The US is a very diverse country. While a majority may celebrate a bunch of holidays, the US does not exist solely for the majority. I'm sure you learned that in grade school and beyond. In fact, it violates the Constitution and many other laws passed since the founding of the Republic to give special privileges to the majority. Remember "All men are created equal" from the Declaration of Independence? It doesn't say "All men are created equal, but some are more equal than others."

cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_men_are_created_equal

LaTrinaBooBoo wrote:

These are still holidays that the majority of Americans celebrate, and are often days where government buildings and schools will be closed, hence these are dates that most Americans want to be aware of.

The public school district where I attended school from kindergarten through 12th grade, was closed on Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashannah. I'm guessing there are public school districts in some cities where schools are closed for Muslim holidays. School districts holidays are not determined by the federal government.

These Muslim ones that have suddenly popped up on the iPhone calendars are not relevant to us on any way so I really see no point in having this info on my phone.

Who is "us"? They Muslim holidays are certainly relevant to the 3 million Muslim U.S. citizens and their friends and co-workers.

People here who feel the need to minimize our American holidays and traditions for some strange reason.

How is adding additional holidays minimizing whatever your holidays are? No one took away your holidays. Instead, Apple made the calendar more reflective of U.S. society.

Simmer down people, it's really not an attack on other cultures or religions that we don't need their special days listed on our calendars and I suspect they feel the same about ours (which is really perfectly ok)!

You keep speaking in the plural: "us", "ours". Who is it you think your speaking for? And, why do you think which ever segment of the U.S. population your speaking for is somehow more American than everyone else?

Still no good. There should be a simple solution to customize your US Holidays for your life but, this is another way that Apple is forcing you to do things the Apple way. In this case Apple says, "Modify your definition of US Holidays to include Islamic Holidays."

It is not nonsense. It requires time and effort that Apple knows the vast majority of people will not undertake. Also, that link to the other calendar removes days I want. As I stated before there should be a simple solution like being able customize the 'US holidays' To deny to the ideological push is nonsense, Sir.

gunjaBeans should probably never visit New York. As a port of entry for all kinds of immigrants for decades, there are at least 80 languages spoken there. And I’m sure would be offended by the very large number of specialty shops where the shop signs are in Arabic, Italian, German and lots of other languages. I tell ya’, it’s enough to make a person pass out. 😮

It would be better if Apple, instead of including every religous holiday had a button for: National Holidays, Christian Holidays, Islamic Holidays etc. You realize 3 Million Muslim Americans = less than 1% of the population. So, 99% now see a holiday that they don't observe on their calendar.

Hey man, America is a place for religous freedom. I love that. My personal calendar is just not a place where I want to observe everyone's religon. I feel like it is being forced on me by Apple. That's my view and no disrespect to anyone, I just think it would take a very small amount of effort for Apple to make the app better, for everybody.

Kurt Lang wrote:

gunjaBeans should probably never visit New York. As a port of entry for all kinds of immigrants for decades, there are at least 80 languages spoken there. And I’m sure would be offended by the very large number of specialty shops where the shop signs are in Arabic, Italian, German and lots of other languages. I tell ya’, it’s enough to make a person pass out. 😮

All city forms are in 7 languages.

It seems rather insensitive to exclude ancient Roman holidays like Agonalia, Paternalia, Fordicidia, Mercuralia, Vestalia, Saturnalia, and countless others. Why are Wiccan holidays (Samhain, Yule, Imbolc, Ostrava, Beltane, Litha, Lughnasadh, & Mabo) not included? Many Americans celebrate those. Pastafarian holidays, celebrated by followers of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, are also excluded; shameful. For Apple’s U.S. Holidays calendar, some holidays are clearly “in” while others are “out.” Rather than embracing diversity, the Apple U.S. Holiday calendar seems rather arbitrarary and exclusive to me. As with Siri, I just deleted it.

Not that it personally matters much to me...but the five most practiced religions in the U.S. are all Christian denominations. http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/ In Pew’s study there are actually more atheists and agnostics in the U.S. than Jews and Muslims. Just as Shiites and Sunnis each see their own sects as “true” Islam, an enduring feud (http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_551_600/shia_versus_sunni.htm) separates them. Many members of the Christian denominations (e.g. Branch Davidians) would likely cringe at the thought of being lumped together as a single religion. And many believe their sect to be the only “true” faith and the followers of other Christian denominations to be ****-bound. The Latter Day Saints consider themselves Christian. But their holidays “Pioneer Day,” “Founding Day,” and “John the Baptist’s Visit“ are curiously absent from Apple’s Holiday calendar.

Rather than “us“ or “we the people,” much of humanity have an affinity for seeing themselves as “us” and others as “them.” Whether that perspective is fueled by religion or nationalism, we as a species seem incapable of escaping tribal thinking and the rancorous debates (and wars) that often accompany it. We might all actually come a bit closer together by ignoring the Apple holiday calendar. Imagine.

pjstarich wrote:

It seems rather insensitive to exclude ancient Roman holidays like Agonalia, Paternalia, Fordicidia, Mercuralia, Vestalia, Saturnalia, and countless others. Why are Wiccan holidays (Samhain, Yule, Imbolc, Ostrava, Beltane, Litha, Lughnasadh, & Mabo) not included?

Apple included the holidays celebrated by the five religions with the most adherents in the U.S. Links have been provided elsewhere in this thread for calendars that include (or exclude) other holidays. Chose the one that best meets your needs.