The Carleton University community can now access the Multifaith Calendar, an electronic calendar highlighting faith observances from different religions, spiritualities and cultures.
The Department of Equity and Inclusive Communities announced the new calendar in late October.
“By becoming more familiar with different observances, we can work to advance equity, diversity and inclusion and help to create welcoming and supportive spaces for students, staff and faculty,” the department told the Charlatan in a statement.
The interactive calendar features holidays, festivals, cultural events and public holidays from many faiths. It also provides a description of each observance, highlighting their contexts and meanings.
Some highlighted observances in November include the Day of the Covenant, observed in the Bahá’í Faith, and the Tiantai/Tendai Memorial, observed in Buddhism.
The calendar is published annually by the Multifaith Action Society, a Vancouver-based non-profit organization that strives to promote understanding, awareness and respect among faith and cultural communities.
“The basis of the society is to basically work with the wider community to build bridges and provide discussion opportunities to inform and educate,” said Bernard Bouska, the Multifaith Action Society’s marketing and distribution manager.
“A lot of our initiatives tend to be bringing in people from various faith traditions and cultural communities,” Bouska said.
“We find that once people come together, especially at the grassroots level, they tend to forge new relationships.”
Bouska said the society puts a great deal of care into the creation of the calendar to ensure accuracy, including consultations with faith leaders.
Society is becoming increasingly polarized, Bouska said, so it’s especially important for resources like the Multifaith Calendar to be available in institutions like universities.
“From our perspective, the more resources or educational tools that can be available, the better off people are.”
“That’s why Carleton getting a subscription is so helpful. It opens the door for any students, staff, professors to access it and learn a little bit more.”
“Most people don’t know too much about other religious traditions,” Whitall said. “You hear that there’s Advent coming up, or we’ve just had Diwali … you can go to that calendar.”
Lazourd Alnashed*, the vice-president internal of Carleton’s Muslim Students’ Association, said resources like the calendar “mean a lot to many people.”
“It shows them that they have a sense of belonging,” Alnashed said. “It makes it easier for them to fit in, to feel heard, to feel seen.”
Alnashed also said these resources play a role in fostering a “cohesive environment” on campus.
“We have people from all over the place,” she said. “Your peers, your professors, the staff … the people that you interact with every single day.”
“You learn more about the people around you. It makes your experience better.”
Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of the Multifaith Calendar.
Bouska said the calendar is just a starting point.
“The end goal really is to try to promote constructive dialogue and discussion,” Bouska said. “Sometimes, it starts small, but it tends to take root.”
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*Lazourd Alnashed has previously contributed to the Charlatan.
Featured image by Iya Mendoza/the Charlatan.
