Inundated with messages from staff and community members on proposed changes to the 2021-22 calendar, Fairfax County School Board members directed Superintendent Scott Brabrand to redraft it.

During a work session on Tuesday (Mar. 2), the board told staff to consider ways to add flexibility through floating holidays. They said the calendar...

D. Anthony Alvarez ’21, a member of the Harvard Latter-day Saints Student Association, has attended religious services at the same congregation off campus since he arrived at Harvard as a freshman.

This semester, Alvarez said he still attends services at that same congregation. Amid Covid-19, though, he must sign up to attend ahead of time, don a mask, and eschew singing, which can spread infectious particles.

Source:...

Biloxi Councilwoman Dixie Newman has stirred up a major debate on Facebook, where she posted about walking out on a Hindu prayer at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

“Last night at the Biloxi City Council Meeting, they presented a HINDU Invocation,” she wrote Wednesday morning in the public post. “I had to walk out. You are more than welcome to believe and worship whom you please. But as for me, I will only stand, bow, or worship, Jesus Christ.”

Source: ...

REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio — A small group gathered at Reynoldsburg City Hall to celebrate Diwali on Saturday evening.

Two men dressed in traditional attire as Mayor Joe Begeny lit diyas and read a proclamation in honor of the Hindu festival.

Source: Reynoldsburg makes history with Diwali celebration - 10 WBNS...

ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) - In Roanoke County, folks are celebrating the festival of lights this weekend. It’s part of the Diwali holiday that is mainly observed by Hindus.

There was a little change to traditions at the Hindu BAPS temple this year because of COVID. Worshipers celebrating had to make an appointment and observe social distancing. The temple used floor markings and only allowed a few people at a time to offer blessings.

Source:...

Diwali, the festival of lights, kicks off Thursday, with celebrations taking place across India and here in our area.

While this year’s festivities will be different because of the coronavirus pandemic, many are finding a way to make it special.

Source:...

Houston's Hindu community is finding ways to celebrate the religion's most important holiday in a COVID-19-safe way.

Traditionally, thousands of people gather to celebrate the Hindu holiday of Diwali, which recognizes the triumph of light over dark; truth over ignorance; and good over evil.

Source:...

2020 has taken away countless events that many people were looking forward to, including many important religious holidays. For Muslims, many were unable to celebrate the end of Ramadan with Eid-al-Fitr in May, Eid-al-Adha in July and many other religious events. For Hindus, the nine-night celebration of Navaratri was unable to be celebrated in person and one of the most sacred holidays, Diwali, will ultimately not be the same as previous years. A commonality amongst all of these celebrations is that they are normally spent with large groups, typically family, friends and loved ones....

A major New York Jewish organization co-hosted an event in New York this week to debate a subject that most in the city assume has long been settled — whether the swastika is good or bad.

While the notorious hooked-cross symbol has long been associated with the evil of Nazism and hate, it has for even longer been revered by Hindus and Buddhists, who argued Monday that swastika was misused by Hitler and its image should be rehabilitated.

Source:...

Lord Ganesha greets visitors to the home of Jagdish and Shobha Patel in Holland.

A figurine of the deity is positioned prominently in an altar set into a wall just off the kitchen, depicted as is traditional with the body of a man and the head of an elephant. One of several such depictions that the couple displays in their home, this one in porcelain and in the characteristic style of Lladró, it serves a purpose both spiritual and artistic.

Source: ...

(RNS) — Last December, when Brandeis University announced a first-of-its-kind policy banning discrimination based on caste, administrators hoped other institutions would follow suit and adopt similar policies of their own.

But nearly a year later, the policy has not caught on. Instead, it’s drawing fire from Hindus who say it’s fraught with anti-Hindu bias along with risk of inept and unfair enforcement.

Source:...

Prince William County school officials added Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim holidays to a tentative 2021-2022 calendar for the Virginia school system, and are asking parents to weigh in.

The proposed calendar would include the following:

• Jewish new year of Rosh Hashanah;
• Jewish day of atonement Yom Kippur;
• Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights;
• Eid al-Fitr, which marks breaking of the fast at...

Like all of Utah’s religious groups, Hindus have been forced by COVID-19 to cut back their various festivals and forms of worship.

It has been especially hard for a faith whose deities are housed in a temple that is now mostly closed on weekdays and whose rituals are part of daily life for believers.

Source: ‘It’s a challenge' — How the coronavirus is limiting temple worship for Utah Hindus - The...

Two Hindu temples are proposed within a half mile of each other on South Middlebush Road.

The township's zoning board is scheduled next month to hear the applications of Dada Bhagwan Vignan Institute and Sai Datta Mandir to build the temples on either side of South Middlebush Road near Jacques and Cortelyous lanes.

Source:...