NASHVILLE (AP) — Pagan and Wiccan holy days, which follow the changing seasons, are included among Vanderbilt University's list of religious holy days alongside other religious events like Ramadan and Passover.
University officials say the four days are not part of the academic calendar, but students may ask faculty for accommodations due to their religious beliefs.
A pagan generally refers to a believer in a multi-god religion that often includes Wicca and other earth-based or nature religions. The four days listed in Vanderbilt's calendar are Samhain-Beltane around Nov. 1, Yule around Dec. 22, Ostara and Mabon on March 20, and Beltane-Samhain on May 1.
Elizabeth Latt, a university spokeswoman, said the pagan and Wiccan holidays were added last year and the dates are based on an international calendar of holy days, which also includes guidance on which holy days restrict work or labor due to religious tradition.
Only Christmas and Christmas Eve are paid university holidays.
"What we ask is that faculty members work with students who let them know in advance of their religious holy day to reschedule or make other reasonable accommodation," Latt said.
Selena Fox, the senior minister of Circle Sanctuary, a Wiccan church founded in 1974 in Wisconsin, said Vanderbilt is following a trend in the federal government, universities and hospitals to recognize pagan religious holidays.
Latt said like many universities, Vanderbilt doesn't have an attendance policy and instead lets faculty determine whether to track absences. She said they don't know how often students have requested days off because of Wiccan or pagan holidays.
Marijean Rue, 32, a graduate of Vanderbilt's Divinity School who has a master's in theological studies, said she was glad to hear the university was including these dates. Rue is a witch in the Tangled Woods Tradition, but she follows the same holidays as Wiccans.
Rue, who also worked as a Vanderbilt employee after graduating, she felt comfortable telling other people her religious beliefs and felt Vanderbilt was a progressive campus that was welcoming to all religions. The addition of the holidays is a supportive sign to pagan students and faculty by the university, she said.
"You feel like people aren't going to say, 'You're just making this up,'" Rue said.
She said young college students who are exploring religious beliefs like paganism could feel more secure in expressing themselves on campus.
"When an authoritative body comes out and says, 'We accept this,' it really makes people feel safer," she said.
Fox said that many state prisons and the federal prison system recognize pagan holidays, as well as some public school systems, like the New Jersey Board of Education. She fought successfully to get the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to include the pentacle, whose five points represent earth, air, fire, water and spirit, among approved religious symbols on the markers of veterans' graves.
"I am very thankful that Vanderbilt has added these holidays to the calendar, and it also encourages other institutions to provide accommodation for nature-oriented religions," Fox said Wednesday.