The phrase “It’s the most wonderful time of the year” seems to only apply if you’re celebrating Christmas and officially have the day off.

But that is not the case for everyone. While the United States prides itself on being diverse and open to many different cultures and religions, there is only one nationally recognized religious holiday, Christmas.

Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City, announced on Mar. 4 “Hundreds of thousands of Muslim families will no longer have to choose between honoring the most sacred days on their calendar or attending school.” He officially added two Muslim holidays to the public school calendar; Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha.

Eid Al Adha, which took place last week Sep. 24 left De Anza Muslim students in a dilemma of whether or not to take the day off or go to school.

“I wish I had the day off because Eid is a special day of celebration that holds religious significance & I missed out on doing things with family and friends that I haven’t seen in a while” stated Bushra Abunamous, a Political Science/Economics major who instead of celebrating Eid with her family was stuck attending classes all day.

Other holidays such as Passover, Rosh Hashanah, and Chinese New Year have also been added to the 2015-16 New York City public school calendar.

New York City alone is home to some of the largest religious minority groups. And while it is understandable that it would be nearly impossible to add every holiday associated with these groups to the public school system, recognizing religious holidays that are celebrated by large numbers of people such as Yom Kippur, or Diwali would enforce not only New York’s, but the United States idea of diversity and acceptance.

While this seems like a major step forward for New York City, people of different religious backgrounds seemed to be very disappointed in the mayor’s choice to exclude other holidays from being officiated such as, Diwalli, a Hindu holiday.

Uma Mysorekar, president of the Hindu Temple of Society of North America in Queens, New York made a point when she said “We respect Eid and Yom Kippur. Why should the Hindu children be left out?”

Another statement was made by Sheetah Shal, senior director of the Hindu American Foundation, concerning placing religious Hindu holidays on the official calendar; ” While the addition of two Muslim holidays is commendable, the mayor’s decision to exclude Diwali, a festival that is celebrated by thousands of Hindu, Jain, and Sikhs in NYC, is beyond disappointing.”

Many responded to Blasio’s initiative with positive hopes, hoping that by recognizing these two Muslim holidays, more minority religious groups holidays will also be recognized.