America’s holiday calendar is increasingly diverse [Video]

John Albert’s daughter isn’t going to school on Friday. And he couldn’t be happier about it.For the first time, the high school senior and all of New York City’s public school students have the day off to mark the holiday of Diwali, celebrated in India and among the global Indian diaspora as the victory of light over darkness and marked by communities of Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs.Video above: Ho Ho Ho-liday Lights: Tips Before You BuyTo get the holiday added to the school calendar, where it joins other days off for Rosh Hashanah, Lunar New Year, Eid al-Fitr as well as federal holidays like Veterans Day, Christmas and Memorial Day, took years of pushing from those in New York’s South Asian and Indo-Caribbean communities like Albert. But it was worth it.”It was this feeling of wanting to weave our culture into New York,” he said.From religious and cultural holidays …