What Holiday Is In November?

So my manager finally asked the question I was dreading for so long,"What holiday is in November?"

Seems like an innocent question, right? In many respects it is, but to a Pagan who like many is suspicious and weary of those of different faiths- primarily Abrahamic faiths since its harassment galore with some in that faction- its not. We were in the managers' office with me and her sitting down opposite one another discussing my requested days off. As with the day I took off for Mabon and Samhain, which my manager lost in his usual busy haste, I expected no issue when I turned in *again* the request to take November 1st off.

As soon as I saw her squint in confusion at the date I knew I had a situation on my hands. "Mmm, November? What religion is that for?"

Immediately I was going to go ahead and say the reveration of the ancestors, celebration of the dead, thankfulness for all we have...but I'd be wrong. She asked what religion that was for, we didn't get to the meaning yet.

A flash through my head, 'should I tell her that I'm Pagan?' Then my mind snaps back to the time where she said a few weeks ago how she's trying to stop cursing to get closer to her Christian faith. Innocent enough, but still my paranoid red flags start waving, then I think about my present situation. I'm in my very first job surrounded by people I don't even know, people very well (though I have little proof) may gossip every now and again. Do I really want to hear whispers in the dark about DeShadara being Pagan? Do I really want someone to get pissed via their religious convictions to start the bullshit? Or if someone gets angry someday to look up pagan and come to my job with lies and ignorance being railed against me?

Again, let me stress that I don't know these people, they don't need to know my faith, they just need to respect it.

"I'd rather keep that private." She now thinks I'm just wanting a day off under two months from now for the hell of it, but that's okay because she puts in the request anyway, approved.

Even though that's all over, I still have to put in another holiday, Yule, and before that even happens I still may get the question of what exactly my faith is. By no means am I afraid of the question, I already know that if pressed I'll stone wall them and respectfully ask that they leave the issue alone. I've gone through a lot worse than someone being innocently curious, though the fact that I work with Christians and Muslims who may be -could be- like ones I've had to stare down online, at school and even in my own home makes me wary.

I don't like problems, and I know I'm grasping at strings at this point, but I'm pessimistic, I always think about the worst first.