diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/calendar.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/calendar.pm
index 77fd50827..2b87451ce 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/calendar.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/calendar.pm
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ sub format_month (@) {
 		$purl = htmllink($params{page}, $params{destpage}, 
 			"$archivebase/$pyear/$pmonth",
 			noimageinline => 1,
-			linktext => "\&larr",
+			linktext => "\←",
 			title => $pmonthname);
 	}
 	add_depends($params{page}, "$archivebase/$pyear/$pmonth",
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ sub format_month (@) {
 		$nurl = htmllink($params{page}, $params{destpage}, 
 			"$archivebase/$nyear/$nmonth",
 			noimageinline => 1,
-			linktext => "\&rarr",
+			linktext => "\→",
 			title => $nmonthname);
 	}
 	add_depends($params{page}, "$archivebase/$nyear/$nmonth",