docs: def parse_date(val, fmt=None):
    """Returns a date object parsed from :val:.
  
    :param val: a string to be parsed as a date
    :param fmt: a format string, a tuple of format strings, or None. If None a
                built in list of format strings will be used to try to parse the
                date.
    """
    if isinstance(val, date):
      return val
    else:
      return parse_datetime(val, fmt).date()