If I have an enum, how can I verify that it's a legal value? Can I do: Weekdays = enum('sun', 'mon', 'tue', 'wed', 'thu', 'fri', 'sat') def foo (day): if day not in Weekdays: raise ValueError Also, do enums have __dict__ slots? Can I do something like: day = 'sun' print Weekdays.__dict__[day]