October
October
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October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and the sixth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus c. 750 BC, October retained its name (from the Latin ôctō meaning "eight") after January and February were inserted into the calendar that had originally been created by the Romans. In Ancient Rome, one of three Mundus patet would take place on October 5, Meditrinalia October 11, Augustalia on October 12, October Horse on October 15, and Armilustrium on October 19. These dates do not correspond to the modern Gregorian calendar. Among the Anglo-Saxons, it was known as Ƿinterfylleþ, because at this full moon (fylleþ) winter was supposed to begin.[1]
October is commonly associated with the season of autumn in the Northern hemisphere and with spring in the Southern hemisphere.
October symbols
October observances
This list does not necessarily imply either official status or general observance.
Non-Gregorian observances: 2019 dates
(All Baha'i, Islamic, and Jewish observances begin at the sundown prior to the date listed, and end at sundown of the date in question unless otherwise noted.)
List of observances set by the Bahá'í calendar
List of observances set by the Chinese calendar
List of observances set by the Hebrew calendar
List of observances set by the Islamic calendar
List of observances set by the Solar Hijri calendar
Month-long observances
United States
The last two to three weeks in October (and, occasionally, the first week of November) are the only time of the year during which all of the "Big Four" major North American professional sports leagues schedule games; the National Basketball Association begins its preseason and about two weeks later starts the regular season, the National Hockey League is about one month into its regular season, the National Football League is about halfway through its regular season, and Major League Baseball is in its postseason with the League Championship Series and World Series. There have been 19 occasions in which all four leagues have played games on the same day (an occurrence popularly termed a "sports equinox"), with the most recent of these taking place on October 28, 2018.[16] Additionally, the Canadian Football League is typically nearing the end of its regular season during this period, while Major League Soccer is beginning the MLS Cup Playoffs.
American Archives Month[17]
National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month [18]
National Arts & Humanities Month
National Bullying Prevention Month
National Cyber Security Awareness Month[19]
National Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Filipino American History Month
Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month
LGBT History Month
Polish American Heritage Month
National Work and Family Month
United States, Health-related
American Pharmacist Month[20]
Dwarfism/Little People Awareness Month [21]
Eczema Awareness Month [22]
National Dental Hygiene Month[23]
National Healthy Lung Month[24]
National Infertility Awareness Month[25]
Liver Awareness Month[26]
National Lupus Erythematosus Awareness Month[27]
National Physical Therapy Month[28]
National Spina Bifida Awareness Month[29]
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Awareness Month [30] (United States)
United States, Culinary
Movable observances, 2019 dates
Oktoberfest celebrations (varies globally based on area)
Asexual Awareness Week
Earth Science Week:
World Ballet Day:
International Walk to School Day: October 2[35]
World College Radio Day: October 4[36]
Astronomy Day: October 5
World Cerebral Palsy Day: October 6 [37]
White Cane Awareness Day(USA) [38]
Get Smart About Credit Day: October 17[39]
See also Movable Western Christian observances
See also Movable Eastern Christian observances
First Tuesday: October 1
National Night Out (Florida and Texas, United States)
First Wednesday: October 2
Children's Day (Chile)
First Thursday: October 3
National Poetry Day (UK, Ireland)
First Friday: October 4
Children's Day (Singapore)
Lee National Denim Day (United States)
World Smile Day
First Full Week: October 6–12
Customer Service Week (Kenya, United States)
Mental Illness Awareness Week (United States)
Week of October 9: October 6–12
Fire Prevention Week (Canada, United States) Fire Service Recognition Day (Canada), last day of Fire Prevention Week: October 12
Week of October 10: October 6–12
Fiji Week (Fiji)
First Sunday: October 6
Daylight saving time begins (Australia)
Father's Day (Luxembourg)
Grandparents Day (Queensland, Australia, United Kingdom)
Teachers' Day (Belarus, Latvia, Ukraine)
First Monday: October 7
Child Health Day (United States)
Children's Day (Chile, Singapore)
Labour Day (Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland, Australia)
Peat Cutting Monday (Falkland Islands)
World Architecture Day
World Habitat Day
Second Tuesday: October 8
Ada Lovelace Day
Second Wednesday: October 9
Policy Statement of Belgian Parliament (Belgium)
Second Thursday: October 10
World Sight Day
Second Friday: October 11
Arbor Day (Namibia)
World Egg Day
Second Saturday: October 12
International Migratory Bird Day (Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean)
Home Movie Day (International observance)
National Tree Planting Day (Mongolia)
Second Monday: October 14
Columbus Day (United States) Indigenous Peoples' Day (Parts of the United States) Native American Day (South Dakota, United States)
Fraternal Day (Alabama, United States)
Health and Sports Day (Japan)
Mother's Day (Malawi)
Norfolk Island Agricultural Show Day (Norfolk Island)
Thanksgiving (Canada)
National Day (Republic of China)
Wednesday of second full week in October: October 16
National Fossil Day (United States)
Third Thursday: October 17
International Credit Union Day
Spirit Day (International observance)
Third Saturday: October 19
Sweetest Day (United States)
Week of Fourth Wednesday: October 20–26
Children's Week (Australia)
Third Sunday: October 20
Teacher's Day (Brazil)
Mother's Day (Argentina)
Third Monday: October 21
Heroes' Day (Jamaica)
Mother's Day (Argentina)
Nanomonestotse (Native American communities)
Boss's Day (United States, Canada, Lithuania and Romania)
Fourth Wednesday: October 22
Children's Day (Australia)
Last Friday: October 25
National Bandanna Day (Australia)
Nevada Day (Nevada, United States)
Teacher's Day (Australia) (If the last Friday is on October 31, this holiday is moved to November 7)
Fourth Saturday: October 26
Children's Day (Malaysia)
Make a Difference Day (United States)
Last Sunday: October 27
European Summer Time ends
Grandparents Day (New South Wales, Australia)
Fourth Monday: October 28
Labour Day (New Zealand)
Last Monday: October 28
October Holiday (Ireland)
Fixed observances
October 1 Armed Forces Day (South Korea) Children's Day (El Salvador, Guatemala, Sri Lanka) Day of Prosecutors (Azerbaijan) Continuance of German-American Heritage Months, which runs from September 15 – October 15 [40] (United States) Continuance of National Hispanic Heritage Month which runs from September 15 – October 15 (United States), Ground Forces Day (Russia) Independence Day (Cyprus) Independence Day (Nigeria) Independence Day (Palau) Independence Day (Tuvalu) International Coffee Day International Day of Older Persons International Music Day Lincolnshire Day (United Kingdom) National Day of the People's Republic of China (People's Republic of China) Pancasila Sanctity Day (Indonesia) Teacher's Day (Uzbekistan) Unification Day (Cameroon) World Vegetarian Day
October 2 Batik Day (Indonesia) Feast of the Guardian Angels National Grandparents Day (Italy) Gandhi's birthday-related observances: Gandhi Jayanti (India) International Day of Non-Violence World Day for Farmed Animals Independence Day (Guinea)
October 3 Gaecheonjeol (South Korea) German Unity Day (Germany) National Day (Iraq) Morazán Day (Honduras)
October 4 Cinnamon Roll Day (Sweden) Day of Peace and Reconciliation (Mozambique) Independence Day (Lesotho) World Animal Day The beginning of World Space Week (October 4–10)
October 5 Armed Forces Day (Indonesia) Constitution Day (Vanuatu) Engineer's Day (Bolivia) International Day of No Prostitution Republic Day (Portugal) Teachers' Day (Pakistan) Teachers' Day (Russia) World Teachers' Day
October 6 Day of Commemoration and National Mourning (Turkmenistan) Dukla Pass Victims Day (Slovakia) German-American Day (United States) Memorial Day for the Martyrs of Arad (Hungary) National Noodle Day (United States) Teachers' Day (Sri Lanka) Yom Kippur War commemorations: Armed Forces Day (Egypt) Tishreen Liberation Day (Syria)
October 7 Our Lady of the Rosary International Trigeminal Neuralgia Awareness Day Teachers' Day (Laos)
October 8 Air Force Day (India) Arbor Day (Namibia) National Independence Day (Croatia) Navy Day (Peru)
October 9 Hangul Day (South Korea) Independence Day (Uganda) Independence of Guayaquil (Ecuador) Leif Erikson Day (United States, Iceland and Norway) National Day of Commemorating the Holocaust (Romania) Takayama Autumn Festival (Takayama, Japan) World Post Day Valencian Community Day (Spain)
October 10 Arbor Day (Poland) Capital Liberation Day (Vietnam) Double Ten Day (Taiwan) Fiji Day (Fiji) Finnish Literature Day (Finland) Independence Day (Cuba) Party Foundation Day (North Korea) World Mental Health Day
October 11 General Pulaski Memorial Day (United States) International Day of the Girl Child (International) National Coming Out Day (multinational, including United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland among others) Old Michaelmas Day (Celtic) Revolution Day (Republic of Macedonia)
October 12 Freethought Day
October 13
October 14 World Standards Day
October 15 Breast Health Day (Europe) Evacuation Day (Tunisia) Global Handwashing Day King Father's Commemoration Day (Cambodia) National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (United States) Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day (United States and Canada) Spirit Day (International observance) Teachers' Day (Brazil) White Cane Safety Day (United States)
October 16 World Food Day
October 17
October 18 Alaska Day (Alaska, United States) Independence Day (Azerbaijan) Necktie Day (Croatia) Persons Day (Canada) World Menopause Day
October 19 Constitution Day (Niue) Mother Teresa Day (Albania)
October 20 Arbor Day (Czech Republic) Heroes' Day (Kenya) Revolution Day (Guatemala) Vietnamese Women's Day (Vietnam) World Osteoporosis Day World Statistics Day
October 21 Apple Day (United Kingdom) Armed Forces Day (Honduras) Egyptian Naval Day (Egypt) Indian Police Commemoration Day (India) International Day of the Nacho National Nurses' Day (Thailand) Ndadaye Day (Burundi) Overseas Chinese Day (Republic of China) Trafalgar Day (the British Empire in the 19th and early 20th century)
October 22 Fechner Day (International observance) International Caps Lock Day International Stuttering Awareness Day Jidai Matsuri (Kyoto, Japan) Wombat Day (Australia)
October 23 Aviator's Day (Brazil) Chulalongkorn Day (Thailand) Day of the Macedonian Revolutionary Struggle (Republic of Macedonia) Liberation Day (Libya) Mole Day (International observance) National Day (Hungary) Paris Peace Agreement Day (Cambodia)
October 24 Azad Kashmir Day (Pakistan) Day of Special Forces of the Armed Forces (Russia) Food Day (United States) Independence Day (Zambia) Suez Day (Egypt) United Nations Day (International observance) World Development Information Day World Polio Day
October 25 Armed Forces Day (Romania) Constitution Day (Lithuania) Customs Officer's Day (Russia) Day of the Basque Country (Basque Country) Retrocession Day (Taiwan) Sovereignty Day (Slovenia) Thanksgiving Day (Grenada) The Hallowing of Nestorius (Nestorian Christianity)
October 26 Accession Day (Jammu and Kashmir) Angam Day (Nauru) Armed Forces Day (Benin) Intersex Awareness Day (United States) National Day (Austria)
October 27 Black Cat Appreciation Day (United Kingdom) Černová Tragedy Day (Slovakia) Flag Day (Greece) Independence Day (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) Independence Day (Turkmenistan) Navy Day (United States) (unofficial, official date is October 13) World Day for Audiovisual Heritage
October 28 Day of the Establishment of an Independent Czecho-Slovak State (Czech Republic and Slovakia) International Animation Day Ohi Day (Greece, Cyprus) Prefectural Earthquake Disaster Prevention Day (Gifu Prefecture, Japan) Youth Pledge Day (Indonesia)
October 29 Coronation Day (Cambodia) Cyrus the Great Day (Iran) National Cat Day (United States) Republic Day (Turkey) World Stroke Day
October 30 Anniversary of the Declaration of the Slovak Nation (Slovakia) Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions (former Soviet republics, except Ukraine) Indonesian Banknote Day (Indonesia) International Orthopaedic Nurses Day Mischief Night (United States and Canada) Beggars Night (certain regions of the United States) Devil's Night (Michigan, United States) Thevar Jayanthi (Thevar community, India)
October 31 Start of Allhallowtide October 31 – November 6 The first day of the Day of the Dead, celebrated until November 2 (Mexico) Día de la Canción Criolla (Peru) Eve of Winter, the eve of the first day of winter in the Northern hemisphere: Allantide (Cornwall, United Kingdom) Halloween (English-speaking countries, also in other locations) Hop-tu-Naa (Isle of Man, United Kingdom) Samhain in the Northern Hemisphere, Beltane in the Southern Hemisphere; begins on sunset of October 31 (Gaels, Welsh people and Neopagan Wheel of the Year) Girl Scouts Founders Day (United States) King Father's Birthday (Cambodia) National Unity Day (India) Reformation Day (Slovenia, parts of Germany, Chile, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Evangelical Churches and Lutheran Churches) Saci day (Brazil) World Savings Day
Miscellaneous
Eric Whitacre composed a piece based on this month, titled October.
Neil Gaiman wrote a story personifying the month, titled "October in the Chair", for his 2006 collection Fragile Things.
Ray Bradbury published a collection of short stories titled The October Country in 1955.