Holidays Calendar for October 12, 2018

October 12 is National Day in Spain (Fiesta Nacional de España). This annual holiday commemorates the anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the Americas.

Our Lady of Aparecida Day is a Brazilian public holiday that falls on October 12. It commemorates the principal patron saint of Brazil. This holiday is also celebrated as Children's Day. October 12 was designated as a national holiday in 1980.

Equatorial Guinea celebrates its Independence Day on October 12. This public holiday was inaugurated to commemorate the country's independence from Spain in 1968.

On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas for the first time. The anniversary of his arrival is celebrated in the United States as Columbus Day. However, this name is frowned upon in Hispanic countries and Belize because it is associated with colonization and the oppression of indigenous peoples. The most common alternative name for the holiday is Día de la Raza (Day of the [Hispanic] Race).

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Astronomy Day is a bi-annual event, that is observed by astronomy enthusiasts, groups and professionals. The event originally started in the USA, but it spread to the other countries.

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World Arthritis Day is an annual awareness day observed on October 12 in many countries throughout the world. Its main goal is to disseminate information about joint disorders that are collectively known as arthritis, as well as to raise public awareness of challenges that people with arthritis have to face every day.

National Engineer's Day is celebrated in Uruguay every year on October 12. This date was chosen to commemorate the graduation of the first Uruguayan engineers in 1892.

The Federated States of Micronesia, a small island country in Oceania, has federal public holidays and state public holidays. Teachers’ Appreciation Day belongs to the latter; it is celebrated only in Chuuk State on the second Friday of October.

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World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) is an annual awareness campaign held on the second weekend in May. It is supported by the United Nations Environment Program as well as a number of international organizations.

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Many countries around the world celebrate only one Arbor Day during the year. Mongolia is one of the few countries, that celebrates National Tree Planting Day twice a year. The tree planting events are organized on the second Saturday in May and October respectively.

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Many African countries, including Namibia, actively participate in planting trees on Arbor Day. This national observance annually takes place in Namibia on the second Friday in October.

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National Museum Day (Hari Museum Nasional) is celebrated in Indonesia annually on October 12. It commemorates the anniversary of the first Indonesian Museum Conference that took place in Yogyakarta in October 1962.

October 12 is No Smoking Day in Armenia. It was officially established in December 2008 to commemorate the ratification of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The Convention was adopted on May 21, 2003, but Armenia ratified it on October 12, 2004.

Every year on October 12, Freethought Day is observed by secularists and freethinkers. It commemorates the anniversary of the effective end of the Salem witch trials.

Confederate Memorial Day, also known as Confederate Heroes Day or Confederate Decoration Day in some states, is observed in the Southern United States to honor the memory of Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. It was originally observed on April 26 to commemorate the surrender of the Army of Tennessee at Bennett Place, but these days, its dates in different states vary from January 19 to the second Saturday of October.

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Gumbo is a stew-like dish that originated in Louisiana. It is typically made of a strongly flavored stock, a thickener (okra, filé powder, or roux), meat and/or shellfish, and vegetables. The National Gumbo Day is celebrated on October 12 across the United States.

World Egg Day is observed in many countries around the world on the second Friday in October. This holiday is dedicated to eggs and praises their ability to feed all people around the world.

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October 12 is National Pulled Pork Day. It is a perfect excuse to invite your friends and family over to enjoy some delicious meat (sorry, vegetarians and vegans).


This Day in History

  • 2019 Kenyan long-distance runner Eliud Kipchoge became the first person to run the marathon distance in less than two hours during the Ineos 1:59 Challenge that was specifically organized for him in Vienna.
  • 2011 Died: Dennis Ritchie, American computer scientist, creator of the C programming language. He received the Turing Award in 1983, the Hamming Medal in 1990 and the National Medal of Technology in 1999.
  • 2003 German racer Michael Schumacher won his sixth Formula One Drivers' championship at the Japanese Grand Prix. This victory beat a 48-year-old world record, held by Juan Manuel Fangio.
  • 2002 202 people were killed and over 300 injured in a bomb explosion in the Sari Club in Kuta, Bali. The bomb was detonated by the violent Islamist group.
  • 1996 Died: René Lacoste, French tennis player, businessman. He is best known as the creator of the Lacoste tennis shirt, that laid foundation for creation of Lacoste clothing company.
  • 1992 Born: Josh Hutcherson, American actor and producer, best known for the role as Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games series.
  • 1992 Cairo, the capital of Egypt, was struck by a 5.8 earthquake. Although the earthquake was of a modest magnitude, it was unusually destructive and caused 545 deaths and injures of over 6,000 others. Approximately 50,000 people were left homeless.
  • 1984 The Provisional Irish Republican Army attempted to assassinate then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet. Thatcher escaped the assassination, but the bomb killed five people and wounded 31.
  • 1969 Died: Sonja Henie, Norwegian figure skater, a three-time Olympic Champion in Ladies' Singles and a ten-time World Champion and a six-time European Champion.
  • 1969 Born: Martie Maguire, American musician, the founding member of the female band Dixie Chicks. As a teenager she won several national fiddle championships; she accomplished on several instruments, including viola, mandolin, double bass and guitar.
  • 1968 Born: Hugh Jackman, Australian actor and producer. He won international recognition for his roles in major films, including X-Men film series, Kate & Leopold, Van Helsing, The Prestige, Real Steel, Les Misérables, and Prisoners.
  • 1965 Died: Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist, remembered for discovery of insecticidal qualities and us of DDT in the control of vector diseases like malaria and yellow fever. This work brought him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1948.
  • 1962 Governor from Massachusetts William Phips wrote a letter, that put an end to the Salem witch trials. During the trials 20 people were executed, mostly women.
  • 1960 Television viewers in Japan became witnesses of assassination of the leader of the Japan Socialist Party Inejiro Asanuma. He was stabbed and killed by a nationalist while speaking during a live broadcast of political debate.
  • 1958 Died: Gordon Griffith, American actor and director, one of the first child actors in the American movie industry. He worked with Charlie Chaplin and was the first child actor to portray Tarzan and Tom Sawyer on film.
  • 1948 Born: Rick Parfitt, English musician, best known as one of the co-founding members of the English rock band Status Quo.
  • 1935 Born: Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor and actor, one of the most successful tenors of all time. He gained fame for beauty of his voice, especially in the upper register, and established himself as one of the finest tenors of the 20th century.
  • 1924 Died: Anatole France, French poet, novelist and journalist. In 1921 he received the Nobel Prize in Literature in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements.
  • 1915 Died: Edith Cavell, British nurse, celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers from both sides during World War I. She helped escape some 200 soldiers from German-occupied Belgium, for which she was arrested. She was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. Her execution received worldwide condemnation and extensive press coverage.
  • 1901 President of the USA Theodore Roosevelt officially renamed the Executive Mansion to the White House.
  • 1896 Born: Eugenio Montale, Italian poet, editor and translator, widely regarded as the greatest Italian lyric poet since Giacomo Leopardi. In 1975 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
  • 1875 Born: Aleister Crowley, English occultist and magician, founder of the religion and philosophy of Thelema, in which he identified himself as the prophet. His major work was The Book of the Law, that became the basis for foundation of Thelema.
  • 1868 Born: August Horch, German engineer, automobile pioneer, founder of the manufacturing giant Audi.
  • 1865 Born: Arthur Harden, British biochemist, remembered for his investigations into the fermentation of sugar and fermentative enzymes. This work brought him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1929.
  • 1860 Born: Elmer Ambrose Sperry, American inventor, best known as a co-founder of the gyrocompass, that were adopted and used by the USA Navy during both world wars.
  • 1845 Died: Elizabeth Fry, English nurse and philanthropist, known as the social reformer. She became the major force to make the treatment of prisoners more humane. She is sometimes referred to as the angel of prisons for her prison reforms. Since 2001 she's depicted on the Bank of England £5 note.
  • 1810 The Bavarian royalty invited the citizens of Munich to join the celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. This celebration laid foundation for traditional feast, that is now known as Oktoberfest.
  • 1590 Died: Kanō Eitoku, Japanese painter, known as one of the most prominent patriarchs of the Kanō school of Japanese painting.
  • 1582 Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain started using the Gregorian calendar. Due to its implementation this day was omitted in the named countries.
  • 1492 Died: Piero della Francesca, Italian painter of the Early Renaissance, mathematician and geometer. Nowadays he is mostly appreciated for his paintings, that reflected his use of geometric forms and perspective.
  • 1492 Spanish expedition lead by Christopher Columbus made the landfall in the Bahamas. The explorers believed, that they reached the Indies, but it turned out, that they reached the Caribbean.