Holidays Calendar for October 12, 2026
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.
National Heritage Day is a public holiday in the Turks and Caicos Islands celebrated on the second Monday in October. It was established in 2014 to replace Columbus Day.
Public Holidays →
Venezuela,
Uruguay,
Guatemala,
Costa Rica,
Chile,
Colombia,
Argentina,
Belize
Día de la Raza (Columbus Day in Latin America)
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).
Thanksgiving Day is mostly known as an American holiday, but it is also celebrated in Canada, where it falls on the second Monday in October.
Health and Sports Day (Taiiku no Hi) is a Japanese public holiday celebrated on the second Monday in October. It was established in 1966 to promote sports and a healthy lifestyle. The original date of the holiday was October 10, but in 2000 it was moved to create a long weekend.
Norfolk Island Agricultural Show is an annual event held in October. The culmination of the show falls in the second Monday in October, it is an official public holiday in the Territory of Norfolk Island.
National Heroes' Day is a public holiday in the Bahamas celebrated on the second Monday of October. It was officially established in 2013, replacing Discovery Day (also known as Columbus Day).
Public Holidays →
USA,
American Virgin Islands,
Guam,
American Samoa,
Northern Mariana Islands,
Puerto Rico
Columbus Day in the United States
Columbus Day is one of the federal holidays in the United States. It is observed on the second Monday in October. Columbus Day celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s first arrival to the Americas in 1492.
On the second Monday of October, the citizens of Sint Maarten, a small island country in the Caribbean, celebrate Constitution Day. This public holiday was established to commemorate the day when the current Constitution of Sint Maarten entered into force.
Public Holidays →
American Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands–Puerto Rico Friendship Day in the US Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands–Puerto Rico Friendship Day is celebrated in the United States Virgin Islands on the second Monday of October, coinciding with Columbus Day. This public holiday honors Puerto Ricans residing in the U.S. Virgin Islands and their contributions.
Public Holidays →
Venezuela,
Uruguay,
Guatemala,
Costa Rica,
Chile,
Colombia,
Argentina,
Belize
Día de la Raza (Columbus Day in Latin America)
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).
Fiesta Pilar (Araw ng Kapistahan ni Nuestra Señora del Pilar), also known as the Zamboanga Hermosa Festival, is an annual celebration in Zamboanga City, Philippines. It was established in honor of the city’s patron saint, Our Lady of the Pillar (Nuestra Señora del Pilar).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
National Hafez Day is celebrated in Iran on the 20th day of Mehr in the Solar Hijri calendar, which corresponds to October 11 or 12 in the Gregorian calendar. It is dedicated to a Persian poet whose collected works are widely regarded as one of the highest pinnacles of Persian literature.
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.
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.
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).
Indigenous Peoples' Day is celebrated in some localities in the United States on the second Monday in October. This observance was originally designed as a counter-celebration to Columbus Day, a federal holiday which celebrates Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas.
Festivals on October 12, 2026
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. He created the C programming language and, with long-time colleague Ken Thompson, the Unix operating system and B language.
- 2003 German racer Michael Schumacher won his sixth Formula One Drivers' championship at the Japanese Grand Prix, breaking a 46-year record held by Juan Manuel Fangio.
- 2002 Born: Iris Apatow, American actress. She portrayed Arya Hopkins in the Netflix series Love and Krystal Kris in the 2022 Netflix film The Bubble.
- 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 a violent Islamist group.
- 1996 Died: René Lacoste, French tennis player and businessman. He is known as the creator of the Lacoste tennis shirt, which he introduced in 1929, and eventually founded the brand and its logo in 1933.
- 1992 Born: Josh Hutcherson, American actor and producer, best known for the role as Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games film series.
- 1992 Cairo, the capital of Egypt, was struck by a 5.8 earthquake. The earthquake was unusually destructive for its size, killing 561 people and injuring over 12,000 more.
- 1984 The Provisional Irish Republican Army attempted and failed to assassinate UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet. The bomb killed five people and wounded 31.
- 1969 Died: Sonja Henie, Norwegian figure skater and film star. She was a three-time Olympic champion in women's singles, a ten-time World champion, and a six-time European champion.
- 1969 Born: Martie Maguire, American musician who is a founding member of the country band the Chicks and the country bluegrass duo Court Yard Hounds.
- 1968 Born: Hugh Jackman, Australian actor and producer. He gained international recognition for his roles in major films, including the X-Men film series, Kate & Leopold, Van Helsing, Les Misérables, and more.
- 1965 Died: Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist who received the 1948 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of insecticidal qualities and use of DDT in the control of vector diseases.
- 1960 Inejirō Asanuma, a Japanese politician and leader of the Japan Socialist Party, was assassinated by a far-right ultranationalist while speaking in a televised political debate in Tokyo.
- 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 operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time.
- 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 some 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium.
- 1901 US President 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. He was awarded the 1975 Nobel Prize in Literature.
- 1875 Born: Aleister Crowley, English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, philosopher, political theorist, novelist, mountaineer, and painter. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet.
- 1868 Born: August Horch, German engineer and automobile pioneer, best known as the 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 and entrepreneur, most famous for construction of the gyrocompass and as founder of the Sperry Gyroscope Company.
- 1845 Died: Elizabeth Fry, English prison reformer, social reformer, philanthropist and Quaker who was a major driving force behind new legislation to improve the treatment of prisoners.
- 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.
- 1692 The infamous Salem witch trials were ended by a letter from Province of Massachusetts Bay Governor William Phips.
- 1590 Died: Kanō Eitoku, Japanese painter, known as one of the most prominent patriarchs of the Kanō school of Japanese painting.
- 1492 Died: Piero della Francesca, Italian painter, mathematician and geometer of the Early Renaissance, nowadays chiefly appreciated for his art characterized by its serene humanism.
- 1492 The first expedition of Christopher Columbus made landfall on San Salvador Island (Bahamas), the explorers believing they reached the East Indies.