Holidays Calendar for October 17, 2026
The death anniversary of Dessalines is a public holiday in Haiti. It is observed annually on October 17 to commemorate the death of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a former slave and prominent figure in the fight of Haiti for independence from France.
Sukkot is a seven-day Jewish holiday. Its celebration starts on the 15th day of Tishrei. Along with Pesach and Shavuot, it belongs to Shalosh Regalim (the Three Pilgrimage Festivals), on which the Israelites were required to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Temple.
World Trauma Day is observed annually on October 17. This international awareness day was created in order to highlight the importance of protecting and saving lives during emergency situations.
Do you have an old home movie and you think it's boring? Bet it's not, and your friends or neighbors would like to watch it and enjoy you watching their home movies on Home Movie Day. This is a world celebration of home movies and amateur films that's annually held on the third Saturday in October.
World Singing Day (WSD) is an annual global sing-along that takes place on the third Saturday of October. It was created to celebrate the joy of singing and its unifying power.
Thailand has many national observances that are regulated by government, but they are not always observed as actual holidays. One of such observances is National Police Day, celebrated annually on October 17.
Primary Care Physician Day, sometimes also translated as General Practitioner Day, is an unofficial holiday celebrated by Russian primary care physicians in addition to the official Health Worker Day. It is observed annually on October 17.
Philippine Coast Guard Day (Araw ng Tanod Baybabin ng Pilipinas) is observed annually on October 17. It is a working holiday commemorating the establishment of the Bureau of Coast Guard and Transportation in 1901.
People of Argentina annually observe Loyalty Day (Día de la lealtad) on October 17. This is a memorial day, commemorating the beginning of the massive labor demonstration at the May Square demanding the liberation of Argentinian military officer Juan Perón, jailed in Martín García island.
The date of October 17 is very important to many people in India, who look into future and speak up for the progress of the country. On this day they observe Digital Society Day, that was created to commemorate the passage of the Information Technology Act in 2000.
National Pasta Day is observed every year on October 17. Pasta is a staple food from Italian cuisine that has been around for almost a millennium and is popular in many countries.
In 1993 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty was established by the United Nations General Assembly and since then it is observed every year on October 17.
National Edge Day, also referred to as simply Edge Day, is a holiday celebrated by members of the straight edge community on October 17. It was founded in 1999 and has been observed annually ever since.
Sweetest Day is celebrated in the Midwestern United States and parts of the Northeastern United States. It takes place on the third Saturday in October. On this day, people share romantic feelings by giving candy and greeting cards to loved ones.
Festivals on October 17, 2026
This Day in History
- 2023 An explosion took place in the parking lot of the courtyard of al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City during the Israel–Hamas war, resulting in a large number of displaced Palestinians killed.
- 2019 Civil protests began in Lebanon after the government announced planned taxes on gasoline, tobacco, and VoIP calls on apps. The 17 October Protests triggered a political crisis in the country.
- 2013 Died: Mother Antonia, American religious sister and activist who chose to reside and care for inmates at the notorious maximum-security La Mesa Prison in Tijuana, Mexico.
- 2012 Died: Stanford R. Ovshinsky, American engineer, scientist and inventor who over a span of fifty years was granted well over 400 patents, mostly in the areas of energy and information.
- 2009 Died: Vic Mizzy, American composer for television and movies whose best-known works are the themes to the 1960s television sitcoms Green Acres and The Addams Family.
- 2003 The pinnacle was fitted on the roof of Taipei 101, a 101-floor skyscraper in Taipei. It allowed the skyscraper to surpass the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 184 feet and become the world's tallest building.
- 1992 Born: Jacob Artist, American actor, singer, and dancer. He is best known for his roles as Jake Puckerman on Glee and as Brandon Fletcher on Quantico.
- 1984 Born: Chris Lowell, American actor best known for his television roles as Stosh "Piz" Piznarski in Veronica Mars and as William "Dell" Parker in Private Practice.
- 1983 Born: Felicity Jones, British actress known for her roles in Like Crazy, The Theory of Everything, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, On the Basis of Sex, and other films.
- 1980 Queen Elizabeth II visited the Vatican. It was the first state visit of the British monarch to the Holy See as part of the foreign relations between the Vatican and the United Kingdom.
- 1979 Born: Kimi Räikkönen, Finnish racing driver who competed in Formula One between 2001 and 2021. He is the most successful Finnish Formula One driver by several metrics.
- 1979 Mother Theresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress. She refused to come to the ceremonial banquet and asked her monetary prize to be given to the poor in India.
- 1978 Died: Giovanni Gronchi, Italian politician, the 3rd President of Italy from 1955 to 1962. His presidency was marked by a controversial and failed attempt to bring about an opening to the left.
- 1974 Born: Matthew Macfadyen, English actor of stage and screen. He is best known for his roles as Mr. Darcy in Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice and as Tom Wambsgans in Succession.
- 1973 OPEC imposed an oil embargo against a number of Western countries who had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
- 1972 Born: Tarkan, Turkish singer-songwriter. Since the early 1990s, he has been a prominent figure of pop music, recognized both in Turkey and worldwide.
- 1972 Born: Marshall Bruce Mathers III, better known by his stage name Eminem, American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and occasional actor. He is regarded as among the greatest rappers of all time.
- 1971 Born: Chris Kirkpatrick, American singer, songwriter, dancer, music producer, podcaster, and actor, best known as a founding member of the pop group NSYNC.
- 1969 Born: Wyclef Jean, Haitian rapper and record producer. He is the recipient of three Grammy Awards, the BET Humanitarian Award, and a Vanguard Award from the NAACP Image Awards.
- 1966 Born: Mark Gatiss, English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, director, and novelist. His work on television includes The League of Gentlemen, Sherlock, and Dracula .
- 1963 Died: Jacques Hadamard, French mathematician, remembered for his major contributions in number theory, complex analysis, differential geometry, and partial differential equations.
- 1961 Up to 400 Algerian protesters were massacred by Paris police at the instigation of former Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, the then chief of the Prefecture of Police.
- 1960 Born: Rob Marshall, American film and theater director, producer, and choreographer. He is best known for directing the film version of the Broadway musical Chicago.
- 1957 Born: Lawrence Bender, American film producer who rose to fame by producing Reservoir Dogs. He has since produced several of Tarantino's films including Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill: Volume 1 & 2 and Inglourious Basterds.
- 1956 Donald Byrne and Bobby Fischer played a famous chess game called The Game of the Century. The game was won by the 13-year-old Fischer.
- 1948 Born: Robert Jordan (the pen name of James Oliver Rigney Jr.), American author. He is best known for his epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time that consists of 14 books and a prequel novel.
- 1930 Born: Robert Atkins, American physician and cardiologist, best known for the Atkins Diet, which requires close control of carbohydrate consumption.
- 1922 Born: Pierre Juneau, Canadian broadcaster and politician, known as a co-founder of the Montreal International Film Festival that was held between 1960 and 1967.
- 1920 Born: Montgomery Clift, American actor. A four-time Academy Award nominee, he is known for his roles in The Search, A Place in the Sun, From Here to Eternity, and Judgement at Nuremberg.
- 1918 Born: Rita Hayworth, American actress and dancer. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and appeared in 61 films in total over 37 years.
- 1912 Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declared war on the Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War.
- 1893 Died: Patrice de MacMahon, French general and politician, with the distinction of Marshal of France. He served as President of France and from 1873 to 1879.
- 1887 Died: Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist and mathematician who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and black-body radiation.
- 1868 Died: Laura Secord, Canadian heroine of the War of 1812. She walked 20 miles out of American-occupied territory in 1813 to warn the British forces about the American attack.
- 1849 Died: Frédéric Chopin, Polish pianist and composer. He wrote primarily for the solo piano and gained worldwide success as one of the leading musicians of his era.
- 1814 Eight people were killed in the London Beer Flood, caused by a wooden vat of fermenting porter bursting at Meux & Co's Horse Shoe Brewery in London.
- 1771 The opera Ascanio in Alba premiered in Milan. It was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was only 15 years old at the time.
- 1757 Died: René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, French entomologist and writer who contributed to many different fields, especially the study of insects. He introduced the Réaumur temperature scale.
- 1711 Born: Jupiter Hammon, American writer known as a founder of African-American literature, as his poem published in 1761 in New York was the first by an African American man in North America.