Holidays Calendar for October 19, 2017

Islanders of Niue don't have many public holidays during the year. One of the few public holidays is Constitution Day, that is celebrated on October 19.

Maurice Bishop Day is a public holiday in Grenada celebrated annually on October 19. It was created to honor the second prime minister of Grenada who was executed in 1983 along with several members of his cabinet.

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.

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Diwali, also known as Deepavali or the Festival of Lights, is a major Hindu festival that falls between mid-October and mid-November in the Gregorian calendar. It is dedicated to the victory of light over darkness.

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International Credit Union Day was established in 1948 and since then it's annually observed on the third Thursday in October.

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Spirit Day is an international campaign established to highlight a problem that cannot be ignored, the bullying of gay and lesbian teenagers that leads to hundreds of suicides every year. Inaugurated in 2010, Spirit Day calls on people to support LGBT youth.

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Gin and tonic is one of the most famous cocktails in the world, so it is not surprising that there is an entire holiday dedicated to it. International Gin and Tonic Day is celebrated annually on October 19.

World Pediatric Bone and Joint Day, sometimes shortened to World PB&J Day, is observed annually on October 19. It was created to raise awareness about musculoskeletal disorders in children and their effects on children’s health and development.

Moldovan lawyers celebrate their professional holiday on October 19. On Lawyers’ Day, all Moldovan judges, advocates, prosecutors, notaries, counsels, legal executives, law professors, and other legal professionals receive congratulations from their colleagues, friends and family.

Rescuer Day is one of the official professional holidays celebrated in Kazakhstan. It is observed annually on October 19 to commemorate the establishment of the State Committee for Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Peruvian-African Friendship Day is annually organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru in cooperation with the embassies of African countries on October 19. Celebration of this day enhances the cultural, economic and political relations between Peru and African countries.

Oxfordshire Day is an annual holiday celebrating the historic English county of Oxfordshire. It is observed on October 19 to promote the history and culture of Oxfordshire, coinciding with the feast day of Saint Frideswide, the patron saint of the University of Oxford and the city of Oxford.

The All-Ukrainian Day of Human Responsibility is celebrated annually on October 19. The Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) officially established it in 2021 to commemorate the birth anniversary of Bohdan Hawrylyshyn.

October 19 is National Seafood Bisque Day. Bisque is a smooth and creamy soup of French origin typically made with seafood, namely crustaceans (crab, lobster, crayfish, or shrimp).

National Psoriatic Arthritis Day, also known as National Psoriatic Arthritis Awareness Day and National PsA Day, is observed in Canada on October 19 every year. It was launched to raise awareness of a long-term inflammatory arthritis that affects up to 30% of people with psoriasis.

Purple Thursday, also known as Wear Purple Day, is an annual awareness campaign held on the third Thursday of October, during Domestic Violence Awareness Month. It was launched to raise awareness about domestic violence and, more specifically, about the intersection between traumatic brain injury and domestic violence.

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This Day in History

  • 2023 Died: Atsushi Sakurai, Japanese musician and singer-songwriter best known as the vocalist of the rock band Buck-Tick, which pioneered the music scene and movement visual kei.
  • 2014 Died: Stephen Paulus, American composer, the author of famous operas and choral music. He is best known for opera The Postman Always Rings Twice.
  • 2007 A shopping mall in Makati, the Philippines, was rocked by a bomb explosion. 11 people were killed and over 100 injured.
  • 2005 The first trial of Saddam Hussein began before the Iraqi Special Tribunal. The trials lasted till November 5, 2006, when Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging for crimes against humanity.
  • 2003 Died: Alija Izetbegović, Bosnian politician and lawyer, the 1st Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
  • 2003 Died: Margaret Murie, American environmentalist and author, often called Grandmother of the Conservation Movement. She helped in the passage of the Wilderness Act, that now protects 9.1 million acres of federal land in the USA, and was instrumental figure in creating the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
  • 2001 An Indonesian fishing boat SIEV X carrying over 400 asylum seekers to Christmas Island sank in international waters during the storm. At least 146 children, 142 women and 65 men died, only 45 passengers were rescued.
  • 1987 The stock markets around the world crashed, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 22%, 508 points. This event is known as Black Monday (or Black Tuesday in New Zealand and Australia due to timezone difference).
  • 1986 Died: Samora Machel, Mozambican commander and politician, the 1st President of Mozambique. He lead his country from 1975 till his death in aircraft crash.
  • 1982 Born: Rebecca Ferguson, Swedish actress. He is known for her roles in the Mission: Impossible franchise, The Greatest Showman, Doctor Sleep, The Girl on the Train, Dune, and other films.
  • 1966 Born: Jon Favreau, American actor and filmmaker. Among other things, he is known for his involvement with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (portraying Happy Hogan and directing Iron Man and Iron Man 2).
  • 1962 Born: Evander Holyfield, American boxer, former Undisputed World Champion in both the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions. He retired in 2014.
  • 1960 The United States government imposed a near-total trade embargo against Cuba. This embargo remains in effect today.
  • 1956 The Soviet Union and Japan signed a Joint Declaration, that officially ended the state of war between two countries that had existed since August 1945.
  • 1952 Born: Verónica Castro, Mexican actress and singer. She is best known for roles in telenovelas Wild Rosa, The Rich Also Cry etc.
  • 1950 The People's Republic of China joined the coalition of North Korea and the Soviet Union in Korean War sending thousands of troops across the Yalu River to fight against United Nations forces.
  • 1943 The researches at Rutgers University isolated streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis.
  • 1937 Died: Ernest Rutherford, New Zealand-English physicist and chemist, often referred to as the father of nuclear physics. In 1908 he was awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
  • 1936 Died: Lu Xun, Chinese author, a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. He was highly acclaimed by the Communist Party after establishment of the People's Republic of China, and Mao Zedong was a lifelong admirer of his works.
  • 1922 Born: Jack Anderson, American journalist and author, considered to be one of the fathers of modern investigative journalism. He is best known for his investigation on secret American policy decision-making between the United States and Pakistan. This work brought him Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 1972.
  • 1916 Born: Jean Dausset, French immunologist. In 1980 he received Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovery and characterization of the genes making the major histocompatibility complex.
  • 1910 Born: Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Indian-American physicist, known for his mathematical theory of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars. His work became the basis of theory on the evolution of massive stars, including black holes. In 1983 he was awarded Nobel Prize in Physics.
  • 1908 Born: Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian musician and composer, a central figure of Norwegian cultural life movement during the 1930. He is best known for ballet Baldur's Dreams (had been lost till the late 1990s), opera Dragaredokko and symphonic poem for large orchestra Nykken (The Water Sprite).
  • 1899 Born: Miguel Ángel Asturias, Guatemalan author. He helped to establish Latin American literature's contribution to mainstream Western culture. In 1967 he was awarded Nobel Prize in Literature.
  • 1882 Born: Umberto Boccioni, Italian painter and sculptor, one of principle figures of the Futurism movement in Italy. His life was short, but despite it his works influenced a mass of artists long after his death.
  • 1862 Born: Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière, French director and producer, one of the first filmmakers in the history. Together with his brother Louis Jean he filmed the first true motion picture Sortie de l'usine Lumière de Lyon.
  • 1851 Born: Empress Myeongseong, also known as Queen Min, the official wife of King Gojong of Korea. Her life story is a subject for films, TV dramas and even musicals in South Korea.
  • 1805 Austrian General Mack surrendered his army to the Grande Armée of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Ulm. 30,000 Austrian prisoners were captured and 10,000 causalities inflicted on the losers.
  • 1745 Died: Jonathan Swift, Irish priest and poet. He left a rich legacy, becoming one of the foremost prose satirists in the English language. He is best known fur works Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal, Drapier's Letters, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity and A Tale of a Tub.
  • 1723 Died: Godfrey Kneller, English painter, the leading portrait painter and court painter to monarchs Charles II and George I. He is best known for The Chinese Convert and a series of portraits of Isaac Newton and King Louis XIV of France.
  • 1682 Died: Thomas Browne: English physician and author, remembered for writings, displaying a deep curiosity towards the natural world. His style varied according to genre, that resulted in a rich and unique prose.
  • 1469 Ferdinand II of Aragon married Isabella I of Castile. This marriage paved the way to the unification of Aragon and Castile into a single country, that became Spain.
  • 1216 Died: John, King of England, also known as John Lackland. He reigned from April 6, 1199 to his death. He was given the title of "Lackland" due to the defeat in the battle of Bouvines, when King John lost the duchy of Normandy to King Philip II of France.