Holidays Calendar for October 20, 2026
Celebration of Revolution Day in Guatemala on October 20 is connected with the events of 1944, when Francisco Javier Arana and Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán led military coup.
Heroes' Day is a national holiday in Kenya, that annually falls on October 20. Before 2010 this holiday had been known as Kenyatta Day and it honored late President of Kenya Jomo Kenyatta.
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.
The air traffic controllers around the world annually celebrate their own professional day on October 20. This is International Day of Air Traffic Controller, that was created to celebrate foundation anniversary of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations (IFATCA) in 1961.
International Chefs Day falls every year on October 20. This international observance is considered to be a professional day of all chefs around the world. The holiday was established under initiative of World Association of Chef's Societies in 2004.
World Osteoporosis Day is annually observed on October 20. Observation of this day raises public awareness of osteoporosis and its dangers.
International Sloth Day was created to draw attention to an unusual animal that lives in Central and South America and needs protection since one of the six extant sloth species is endangered and another is vulnerable. It is observed annually on October 20.
World CRISPR Day was created to celebrate an amazing genome engineering technology that won a Nobel Prize in 2020. It is observed annually on October 20.
The leaders of the Russian Federation find it very important to revive and develop military traditions. Number of military professional days, including Signal Officers Day on October 20, have been established in order to achieve this goal.
National Pharmacy Technician Day celebrates people without whom pharmacies wouldn’t run so smoothly. It is observed annually on the third Tuesday of October.
Arbor Day is observed in the Czech Republic every year on October 20. This observance is celebrated since 2000.
Karva Chauth is a traditional Hindu festival celebrated by married women in North India. It takes place four days after the full moon (purnima) in the month of Kartika. Karva Chauth is an official holiday in the state of Himachal Pradesh, but only for female employees.
Belgrade Liberation Day is an annual observance celebrated in Serbia on October 20. Although it is not a public holiday or a non-working day, the anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade during World War II is marked with military parades and other events.
Leyte Landing Day (Araw ng Leyte Landing) is a special non-working holiday in the Philippine city of Tacloban on Leyte island. It is celebrated annually on October 20 to commemorate the beginning of the liberation of the Philippines during World War II.
National Brandied Fruit Day is celebrated on October 20. Brandied fruit are made with sweet fruit (either fresh or dried) soaked and marinated in brandy and sugar. They are usually used as a topping on cakes, pies, or ice cream.
October 20 is a perfect day to treat yourself to some delicious soul food because it is National Chicken and Waffles Day. This unofficial but beloved food holiday celebrates one of the most iconic American food combinations.
Women of Vietnam have two holidays to celebrate – Mother's Day, coinciding with International Women's Day and Vietnamese Women's Day. The latter, that falls on October 20 every year, has a significant importance for the Vietnamese women.
Breast Cancer Awareness Day in Ukraine is observed annually on October 20. It was inaugurated by President Leonid Kuchma in 2005 in order to promote breast cancer awareness and to facilitate the development of breast cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, cure, and research in Ukraine.
This Day in History
- 2022 Liz Truss announced her resignation as the leader of the Conservative party and as UK prime minister after 45 days in office. She was succeeded by Rishi Sunak a few days later.
- 2014 Died: Oscar de la Renta, Dominican fashion designer. He became internationally known in the 1960s as one of the couturiers who dressed Jacqueline Kennedy.
- 2013 Died: Lawrence Klein, American economist, known for his work in creating computer models to forecast economic trends. In 1980 he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
- 2012 Died: E. Donnall Thomas, American physician who he shared the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Joseph E. Murray for the development of cell and organ transplantation.
- 2011 Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was captured in his hometown of Sirte by the National Transitional Council's rebel forces. He was killed shortly after.
- 1994 Died: Burt Lancaster, American actor and film producer. He was a four-time nominee for the Academy Award for Best Actor, winning once for his role in Elmer Gantry.
- 1991 25 people were killed and over 3,000 homes and apartments were destroyed by a massive firestorm that broke out on the hills of Oakland and Berkeley, California.
- 1984 Died: Paul Dirac, English physicist, remembered for his fundamental contributions to the early development of quantum mechanics as well as quantum electrodynamics.
- 1984 Died: Carl Ferdinand Cori, Czech biochemist and pharmacologist. He was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of how glycogen is broken down and resynthesized in the body for use as a store and source of energy.
- 1979 Born: John Krasinski, American actor and filmmaker. His best known directorial works include A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II, starring his wife Emily Blunt.
- 1973 The Sydney Opera House opened to public. It is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architecture.
- 1971 Born: Dannii Minogue, Australian singer, television personality, and actress who initially gained recognition for her television roles. She is the younger sister of Kylie Minogue.
- 1971 Born: Snoop Dogg (stage name of Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr.), American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, media personality, and actor. He has sold over 35 million albums worldwide.
- 1968 Jacqueline Kennedy, a former first lady of the United States, married her long-time friend Aristotle Onassis, a Greek shipping magnate. The wedding took place on Skorpios.
- 1967 Died: Shigeru Yoshida, Japanese diplomat and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1946 to 1947 and from 1948 to 1954, serving through most of the American occupation.
- 1964 Born: Kamala Harris, American politician and attorney, the 49th vice president of the United States. She is the first female vice president in U.S. history.
- 1964 Died: Herbert Hoover, American politician who served as the 31st President of the United States from 1929 to 1933. His presidency was dominated by the Great Depression.
- 1958 Born: Viggo Mortensen, American actor, musician, and filmmaker known for his roles in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Eastern Promises, Captain Fantastic, Green Book, and many other films.
- 1956 Born: Danny Boyle, English director and producer. He is known for his work on films including Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, Steve Jobs, Yesterday, and others.
- 1955 Born: Thomas Newman, American composer and conductor known for his numerous film scores, including Scent of a Woman, The Shawshank Redemption, Little Women, American Beauty, The Green Mile, etc.
- 1952 Governor Evelyn Baring declared a state of emergency in Kenya and began arresting hundreds of suspected leaders of the Mau Mau Uprising. Among them was Jomo Kenyatta, the future first President of Kenya.
- 1946 Born: Elfriede Jelinek, Austrian playwright and novelist. She is one of the most decorated authors to write in German and was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Literature.
- 1943 MS Sinfra was bombed and sunk by Allied aircraft north of Souda Bay, Crete. Around 2,000 people were killed in the sinking, the majority being Italian POWs.
- 1942 Born: Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, German developmental biologist and a 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate, sharing the prize with Edward B. Lewis and Eric F. Wieschaus.
- 1935 Died: Arthur Henderson, British iron molder and Labour politician. He was the first Labour cabinet minister and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1934.
- 1923 Born: Enric Bernat, Spanish entrepreneur best known as the founder of the Chupa Chups lollipop company.
- 1910 RMS Olympic, a sister-ship to the ill-fated RMS Titanic, was launched from the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The ship enjoyed a long career, serving 24 years.
- 1904 Chile and Bolivia signed the Treaty of Peace and Friendship. The treaty established the current border between the two countries.
- 1891 Born: James Chadwick, English physicist, 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for his discovery of the neutron. Chadwick headed the British team that worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II.
- 1882 Born: Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the horror film classic Dracula, Ygor in Son of Frankenstein, and other horror film roles.
- 1873 Representatives of Yale, Columbia, Princeton and Rutgers met to create a standard set of American football rules for use by all schools.
- 1854 Born: Arthur Rimbaud, French poet whose works influenced various musicians, poets and writers. Rimbaud started writing at a very young age and stopped completely before he turned 21.
- 1842 Died: Grace Darling, English daughter of a lighthouse keeper. She is famous for participating in the rescue of survivors from the shipwrecked Forfarshire in 1838.
- 1819 Born: Siyyid Alí Muḥammad Shírází, Iranian religious leader, known by his title of Báb. He was the founder of Bábism and one of the three central figures of the Bahá'í Faith.
- 1818 The United States and the United Kingdom singed the Convention of 1818 that, among others things, settled the border between Canada and the United States on the 49th parallel for most of its length.
- 1632 Born: Christopher Wren, English architect, astronomer, mathematician and physicist. He is known for building 52 churches in the City of London, including St. Paul's Cathedral.