Holidays Calendar for October 31, 2019
Reformation Day is a religious observance that falls on October 31 and celebrates the Protestant Reformation. It is a state public holiday in Slovenia, Chili and some of the German states (Länder).
Reformation Day, also known as National Day of Evangelical and Protestant Churches (Día Nacional de las Iglesias Evangélicas y Protestantes) is a public holiday in Chile, typically celebrated on October 31. It is moved to the following Friday when October 31 falls on a Wednesday or to the preceding Friday when it falls on a Tuesday.
October 31 is an official remembrance day named Martyrs Day in the West African country of Burkina Faso. It is dedicated to the victims of the 2015 coup d'état.
One of the most popular celebrations around the world, Halloween is observed on October 31. What started as a mixture of pagan and Christian tradition has evolved into a secular and commercial celebration popularized by American movies and TV shows.
World Savings Day is observed in many countries around the world on October 31. This observance was introduced in 1924 to promote the importance of bank savings and restore people's confidence in banks.
International Carignan Day is a wine-related holiday celebrated annually on the last Thursday of October. It was created to raise awareness of a grape variety that originated in Spain but is more commonly found in French wines.
The countries of the Black Sea annually celebrate International Black Sea Action Day on October 31. Creation of this observance is connected with approving the Black Sea Strategic Action Plan in 1996.
On October 31, Brazilians celebrated Saci Day (Dia do Saci). This is a relatively new holiday dedicated to a popular character in Brazilian folklore. It was initiated by the Government of Brazil as an alternative to the “American influenced” holiday of Halloween.
Criollo Music Day (Día de la Canción Criolla) is a Peruvian holiday celebrated on October 31 every year. It was officially proclaimed on October 18, 1944 by President Manuel Prado y Ugarteche.
National Unity Day (or Rashtriya Ekta Diwas) was established in India in 2014, when the government proposed celebrating the birthday anniversary of Vallabhbhai Patel, a prominent Indian statesman and leader. This event takes place on October 31.
People of Cambodia annually observe birthday anniversary of the late King Norodom Sihanouk on October 31. King Father's Birthday isn't a public holiday, since his son succeeded the throne.
The National Caramel Apple Day is celebrated on October 31. It coincides with Halloween which is not surprising as caramel apples are one of the most popular Halloween treats.
Samhain is one of the ancient Celtic festivals, that is celebrated on October 31 through the night of November 1. This festival celebrates the end of harvesting and marks the beginning of the darker period of the year.
World Cities Day is observed annually on October 31. It is one of the United Nations observances designed to promote international awareness and action on certain issues.
On October 31, Girl Scouts of the USA celebrate Founders Day. It is dedicated to Juliette Gordon Low who founded the organization in 1912.
Most national Scouting organizations across the world celebrate their founding anniversary in some manner. The founding anniversary of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines falls on October 31, but celebratory events are held throughout the entire month of October, which has been dubbed Scouting Month.
National Bug Busting Day is observed in the United Kingdom three times a year: on January 31, June 15, and October 31. It is a school campaign that aims to reduce the incidence of lice and prevent their spread across classrooms.
Festivals on October 31, 2019
- Rakfisk Festival in Fagernes, Norway
- Moscow International Biennale of Contemporary Art in Moscow, Russia
- Saga International Balloon Fiesta in Saga, Japan
- Caribbean Food and Wine Festival in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands
- JazzFest Berlin in Berlin, Germany
- Thessaloniki International Film Festival in Thessaloniki, Greece
- New York’s Village Halloween Parade in New York, USA
- Dragon of Shandon Parade in Cork, Ireland
- Golden Leaves Con in Hasliberg, Switzerland
- Salon du Chocolat in Paris in Paris, France
- Lucca Comics & Games in Lucca, Italy
- Sharjah International Book Fair in Sharjah, UAE
- Tokyo International Film Festival in Tokyo, Japan
- Carthage Film Festival in Tunis, Tunisia
- Marmaris International Race Week in Marmaris, Turkey
This Day in History
- 2020 Berlin Brandenburg Airport Willy Brandt opened for commercial traffic 14 years after construction started and 29 years after official planning was begun.
- 2020 Died: Sean Connery, Scottish actor. He gained recognition as the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in film, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983.
- 2014 The VSS Enterprise suffered a catastrophic in-flight breakup and crashed in the Mojave Desert, California, United States while performing a test flight.
- 2011 The United Nations declared the total world population surpassing seven billion. This day was officially declared the Day of Seven Billion.
- 2009 Died: Pieter Willem Botha, commonly known as P. W. Potha and Die Groot Krokodil (the Big Crocodile), the leader of South Africa from 1978 to 1989.
- 2005 Born: Leonor, Princess of Asturias, the heir presumptive to the Spanish throne as is the elder daughter of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia.
- 2000 Born: Willow Smith, American singer. The daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, she has received various accolades, including an NAACP Image Award and a BET Award.
- 2000 The Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft was launched from Baikonur. It was the first Soyuz spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station (ISS).
- 1999 Eighteen year old Australian sailor Jesse Martin became the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo, non-stop, and unassisted.
- 1999 EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean about sixty miles south of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, killing all 217 people on board.
- 1993 Born: Letitia Wright, Guyanese-British actress. She gained global recognition for her portrayal of Shuri in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- 1993 Died: River Phoenix, American actor, musician, and activist. His work encompassed 24 films and television appearances. He died at the age of 23.
- 1993 Died: Federico Fellini, Italian film director and screenwriter. In a career spanning almost fifty years, Fellini won the Palme d'Or and many other awards.
- 1986 Died: Robert S. Mulliken, American physicist and chemist who was awarded the 1966 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his molecular orbital method.
- 1984 Died: Indira Gandhi, Indian politician who served as Prime Minister of India, the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru. She was assassinated by her bodyguards.
- 1973 Three Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers managed to escape from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, Ireland, aboard a hijacked helicopter.
- 1967 Born: Adam Schlesinger, American musician, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He won three Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and the ASCAP Pop Music Award.
- 1967 Born: Vanilla Ice (stage name of Robert Matthew Van Winkle), American rapper, actor, and TV host. One of his best known songs is "Ice Ice Baby".
- 1966 Born: Mike O'Malley, American actor and writer. He is probably best known for his role as Jimmy Hughes on the CBS television series Yes, Dear.
- 1963 Born: Dermot Mulroney, American actor whose notable film credits include Long Gone, Young Guns, The Last Outlaw, My Best Friend's Wedding, August: Osage County, and more.
- 1963 Born: Rob Schneider, American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and director. His best known films include Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, The Hot Chick.
- 1961 Born: Peter Jackson, New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit trilogy.
- 1961 In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin's body was removed from Lenin's Mausoleum and buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis outside the walls of the Kremlin.
- 1960 Born: Reza Pahlavi, the last crown prince of Iran and current head of the House of Pahlavi, the older son of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
- 1957 Born: Brian Stokes Mitchell, American actor and singer. One of the central leading men on Broadway since the 1990s, he won a Tony Award for his performance in the musical Kiss Me, Kate.
- 1956 During the Suez Crisis, France and the United Kindgom began bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal (Operation Musketeer).
- 1942 Born: David Ogden Stiers, American actor and conductor. He is probably best known for his role as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III on the television series M*A*S*H.
- 1941 The construction of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial ended due to lack of funding. The construction of the memorial lasted fourteen years.
- 1939 Died: Otto Rank (born Otto Rosenfeld), Austrian psychoanalyst and writer. He was one of Sigmund Freud's closest colleagues for 20 years.
- 1926 Died: Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz), Hungarian-American illusionist and stunt performer who is primarily remembered for his sensational escape acts.
- 1925 Died: Max Linder (stage name of Gabriel-Maximilien Leuvielle), French actor, comedian, director, producer, and screenwriter of the silent film era.
- 1925 Born: John Pople, English-American theoretical chemist who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, sharing it with Walter Kohn (United States).
- 1922 Benito Mussolini became Prime Minister of Italy. In 1925, he set up a dictatorship that lasted until his ousting in 1943. During his rule, he was known as Il Duce.
- 1920 Born: Dick Francis, British steeplechase jockey and author of crime fiction, all of whose novels deal with crime in the horse-racing world in England.
- 1916 Died: Charles Taze Russell, American Christian restorationist minister who founded the Bible Student movement, from which Jehovah's Witnesses emerged.
- 1897 Born: Karl Weierstrass, German mathematician who is often regarded as the father of modern analysis. He is known for the Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem.
- 1887 Born: Chiang Kai-she, influential Chinese political and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China from 1928 until his death in 1975.
- 1879 Died: Joseph Hooker, United States Army officer. He is best remembered for his stunning defeat at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863.
- 1795 Born: John Keats, English poet. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley.
- 1632 Born: Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. His best known work is Girl with a Pearl Earring.