Celebrations Today – October 31
Holidays and observances
- Christian feast day:
- Earliest day on which All Saints Day can fall, while November 6 is the latest; celebrated on Saturday between October 31 and November 6 (Finland, Sweden)
- Día de la Canción Criolla (Peru)
- Eve of Winter, the eve of the first day of winter in the Northern hemisphere:
- Allantide (Cornwall)
- Halloween (Ireland, Canada, United Kingdom, United States and other places)
- Hop-tu-Naa (Isle of Man)
- Samhain in the Northern Hemisphere, Beltane in the Southern Hemisphere; begins on sunset of October 31 (Gaels, Welsh people and Neopagan Wheel of the Year)
- The first day of the Day of the Dead, celebrated until November 2 (Mexico)
- Girl Scouts Founders Day (United States)
- King Father’s Birthday (Cambodia)
- National Unity Day (India)
- Reformation Day (Slovenia, parts of Germany, Chile, El Salvador,[citation needed] Dominican Republic,[citation needed] various Protestant churches with a particular emphasis in Lutheran and Reformed ones)
- Saci day (Brazil)
- World Savings Day
Celebrations Today – USA: October 31
National Caramel Apple Day
National Knock-Knock Jokes Day
National Magic Day
Girl Scout Founder’s Day
Halloween
November National Days
National Books for Treats Day
National Carve a Pumpkin Day
National Girl Scout Founder’s Day
National Increase Your Psychic Powers Day
National Knock Knock Jokes Day
National Reformation Day
National Scare a Friend Day
National Sneak Some of the Candy Yourself Before the Kids Start Knocking Day
National Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF Day
World Savings Day
Today in US History: October 31
Happy Halloween!
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House in Horse Creek decorated for Halloween,
Horse Creek, West Virginia,
Lyntha Scott Eiler, photographer,
October 5, 1996.
Tending the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia
…I heard a rustle in the hall. It sounded like the swish of a taffeta skirt. I looked up at the door and saw the figure of a woman go past. She had on a black taffeta dress and I didn’t see any head. I called out, “Who’s there?” Of course, nobody answered…. Just as the figure reached the door of the living room, it disappeared.”Ghost Story,”
Interview with “Mrs. Laura M.,”
Dorothy West, interviewer,
November 18, 1938.
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1940
On the night of October 31, many Americans celebrate the traditions of Halloween by dressing in costumes and telling tales of witches and ghosts. Children go from house to house—to “trick or treat”—collecting candy along the way. Communities also hold parades and parties.
Halloween, also known as All Hallow’s Eve, originated as the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, meaning “summer’s end.” The autumnal holiday, rooted in Christian and pagan festivals—with elements of magic and mystery, celebrated the link between seasonal and life cycles (winter was then a time associated with death).
Halloween is now celebrated worldwide and reflects the assimilation of various cultures. In the twenty-first century, it has become a secular, and hugely commercial holiday.
October’s “Bright Blue Weather”:
Chicago, Illinois,
Albert M. Bender, artist,
(Date stamped on verso),
August 30, 1940.
By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943
Visit American Memory collections for more information about Halloween.
- Writing about his nineteenth-century boyhood in Minnesota, Frank G. O’Brien recalls Halloween as a night when “the leaders of the fun took matters into their own hands and the whole town was at their mercy.” In addition to switching signs between the town doctor and the local undertaker, pranksters thought nothing of causing major inconveniences.
- Frank G. O’Brien, “Old Time Halloween Doings,” Minnesota Pioneer Sketches: From the Personal Recollections and Observations of a Pioneer Resident, 1904.Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910
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Winner of Masquerade at Halloween Party, Hillview Cooperative, Osage Farms, Missouri,
Arthur Rothstein, photographer, October 1939.
America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI 1935-1945 - American folklore is rich with spirits, ghosts, and witches. Search on witch and ghost in American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1940 to read tales of alleged witches and accounts of spirit sightings.
“Ghost Story”
told by Moses “Clear Rock” Platt,
Southern Mosaic: The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip
Real Audio format
wav Format, 5.8 Mb - Listen to fiddler Henry Reed play “Witch of the Wave Reel.” A search on the term witch in Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier will surface a transcription of this tune as well as its audio playback.
- Sing a spooky song. Search the collection Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, 1830-1860 & 1870-1885 on the terms witch or ghost to find musical selections such as “Denny Malone’s Ghost” by M. H. McChesney, 1871, and “Witches Flight” by H. M. Russell, 1878.
- Read “Grace Sherwood—The One Virginia Witch” in The Nineteenth Century in Print: Periodicals.
- Search the collection American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920 to find theatrical skits, such as Spooks (1912) by Bayone Whipple and Walter Huston.
- Watch movies of magic and madness. Search the online collections in the motion picture format to view early films with the themes of magic and ghosts. See, for example, Uncle Josh in a Spooky Hotel and Hooligan Assists the Magician from the collection Inventing Entertainment: The Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies and Dud Leaves Home from Origins of American Animation.
- Search on Halloween or witch in the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog to view a variety of photos and illustrations.
Today in History – October 31-External Links
Today’s Weather in History
Today in Earthquake History
This Day in Naval History
Today’s Document from the National Archives
Today’s Events, Births & Deaths –Wikipedia
Today in History by AP
On this Day -1950 to 2005 – Today’s Story–BBC
On This Day: The New York Times
This Day in History –History.com
Today in Canadian History – Canada Channel
History of Britain that took place On This Day
Russia in History –Russiapedia