Recognizing the Festival/Holiday: The traditional holiday treat is moon cake filled with fruit, sweet bean paste, lotus seed, and chestnuts, with a yellow yolk in the center to symbolize the moon. Moon cake can be found in most Asian grocery stores. (m)

 Mid-Autumn Moon Festival (Tet Trung Thu) : Vietnam.  This celebrates the harvest moon with lantern processions and trips for children.

Recognizing the Festival/Holiday: The traditional holiday treat is moon cake filled with lotus nut or red bean paste, orange peel, and mixed nuts, with a yellow yolk in the center to symbolize the moon. Moon cake can be found in most Asian grocery stores. (m)

 National Foundation Day (Kaech'on-jol) : South Korea.  This commemorates the founding of the first Korean state in 2333 B.C.E. by Tan'gun.

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 Tecumseh (1768?–1813) : American Indian (Shawnee).  Political and military leader. Tecumseh led the resistance to the advance of White settlement in the Northwest Territories in the last years of the eighteenth century, refusing to sign a treaty that surrendered most of Ohio to the United States. He organized the northwestern tribes into a confederation pledged to make no further land concessions and allied himself with the British in the War of 1812. He was killed in battle on this date.

 Surrender of Chief Joseph (1877) : American Indian.  When the U.S. government ordered the Nez Percé Indians to move from their ancestral lands in the Northwest to a reservation, Chief Joseph led his people on a 1,321-mile trek northward, hoping to resettle in Canada. After fending off army attacks and suffering terrible losses to cold and sickness, Chief Joseph surrendered on this date with a moving speech, concluding "From where the sun now stands I will fight no more against the white man."

 Republic Day : Portugal.  This holiday celebrates the establishment of the Republic of Portugal in 1910.

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 Henri Christophe (1767–1820) : Haitian.  Military and political leader. One of Toussaint-Louverture's lieutenants in the war for Haitian independence, Christophe set up an independent kingdom in the North and later joined in the effort to defeat the French and drive them permanently from the island. Thwarted in his ambition to lead the new nation, which he thought needed the strong hand of a despot, he withdrew again to the North and from 1811 ruled his own kingdom as Henri I. After a reign of general prosperity, he suffered a stroke in 1820, and revolts broke out. When he was unable to restore civil order, he shot himself, and his kingdom soon became part of the Republic of Haiti.

 Fannie Lou Hamer (1917–1977) : African American.  Civil rights leader. The daughter of sharecropper parents in the Mississippi Delta, Fannie Lou Hamer became one of the most courageous and inspiring leaders of the civil rights movement. She spent her early life in conditions shaped by desperate poverty and the harshest forms of racial discrimination. In 1962 she became involved in the civil rights movement as one of the first African Americans to register to vote and then as an organizer. Frequently arrested and beaten, she continued her work and inspired followers with her courage, her faith, and her persistence. She was a major force in the successful effort to integrate the Democratic Party in Mississippi. She also helped to establish agricultural cooperatives, build low-income housing, and bring industry to poor rural areas.

 German American Heritage Day : United States.  German American Heritage Day was first proclaimed by President Ronald Reagan on October 6, 1983 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the arrival in the American colonies of thirteen German families who established the first German settlement in the New World, a community on the northern outskirts of Philadelphia later known as Germantown. It was made an official day of commemoration four years later in 1987 when President Reagan signed a proclamation that read: “The United States has embraced a vast array of German traditions, institutions, and influences... Christmas trees and Broadway musicals are familiar features of American society. Our kindergartens, graduate schools, the social security system, and labor unions are all based on models derived from Germany. German teachers, musicians, and enthusiastic amateurs have left an indelible imprint on classical music, hymns, choral singing, and marching bands in our country. In architecture and design, German contributions include the modern suspension bridge, Bauhaus, and Jugendstil. German-American scientists have helped make the United States the world’s pioneer in research and technology.” Some notable Americans of German descent include Dwight Eisenhower, Albert Einstein, Henry Kissinger, Hannah Arendt, Kurt Vonnegut, Sylvia Plath, Fred Astaire, and Lou Gehrig.

 Armed Forces Day : Egypt.  This commemorates the surprise joint attack on Israel by Egypt and Syria on the morning of Yom Kippur in 1973 to win back the land lost in the 1967 Six-Day War. More than 80,000 Egyptian soldiers launched the attack, crossing the Suez Canal in small boats and inflatable rafts and advancing into the Sinai desert. Eight years later, Anwar Sadat was assassinated while watching the Armed Forces Day parade by members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad who opposed Sadat’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

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October 7, Wednesday 

Karva Chauth : Hindu.

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 Battle of Angamos : Peru.  This marks an important battle in the War of the Pacific (1879–1884) between Chile and the combined forces of Peru and Bolivia that eventually led to a gain in territory for Chile. After this battle in 1879, the Peruvian Navy was unable to prevent the invasion of its territory and the seas were cleared for the invasion of Peru and Bolivia.

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 Mary Shadd Cary (1823–1893) : African American, Canada.  Journalist and antislavery advocate. Mary Shadd Cary was born to free Black parents in Delaware. After the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, she went to Canada and started a newspaper called The Provincial Freeman, the first antislavery newspaper in western Canada.

Hoshanah Rabbah : Jewish.

 Leif Ericsson Day : United States.  This holiday, proclaimed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, honors the Icelandic explorer Leif Ericsson, who is believed to be the first European to land on North American soil. Leif Ericsson (980?–1025?) was the son of explorer Erik the Red, who established the first settlement in Greenland. Their adventures are chronicled in the twelfth- and thirteenth-century Icelandic sagas Grænlendinga Saga (the “Greenlanders’ Saga”) and Eiriks Saga (“Erik’s Saga”). According to the older and more reliable Grænlendinga Saga, Ericsson learned of a new land from the Icelandic sea captain Bjarni Herjólfsson, who had sighted it to the west years earlier when driven off course by a storm on his way from Iceland to Greenland. In about A.D. 1000, Ericsson and his crew of thirty-five men sailed west from Greenland to retrace Herjólfsson’s course in reverse. They made several landings along the North American coast, finally wintering in a spot where they discovered wild grapes growing, prompting Ericsson to name the land “Vinland.” Although Ericsson made no maps of his voyage, historians believe he landed first on the southern coast of Baffin Island, then Labrador, and, finally, northern Newfoundland, or Vinland. In the early 1960s, archaeologists found ruins of an old Norse settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows in northern Newfoundland. However, some scholars believe Vinland was actually Cape Cod or somewhere even farther to the south. Almost five hundred years would pass before another European landed in the Americas, when Columbus made his voyage of exploration.

 Han'gul Day : South Korea.  This commemorates the creation of the alphabet of 29 phonetic symbols called han'gul by King Sejong between 1443 and 1446. Korean is one of the Ural-Altaic family of languages.

 Independence Day : Uganda.  This holiday commemorates the nation's achieving independence from Britain in 1962.

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 Elijah Muhammad (born Elijah Poole) (1897–1975) : African American.  Religious leader. Elijah Muhammad was the leader of the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims) in the United States from 1934 until his death. His advocacy of hard work, a puritanical moral code, and pride and solidarity among Black people attracted a large following for his movement.

Sh'mini Atzeret : Jewish.

Double Tenth Day (Shuang-shih) : Republic of China (Taiwan).

 Grito de Yara (1868) : Cuba.  The Revolt of Yara began Cuba's struggle for independence from Spain on this day, when Nationalist leaders proclaimed the island a republic and set up a provisional government. When the ensuing ten years of warfare ended with the reestablishment of Spanish rule, many Nationalists left the island to continue working for the freedom of their homeland. Cuba finally achieved its independence in 1898. (See entry for January 28.)

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 Robert Nathaniel Dett (1882–1943) : African American.  Composer and educator. Dett was the first American to incorporate Negro folk tunes into classical compositions, chiefly piano works and choral pieces. He also taught music and directed choral groups at several colleges, notably at Hampton Institute, where he worked from 1913 to 1932.

 National Coming Out Day/March on Washington (1987) : Gay, Lesbian.  On October 11, the largest gay and lesbian gathering of its time—some estimate as many as 200,000–600,000 people—took place to protest anti-gay discrimination and demand a stronger federal government response to the AIDS crisis.

Simchat Torah : Jewish.

 General Pulaski Memorial Day : United States.  

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 Charles Gordone (1925–1995) : African American.  Playwright. In 1970, Charles Gordone became the first African American playwright to win the Pulitzer Prize. The play for which he won the prize, No Place to Be Somebody, opened in 1969 and became an immediate success. Gordone challenged the idea of a distinct "Black theater," seeking instead a multiracial American theater. Like Ralph Ellison, whose first published novel also won outstanding critical acclaim, Gordone never published a second play.

 Our Lady Aparecida : Brazil.  Public holiday.

 Columbus Day observed : United States.  This is the day set aside for observing the anniversary of the landing of Christopher Columbus in the New World. Columbus Day is a national holiday that has come to be especially important to Italian Americans. At annual Italian American get-togethers, there are speeches by celebrities, and citizens of Italian heritage are honored for their rich contributions to community life. (m)

 Día de la Raza (Columbus Day) : Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Venezuela. This day commemorates the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus and the common Spanish and Indian heritage of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, and Venezuela.

Health and Sports Day (Taiiku No Hi) : Japan.

This is a day to promote physical health and also to commemorate the Olympic Games held in Tokyo, Japan, in 1964. (m)

 Liberation from France : Laos.  This day commemorates Laos' liberation from its protectorate status with France and establishment of a monarchy in 1954.

 National Day : Spain.  This holiday commemorates the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus and Spain's gaining of a colonial empire.

 Thanksgiving Day : Canada.  This is observed as a harvest festival and an occasion for families to get together for visiting and traditional foods. (m)

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 [William] Allison Davis (1902–1983) : African American.  Anthropologist and educator. After attending Williams College and receiving an M.A. in anthropology from Harvard University, Allison Davis taught at Dillard University and later at the University of Chicago where he received a Ph.D. in education in 1942. In 1948, he became one of the first African Americans to receive tenure at a non-historically Black academic institution. His work in psychology and education includes the development of the Davis-Ellis intelligence test and several studies on social and class influences on the education of children. When he died in 1983, he was the John Dewey Distinguished Professor at the University of Chicago. In 1994, the United States Postal Service honored Dr. Allison Davis with a postage stamp bearing his picture.

 Frank Yankovic (1915–1998) : Slovenian American.  Polka musician. Known as the Polka King since 1948, Yankovic became the premier figure in the Slovenian polka style. Beginning his playing on local Slovenian radio programs in Cleveland, he formed the Slovenian Folk Orchestra. After serving in World War II, he recorded Just Because, the first polka record to sell more than a million copies. In 1986, Yankovic won a Grammy Award when polka first became a Grammy category. He continued to record and perform until shortly before his death. October 14 is the anniversary of his death.

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 John L. Sullivan (1858–1918) : Irish American.  Prizefighter. Sullivan won the world heavyweight championship in 1882.

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 Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins (1844–1887) : American Indian (Northern Piute).  Writer and lecturer. While working as an interpreter, Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins observed the injustices perpetrated against her people by federal officials. Her book Life among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims (1883) blended autobiography, history, and ethnographic description with advocacy of the Piute claim to autonomy and to ownership of their homelands. She died on this date.

 Henry Lewis (1932–1996) : African American.  Musician and conductor. Henry Lewis was the first Black conductor and music director of a major American orchestra, and the first Black to conduct the New York City Metropolitan Opera.

 Eugene O'Neill (1888–1953) : Irish American.  Playwright. O'Neill expanded the range of American drama with his tragedies focusing on ordinary people and his expressionistic experimental plays.

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 Jean Jacques Dessalines (c. 1758–1806) : Haitian.  Revolutionary leader. Dessalines, born a slave, joined the revolt against French rule led by François Dominique Toussaint-Louverture. After Toussaint-Louverture's capture in 1802, Dessalines, along with Henri Christophe, led the successful effort to defeat the French army of Napoleon I. He declared independence from France on January 1, 1804, gave the land the name Haiti (Indian for "hills"), and proclaimed himself Emperor Jacques I. He ruled Haiti as the first independent nation in Latin America from 1804 to 1806. This is the day of his death.

 Bandi Chhor Day : Sikh. (m)

Diwali : Hindu.