October Days to Celebrate

October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and the sixth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus c. 750 BC, October retained its name (from the Latin and Greek ôctō meaning “eight”) after January and February were inserted into the calendar that had originally been created by the Romans.

October is also a month full of celebrations including Breast Cancer Awareness month  an annual campaign to increase awareness of the disease.and Virginia Wine Month.

It is also Health Literacy Month.

We are celebrating 20 years! Health Literacy Month is a time for organizations and individuals to promote the importance of understandable health information. This annual, worldwide, awareness-raising event has been going strong ever since Helen Osborne founded it in 1999.

National Bullying Prevention Month is also celebrated.  Stompout Bullying offers a few suggestions:

• Make friends with somebody you do not know in school.
• Challenge others to be kind.

October 11 is National Coming Out Day.

National Coming Out Day (NCOD) is an annual LGBT awareness day observed on October 11.^[1] Founded in the United States in 1988, the initial idea was grounded in the feminist and gay liberation spirit of the personal being political, and the emphasis on the most basic form of activism being coming out to family, friends and colleagues, and living life as an openly lesbian or gay person.^[2] The foundational belief is that homophobia thrives in an atmosphere of silence and ignorance, and that once people know that they have loved ones who are lesbian or gay, they are far less likely to maintain homophobic or oppressive views

National Friends of Library Week celebrates it’s 14th anniversary  October 20-26.  Friends groups often provide support to libraries–it can be library advcoacy, funding for materials or programming beyond what the regular library budget can support, or community book sales of books, video and audio recordings.

The big one, Halloween, is October 31. It originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.  It is also All Hallows Eve.  All Hallows Day is celebrated on November 1. It is also called All Saint’s Day.

 

Does anyone remember singing the Halloween poem by Harry Behn, in school as a kid?  I learned this one in the second grade at Del Rey Oaks Elementary School n Del Ray Oaks, CA.

Tonight is the night
When dead leaves fly
Like witches on switches
Across the sky,
When elf and sprite
Flit through the night
On a moony sheen.

Tonight is the night
When leaves make a sound
Like a gnome in his home
Under the ground,
When spooks and trolls
Creep out of holes
Mossy and green.

Tonight is the night
When pumpkins stare
Through sheaves and leaves
Everywhere,
When ghouls and ghost
And goblin host
Dance round their queen.
It’s Halloween.

Halloween