Seasonal religious and secular topics:

Events during October,
November, & December of 2009

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The term "National" refers to the U.S.

Decade long event:

2008-2017: Second United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty

Year-long events during 2009:

	Year of Science
	Year of Astronomy
	International Year of Natural Fibres

Events during 2009-October:

	Month Long: National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Family History month in many U.S. states, Adopt-a-Shelter Animal month, National Clergy Appreciation Month, and, in Canada: Child Abuse Prevention Month.
	Week of OCT-4: Fire Prevention Week.
	Week of OCT-18: Teen Read Week. "This year's theme is 'Read Beyond Reality @ your library,' which encourages teens to read something out of this world, just for the fun of it."
	OCT-05: World Teacher Day. "This year, World Teachers' Day will focus on the role of teachers within the context of the global financial and economic crisis and the need to invest in teachers now as a means to secure post-crisis regeneration."
	OCT-04: World Communion Sunday; This year the National Council of Churches promotes the  celebration of their oneness in Christ, the Prince of Peace.
	OCT-04: National Life Chain Sunday is held on 1st Sunday in October. The Life Chain promotes an end to abortion access). People are urged to stand on a designated local sidewalk and pray for one hour while holding one of seven approved signs, like "Abortion kills children" and "Abortion hurts women."
	OCT-05: Child Health Day is held annually on the 1st Monday in October. Adults are asked to be a healthy role model to children, to help children be physically active, and to support their healthy eating habits.
	OCT-10: World Mental Health Day is always held on OCT-10. This year's theme is "mental health in primary care."
	OCT-10: World Angel Day -"a day of unconditional love, light, laughter, communicating with spirit & healing."
	OCT-11: National Coming-out Day: Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons are urged to have "conversations from the heart" with friends and family about their sexual orientation and gender identity, and about LGBT equality.
	OCT-11: National Clergy Appreciation Day is held on the 2nd Sunday each October.
	OCT-12: Columbus Day is a federal holiday, held on the 2nd Monday in October. It recalls the beginning of the European invasion of the Americas in 1492 by Christopher Columbus. Indigenous People's Day is held on the same day. It recalls Columbus' use of violence against aboriginal peoples in the New World, his invention of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the forced conversion of native peoples to Christianity, and the introduction of a host of new diseases that decimated native people in the Americas. Thanksgiving Day in Canada was established in 1957 by Parliament as "... a day of general Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."
	OCT-15: National Grouch Day was invented by the Sesame Street Magazine to honor furry green Oscar of garbage can origins. His main attribute was his pessimism and grouchiness. This is my personal favorite; grouches are under-appreciated throughout the world).
	OCT-16: World Food Day is held on the anniversary of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization by the UN on 1945. The theme in 2009 is "Achieving food security in times of crisis".
	OCT-17: Diwali: a Hindu time of celebration of the new year lasting five days.
	OCT-20: The Birthday of the Bab, a Baha'i holy day, commemorates the "... Messenger of God whose mission prepared humanity for the coming of Bahá'u'lláh." It starts at sundown on the 19th.
	OCT-20: The Installation of the Guru Granth Sahib -- the holy book of the Sikhs. It is treated as a living Guru as commanded by the last of the ten human Sikh Masters: Guru Gobind Singh in 1708.
	OCT-24: United Nations Day is the anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations Charter on 1945-OCT-24. International Day of Climate Change Action is sponsored by "350" who urge climate policies worldwide to restore the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere to the maximum safe limit: 350 ppm. It is now 386 ppm.
	OCT-25: Reformation Sunday is held on the last Sunday in October. This is the anniversary (sort of) of 1517-OCT-31 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church in Germany. This started the Protestant Reformation and marks the starting point for the fracturing of Christianity into tens of thousands of faith groups.
	OCT-31: Halloween is a controversial celebration, much beloved by children and opposed by many religious conservatives.  Samhain, celebrated by Wiccans and many other Neopagans. It is a fire festival to mark the end of summer.

Events during 2009-November:

	Month Long: Adoption Month, Alzheimer's Awareness Month, American Indian Heritage Month, Child Safety & Protection Month, Christmas Seal Campaign, Diabetes Month, Diabetic Eye Disease Awareness Month, Epilepsy Month, Flu & Pneumonia Campaign, Great American Smoke-Out, Hospice Month, National Model Railroad Month (another personal favorite), and Patient Education Week.
	Week of NOV-01: The 29th annual Holocaust Education Week -- a world-wide observance.  National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week
	Week of NOV-02: Media Literacy Week in Canada
	Week of NOV-09: National Distance Learning Week.
	Week of NOV-15: American Education Week
	Week of NOV-16: Global Entrepreneurship Week. National Anti-Bullying Week. (5 days)
	Week of NOV-22: National Family Week organized by the Alliance for Children and Families. National Bible Week.
	Week of NOV-23: Road Safety Week
	NOV-01: All Saints' Day (a.k.a. All Hallows' Day); National Author's Day; National Family Literacy Day; Daylight Savings Time ends (1st Sunday in November) at 02:00 hrs local time.
	NOV-02: All Souls' Day (a.k.a. the Day of the Dead).
	NOV-03: USA Election Day (1st Tuesday after the 1st Monday).
	NOV-08: International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP) This is a Christian observance on the second Sunday in November. in memory of Christians around the world who cannot express their faith safely in public. During 2009, there has been a continuing slaughter of Christians in Orissa State of India. There are additional countries in the world where there is little religious freedom. Saudi Arabia is perhaps the worst. They won't even allow their citizens access to this website. Many other predominately Muslim or officially communist countries similarly lack freedom of religious expression. There are other types of religious oppression which are not covered by IDOP. For example, in the U.S. legislators who are Atheists dare not reveal their religion because the vast majority of Christians and other theists would never vote for them.
	NOV-10: "Mix it up at lunch day" for 2009 The Southern Poverty Law Center's "Teaching Tolerance" program is promoting "... student efforts to identify, question and cross social boundaries within their schools and communities."
	NOV-11: Veteran's Day (US); Remembrance Day (Canada);
	NOV-12: The Birthday of Baha'u'llah a Baha'i holy day, celebrating their founder. (Fixed day)
	NOV-15: America Recycles Day.
	NOV-17: National Young Reader's Day; "Take a Hike" Day.
	NOV-18: Mickey Mouse's 81st birthday (1928 -). On this day, he appeared in the first sound cartoon: Steamboat Willie. Walt Disney was afraid of mice.
	NOV-19: The UN has proclaimed this day as World Toilet Day. 2.6 billion people worldwide lack access to even the most basic sanitation and hygiene. The result is that about 4,500 children die each day of preventable diarrheal diseases.
	NOV-20: Revolution Day (Mexico). Children's Day
	NOV-20: 11th Annual International Transgender Day of Remembrance to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event was first held to honor Rita Hester, whose murder in 1998 kicked off the "Remembering Our Dead?" web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Since then, the event has grown to encompass memorials in dozens of cities across the world.
	NOV-22: Stop the Violence Day.
	NOV-26: Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. (4th Thursday in November).
	About NOV-27: Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice. This concludes the season of Hajj when millions of Muslims make a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The date is determined by the phases of the moon, and thus changes from year to year in the Gregorian calendar. In some countries, its date is set when the hilal (the slender crescent moon after the new moon) is first sighted.
	NOV-29: First Sunday of Advent (Christian). International Computer Security Day (Remember to backup your files!)

Events during 2009-December:

	1st week of the month: Cookie cutter week, Deaf heritage week, National Aplastic Anemia Awareness Week, National Handwashing Awareness Week.
	2nd week: Human Rights Week.
	3rd week: International Language Week
	Week of DEC-06: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) selected this week as National Influenza Vaccination Week. National Handwashing Awareness Week.
	DEC-01: World AIDS day. There are about 33 million people living with HIV in the world -- about two thirds are in Sub-Saharan Africa. There were about 2.7 million new cases reported worldwide this year.
	DEC-02: The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. It recalls United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others in 1949. Also Science Fiction Day.
	DEC-03: Disabled Persons Awareness Day.
	DEC-04: National Nice Day
	DEC-05: International Volunteer Day was established by the United Nations. They are tracking voluntary efforts to adapt, innovate and mitigate environmental issues.
	DEC-05/06: Tree Dressing Day (actually the first weekend in December). We badly need trees to help combat the increasing effects of global warming and local pollution.
	DEC-09: This is the 61st anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide on 1948-DEC-09. Since then, there have been genocides in China, Cambodia, East Timor, Sudan, Rwanda, Bosnia Herzegovina, perhaps in Kosovo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Either religion or communism has played a major role in these genocides.
	DEC-10: This is the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
	DEC-16: "National Chocolate Covered Anything Day." My preference is for 60% cocoa; anything less than this simply doesn't cut it; more that this is a little bitter.
	DEC-17: Saturnalia is ancient Roman festival currently celebrated by Nova Roma, (a.k.a. Roman Paganism, a Neopagan group). It commemorates the dedication of the temple of the God Saturn. It was first celebrated around 217 BCE.
	DEC-21: Winter Solstice @ 17:49, UT; Yule (Wiccans and many other Neopagans)
	DEC-25 (Gregorian calendar): Christmas (Secular holiday and holy day in western Christianity). Some historians trace origins to the ancient Roman Pagan festival of Sol Invicus (the Unconquered Sun); others suggest the reverse. The Armenian Apostolic Church observes Christmas on January 6, other Eastern Orthodox Churches celebrate Christmas on January 7. That is because they still use the Julian Calendar that is gradually going out of synchronism with the seasons.
	DEC-25: National Pumpkin Pie Day.
	DEC-26: Boxing Day: It is celebrated in Greece, the UK, and the Commonwealth of Nations. Like Civic Holiday, few Canadians know the meaning of this day. It originated in the Middle Ages when gifts were given to employees and the poor.
	DEC-26 to JAN-01: Kwanzaa is a week-long secular celebration created by Maulana Karenga and first celebrated in 1966. Each of the seven days is dedicated to one of "The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa" -- a.k.a. "The Seven Principles of Blackness:" Unity, Self-determination, Collective work and responsibility, Cooperative economics, Purpose, Creativity, and Faith in both people and the struggle. The USPS has issued Kwanzaa stamps in 1997 and 2004; the will again in 2009.
	DEC-26: The first day of the Festival of Winter Walks that extends to JAN-04.
	DEC-31: New Year's Eve (Secular). In an annual victory of hope over reality, tens of millions of North Americans devoutly make their resolutions for the new year.

Essays about the Winter Solstice and Christmas on this website:

	All about Christmas: the birth of Jesus, Christmas star, Christmas tree...
	The "Christmas Wars:" conflicts at Christmas time
	Celebrations by non-Christians at this time of year
	The Winter Solstice

Coming up: 2010:

The United Nations has declared 2010 as "International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures." The task is for persons of all religions and cultures to learn to coexist in peace, and trust.

Note:

These dates are approximate. If you need to know the precise date for planning purposes, we suggest that you confirm the date with other information sources. In particular, Jewish and Muslim observances begin at sundown on the evening prior to the date cited. The Islamic calendar is based on unaided human observation of the crescent moon following the new moon. Thus, the above dates may vary by one or two days.

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. "When-is" at: http://www.when-is.com/
2. Sherri Osborn, "Long list of holidays and special days celebrated in November 2008," About.com Family Crafts, at: http://familycrafts.about.com/
3. "MiXitUp FAQs," at: http://www.tolerance.org/
4. "National what week?" at: http://www.naturenet.net/
5. "International Days and Weeks,"United Nations, at: http://www.unac.org/

Originally written: 2007-OCT-18
Latest update and review: 2009-NOV-13
Author: B.A. Robinson

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