October 2 Holidays

International Day of Non-Violence was established by the UN General Assembly to mark October 2, 1869, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi — the leader of the Indian independence movement whose philosophy of satyagraha (non-violent resistance) influenced movements from the U.S. civil rights movement to the anti-apartheid struggle. National Name Your Car Day was created to celebrate the human tendency to personify automobiles — research shows that approximately 25 percent of Americans have named their cars, a phenomenon that behavioral economists link to the IKEA effect of emotional investment in owned objects. World Smile Day is observed on the first Friday of October to celebrate the smile — a universal human expression whose physiology activates reward circuits in the brain even when the smile is forced. Guinea Independence Day marks October 2, 1958, when Guinea became the first French West African colony to vote “no” in the French constitutional referendum — becoming immediately independent under Sékou Touré.