October 31 Holidays

Halloween traces to the Celtic festival of Samhain, the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the dark half of the year — believed to be a time when the veil between the living and the dead was thin. Christianized as All Hallows’ Eve, it has evolved into the second-most commercially important U.S. holiday, generating more than $12 billion in annual spending on costumes, candy, and decorations. National Magic Day marks October 31, 1926, when Harry Houdini — born Erik Weisz in Budapest — died in Detroit from a ruptured appendix, believed to have resulted from multiple unexpected punches to the stomach. Girl Scout Founder’s Day marks the birthday of Juliette Gordon Low, born October 31, 1860, who founded the Girl Scouts of the United States on March 12, 1912, in Savannah, Georgia — an organization that has served more than 50 million girls. Hug a Sheep Day was created to celebrate the sheep — the first domesticated ruminant, whose wool, milk, and meat have sustained human civilizations since approximately 10,000 BCE.