October 8 Holidays

National Fluffernutter Day celebrates the peanut butter and Marshmallow Fluff sandwich — a combination made possible by Archibald Query’s 1917 recipe and Durkee-Mower’s commercial Marshmallow Fluff production beginning in 1920 — a regional New England staple that generates fierce loyalty and nationwide puzzlement in equal measure. World Sight Day was established by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness to raise awareness that approximately 1.1 billion people worldwide live with vision impairment — 90 percent of whom live in low-income settings — and that 80 percent of all vision impairment is preventable or treatable. Battle of Angamos marks October 8, 1879, when the Chilean Navy captured the Peruvian ironclad Huáscar in the War of the Pacific — a decisive engagement that gave Chile control of the sea and ultimately the war. Dyslexia Day was established to raise awareness for dyslexia — the most common learning disability, affecting an estimated 15 to 20 percent of the global population — and to promote early identification and evidence-based support.