THIRD JUDICIAL CIRCUIT COURT
THE DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION CALENDAR
 
The Third Circuit Court Diversity and Inclusion Team's Mission Statement: 
"We appreciate our common connection and respect our diverse and unique human experiences. We move forward as an inclusive organization as we provide accessible and equal justice."
 
The Court's Diversity & Inclusion Team strives to ensure the values of its diverse bench, staff, and court users are acknowledged and reflected in our delivery of service as well as our work environment.
 
In that spirit, the team creates and shares a monthly list of various holidays and observations along with some celebration suggestions. We invite our work community and the community at large to contribute.
   

October 2019
 
World Vegetarian Day and Homemade Cookie Day - October 1
International Day of Nonviolence - October 2
World Habitat Day and Child Health Day - October 7
World Mental Health Day - October 10
National Coming Out Day - October 11
Sukkot - October 13-20
Canadian Thanksgiving Day - October 14
National Indigenous Peoples Day - October 14
Sweetest Day - October 19
Multicultural Diversity Day - October 21
United Nations Day - October 24
Halloween - October 31

 
October also highlights:
 
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Country Music Month
Family History Month
German American Heritage Month
Global Diversity Awareness Month
LGBTQ History Month
National AIDS Awareness Month
National Hispanic Heritage Month
National Italian-American Heritage Month
Polish American Month
 
October 2, 1967 - Thurgood Marshall sworn in as the first African American Associate Justice for the United States Supreme Court
 
 October 3, 1974 - The Cleveland Indians hired Frank Robinson as the first African American manager in Major League Baseball.  
October 4 - St. Francis Day, feast day for St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the environment, celebrated by many Catholic denominations. Blessing of the Animals, in congruence with St. Francis Day. Many Unitarian Universalists have picked up on the Catholic tradition of blessing animals, particularly pets, as St. Francis was known for his special connection to animals.
 
 
October 8th - Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, begins at sundown. 
 
October 14, 1964 - Martin Luther King, Jr. wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in the American civil rights movement. "The ideals for this organization he took from Christianity; its operational techniques from Gandhi. In the 11-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over 2,500 times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books, as well as numerous articles."  
 
October 20th-2nd (sundown to sundown):
Shemini Atzeret, a Jewish holiday, also known as The Eighth (Day) of Assembly, takes place the day after the Sukkot festival, where gratitude for the fall harvest is deeply internalized.
 
October 21st-22nd (sundown to sundown): Simchat Torah, a Jewish holiday, marks the end of the weekly readings of the Torah. The holy book is read from chapter one of Genesis to Deuteronomy 34 and then back to chapter one again, in acknowledgement of the words of the Torah being a circle, a never-ending cycle. 
 
October 27th - Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, begins. Sikhs and Jains also celebrate the festival.  
 
October 28, 1949 - President Harry Truman appoints Helen Anderson as Ambassador to Denmark. Ms. Anderson is the first woman to serve as a United States ambassador.
 
October 28, 1886 - President Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statute of Liberty. 
 
October 28th - Milvian Bridge Day, a one-day festival in Fayetteville, West Virginia. It is the only day of the year people can BASE jump off a bridge into New River Gorge. 
 
October 29th-30th-(sundown to sundown): The birth of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í religion. 
 
 
 
October 31st - All Hallows' Eve (Halloween), a celebration observed in a number of countries on the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed.
October 31st - Reformation Day, a Protestant Christian religious holiday celebrated alongside All Hallows' Eve (Halloween) during the triduum of Allhallowtide in remembrance of the onset of the Reformation. 
October 31st-November 1st-(sundown to sundown): Samhain, a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year.
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