August 31

 Holidays and Observances
(Alphabetical Order)

2026 Daily Holidays that fall on August 31, include:

• Eat Outside Day 
• International Whisk(e)y Day 
• Love Litigating Lawyers Day 
• Motorist Consideration Monday - August 31, 2026 (Last Monday in August)
• National Diatomaceous Earth Day 
• National Matchmaker Day 
• National Trail Mix Day 
• We Love Memoirs Day 

2026 Weekly Holidays that include August 31, are:

• Be Kind to Humankind Week - August 25-31
• Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over - Labor Day: August 19 - September 6, 2026
• Rabi 'al Awwal - August 14 - September 11, 2026

2026 Monthly Holidays that include August 31, are:

There are too many monthly holidays to include here, so please check out our August Holidays page to see all of the holidays that are celebrated the entire month of August.

NOTE:

1. A page on each holiday will be coming soon and linked above.
2. If a date is a movable holiday, that is different every year, I'll include the year as well as the date rule above. Otherwise, the holiday falls on the same date each year.

World Festivals and Events
(Date Order)

• National Championship Chuckwagon Races - August 29 - September 6, 2026 (Held in Clinton, Arkansas)
• US Open Tennis Championships - August 30 - September 13, 2026

Astrological Sign

The Astrological Sign for August 31 is Virgo.

Birth Flower of the Month

Birthstone

Famous Birthdays

• 1870 - Maria Montessori, Italian physician and educator behind the Montessori Method of teaching (d. 1952)
• 1880 - Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands (d. 1962
• 1945 - Van Morrison, Northern Irish singer and songwriter
• 1945 - Bob Welch, American singer and guitarist who was a member of Fleetwood Mac from 1971-1974 before going on to have a successful solo career (Ebony Eyes, Sentimental Lady)
• 1949 - Richard Gere, American actor and producer (An Officer and a Gentleman, Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride)
• 1970 - Queen Rania of Jordan

Famous Deaths

• 1997 - Diana, Princess of Wales (b. 1961)
• 2012 - Joe Lewis, American actor and martial artist who has been voted twice as the greatest fighter in karate history

Famous Weddings and Divorces

• 1940 - Actor Laurence Olivier (Wuthering Heights) marries actress Vivien Leigh (Gone With The Wind)

Quote of the Day

August 31st is We Love Memoirs Day!

I wish I could rewind time and keep a journal of significant events and milestones in my life! It's never too late to start!

My parents are currently 89 and 91 and they have so many amazing stories of their life that will be lost to our future generations once they are gone. It's really important that we work to get them in writing! 

I have three grandkids now that I babysit pretty regularly. They are always coming up with cute things that they say! Once I brought down some Cheese Pizza for lunch. Eli took a bite and then said "This is phenomenal pizza! He was four years old...I wondered where in the world did he learn such a big word and how to use it in the right context! I want to have a written documentation of all the interesting things they have said and done over the years! Time to start writing!

Healthy Diet Habit Tip of the Day 
or a Recipe of the Day

Americans have been overtaken by the unhealthy diet habit of portion distortion! Everywhere we go foods are large scale, and our waistlines are expanding. We are told that we eat too much and exercise too little! Could it really be that our portions are the cause of the obesity crisis in this country today?

Find out more about portion distortion from Kerry's Healthy Diet Habits website!

Season

August 31st falls within the Summer Season in the Northern Hemisphere.

Summer is the Hottest of the Four Seasons! It follows Spring and is before Fall! The kids are out of school and many vacations happen in summer, which means more family time. Hopefully a beach is involved!

The first day of Summer is also known as the Summer Solstice where we enjoy the most sunlight of the year! After this day, the amount of daylight starts to decrease each day.

Check out our Summer Season page for information about Summer, Summer Dates, Major Summer Holidays and Observances, Major Summer Festivals, Fun Facts About Summer, Summer Food Tips, Summer Gardening, Summer Preparation, Summer Quotes, and Summer Weather Information.

Kerry has put together some great information and tips on Summer Foods: 

• Summer Cooking

• Summer Weight Loss Tips

If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, this day falls in the Winter Season. 

• Winter Foods

• Winter Weight Gain

• Winter Weight Loss Tips

This Day in History

• 1314 - King Haakon V of Norway moves the capital from Bergen to Oslo
• 1422 - King Henry V of England dies of dysentery while in France. His 9 month old son, Henry VI becomes King of England
• 1776 - William Livingston begins serving his first term as the first Governor of New Jersey
• 1864 - During the American Civil War, Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta
• 1886 - Charleston Carolina has a 7.0 Mw earthquake that kills 60 people and does an estimated $5-6 million in damages
• 1888 - Mary Ann Nichols, the first of Jack the Ripper's confirmed victims is murdered
• 1895 - German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his navigable balloon
• 1897 - Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector
• 1935 - The United States passes the first of its Neutrality Acts in an attempt to stay out of the growing turmoil in Europe
• 1943 - The USS Harmon is commissioned and is the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after a black person
• 1957 - The Federation of Malaya gains its independence from the United Kingdom
• 1986 - Aeromexico Flight 498 collides with a Piper PA-28 Cherokee over Cerritos, CA killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground
• 1986 - The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov collides with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev in the Black Sea, killing 423
• 1987 - Thai Airways Flight 365 crashed into the ocean near Ko Phuket, Thailand kill 83 aboard
• 1991 - Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union
• 1997 - Diana, Princess of Wales, Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul die in a car crash in Paris
• 1999 - At Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, a LAPA Boeing 737-200 crashes during takeoff killing 65, including two on the ground
• 2005 - The Al-Aaimmah bridge stamped in Baghdad kills 953 people
• 2016 - Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff is impeached and removed from office

This Day in Music

• 1974 - The final Partridge Family episode airs on ABC
• 2004 - American Idiot is released by Green Day (video below)
• 2010 - Time for Annihilation is released as Papa Roach's first live album

This Day in Sports

• 1950 - During a game against the Dodgers, Gil Hodges hits 4 HRs and a single
• 1960 - The U.S. sweeps the medals in the shot put at the Rome Olympics. Bill Nieder wins the gold with 19.68m
• 1972 - Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut wins the balance beam and floor exercise gold medals at the Munich Olympics
• 1972 - U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz wins the 200m in the Munich Olympics and sets a world record time at 2:00.70
• 1994 - World chess champion Garry Kasparov is beaten by a Pentium computer

Word of the Day from Wiktionary

Wishing You a Great Day Today!