Diwali (also called Divali or Deepavali) is a festival of lights that celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, and the blessings of victory, freedom, and enlightenment. The name comes from Sanskrit Deepavali, meaning “row of lights.”
Daily Calendar for Monday, November 9, 2026
Daily Calendar
View daily calendar information including holidays, advice, and daily features.
Monday, November 9, 2026
Born
- Benjamin Banneker (mathematician & astronomer) –
- Robert Dale Owen (social reformer) –
- Elijah Parish Lovejoy (abolitionist) –
- Ivan Turgenev (author) –
- Sally Tompkins (philanthropist, Civil War hospital founder and operator) –
- Stanford White (architect) –
- Marie Dressler (actress) –
- Hedy Lamarr (actress) –
- Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr. (politician) –
- Florence Chadwick (swimmer) –
- Spiro Agnew (U.S. vice president) –
- Anne Sexton (poet) –
- Carl Sagan (astronomer) –
- Lou Ferrigno (actor) –
- Chris Jericho (professional wrestler) –
- Eric Dane (actor) –
- Nick Lachey (singer) –
- Nikki Blonsky (actress) –
Died
- Dylan Thomas (poet) –
- Charlie de Gaulle (politician) –
- John N. Mitchell (former U.S. attorney general) –
- Art Carney (actor) –
- Ed Bradley (broadcast journalist) –
Events
- First documented Canadian gridiron football game played, University of Toronto, Ontario –
- The Great Boston Fire raged for two days –
- Theodore Roosevelt became the first president to travel outside the U.S. while in office –
- Jim Thorpe’s Carlisle Indians beat Dwight Eisenhower’s Army Cadets in football, 27 to 6 –
- Twelve Soviet-made MIG-15s attacked four U.S. aircrafts over North Korea in the first dogfight involving jet fighter planes –
- Major Robert White flew X-15 rocket plane at Mach 6.04 –
- First issue of Rolling Stone magazine came out –
- Canada’s first domestic communications satellite, Anik A1, launched –
- The fall of the Berlin Wall –
- Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens was honored with his seventh Cy Young award and became the oldest pitcher, at age 42, to receive the award –
Weather
- Worst day of storm that caused 12 major shipwrecks on the Great Lakes (United States and Canada) –
- Record cold hit New York and Boston, with low temperatures of 24 degrees F –
- A record high temperature of 70 degrees F recorded in Manchester, New Hampshire –
- A 29th subtropical storm (Theta) formed in the Atlantic, setting a new record for the most named storms in a single season. The previous record of 28 named storms occurred in 2005. –