September 13: Holidays, Historical Events, Famous Birthdays & Zodiac Sign

About September 13

September 13 feels tailor-made for the curious and the mischievous—and not by accident. It's the birthday of Roald Dahl, the British author who gave children everywhere permission to revel in the grotesque and glorious. Celebrated across the UK, Africa, and Latin America, Roald Dahl Day honors a storyteller who understood that kids rarely want their tales sanitized. He'd have appreciated the irony that his birthday shares the calendar with National Defy Superstition Day—Dahl never met a rule he didn't want to bend.

This date also carries an extraordinary musical coincidence. In 1814, Francis Scott Key watched British ships fail to capture Baltimore and jotted down a poem that became the United States national anthem. Exactly 171 years later, in 1985, Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. in Japan, launching a theme song as universally recognizable as any anthem. From a dawn bombardment at Fort McHenry to a plumber racing through the Mushroom Kingdom, September 13 has soundtracked revolutions both martial and digital.

It's also a day of handshakes and hard-won steps forward. In 1993, Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat clasped hands at the White House after signing the Oslo Accords, offering a fleeting glimpse of Middle East peace. On the same date in 1933, Elizabeth McCombs became the first woman elected to New Zealand's Parliament, and in 1948 Margaret Chase Smith won a U.S. Senate seat, becoming the first woman to serve in both chambers of Congress. Virgo energy—methodical, determined, quietly revolutionary—runs through every one of these moments.

Holidays & Observances on September 13

• Day of the Programmer, during a non-leap year. (Russia)
• Día de los Niños Héroes (Mexico)
• Engineer's Day (Mauritius)
• Roald Dahl Day (Africa, United Kingdom, Latin America)

Fun & National Days on September 13

• International Chocolate Day — Pair this with Roald Dahl Day for a doubly delicious tribute to the world's favorite confection.
• Fortune Cookie Day — Crack open a cookie and let a tiny slip of paper deliver your next big life decision—or at least your lottery numbers.
• Bald is Beautiful Day — Polish that dome and wear it proudly—today celebrates every smooth, confident, hair-free head out there.
• National Defy Superstition Day — Walk under a ladder, open an umbrella indoors, and pet a black cat just to prove luck is what you make it.
• Kids Take Over The Kitchen Day — Hand the spatula to your children and brace yourself—dinner might be questionable, but the memories are priceless.
• National Grandparents Day — Call, visit, or write to the elders who shaped your story while they can still hear how much they matter.
• 9 × 13 Day
• Day of the Homeland (Germany)
• National Cachaça Day (Brazil)
• National Celiac Awareness Day