History of November: That In-between Month

Bill Petro
3 min readNov 1, 2022

November is the penultimate month of the year, meaning “next to the last.” It was the ninth month (Latin: novem) until the ancient Romans shoehorned in January and February. November enjoys the distinction of being situated between the two biggest holidays in the American calendar. October has Halloween, the #2 candy revenue holiday in America, and a sucrose-collecting bonanza for children nationwide. December features Christmas, #1 in everything, and a favorite for those who are children-at-heart.

November is Interstitial

But November is somewhere in the middle. Indeed, it has Thanksgiving, no little holiday, and something for which to be grateful. But it’s not widely observed outside the U.S., except for the Canadians who celebrate Jour de l’Action de grâce on the second Monday in October or by the English who celebrate it on July 4th.

There are holiday days in November, as seen in the Women’s Day picture above.

Sure, there are month-long celebrations in November:

  • Movember, though it is a newer holiday, grows on you.
  • Who could forget Sweet Potato Awareness Month? It’s always in good taste.
  • For aspiring writers, it’s Academic Writing Month (also known as “AcWriMo”) based on National Novel Writing Month

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Bill Petro

Writer, historian, technologist. Former Silicon Valley tech exec. Author of fascinating articles on history, tech, pop culture, & travel. https://billpetro.com