News
12 October: what is celebrated today
12 October is a day where paths cross. It is history, family and digital rebellion; a day when traditions and affections mingle with debates about freedom and diversity. In different parts of the world, people honour the aunts and uncles who accompany our childhoods, the cultures that met and clashed more than five centuries ago, and digital citizens who defend their right to share knowledge without chains. Everything happens on the same date, as if the calendar also wanted to remind us that our identity is made of blends, voices and connections.
Uncles’ Day: the second fathers of the heart
Few people know it, but every second Saturday in October, Uncles’ and Aunts’ Day is celebrated, a commemoration with no clear origin — perhaps born from the affection of a grateful niece or nephew — but with a universal meaning.
Uncles and aunts are those adults who do not impose, but accompany. The ones who indulge, listen and keep family secrets. They are part of the invisible fabric that supports families, a blend of affection, humour and complicity.
Today is the perfect day to write to them, call them or simply say to them: “Thank you for being there, even when it was not easy.”
Day of Respect for Cultural Diversity: a mirror of our history
12 October is also a day to look back — and inward. More than 500 years ago, the encounter between Europe and America marked the beginning of a new era. For centuries it was called Race Day, Hispanic Day or Indigenous Resistance Day. Today we prefer to speak of cultural diversity, because that phrase contains what we are: a mix of roots, languages and shared dreams.
This day does not seek to glorify conquest, but to recognise the strength of Indigenous peoples, the richness of cultural mixing and the need to build a fairer future, where difference does not divide, but enriches.
International Day Against Digital Restrictions Management (DRM): freedom in the age of algorithms
In 2006, the Free Software Foundation proposed a date to challenge the invisible locks of the digital world. Thus the International Day Against DRM was born, a day that defends the right to access, share and create without barriers imposed by corporations or restrictive licences.
At a time when digital content seems free, but often is not, this day reminds us that true innovation is born of open knowledge. Ideas should not have paywalls or algorithms that limit their flight.
Hispanic Day: one language, a thousand ways to say “we”
In Spain, 12 October is celebrated as the National Holiday, a tribute to the bond that unites Spanish-speaking peoples. Since 1987, this official date has symbolised the meeting of cultures and the spread of a language now spoken by more than 500 million people.
The Spanish language, alive and changing, is one of the greatest legacies of that encounter. It is the bridge that connects accents, stories and emotions. Because in the end, speaking Spanish — whether in Madrid, Mexico or Montevideo — also means sharing the same heritage, diverse and vibrant.
12 October invites us to look at the world with more nuance:
to embrace the uncles and aunts who are always there,
to honour history without repeating its mistakes,
to defend digital freedom,
and to celebrate a language that unites us without erasing our differences.
Because every culture, every family and every voice — on Earth or online — is part of this great shared history that we continue to write.