How in the name of sanity does "we have" = "it is" ?!

[Calamity_Jones]

"Wir haben den dritten Oktober."
"It is the third of October."

Please say that Duolingo is completely wrong, and if not, that this is some obscure colloquialism. Why not say "Es ist der dritte Oktober" or something of that nature?

(Edit: I have culled the frustrated facetiousness...)