Holidays Calendar for March 19, 2024

Commemoration of the Victory over Gaddafi is a Libyan public holiday observed annually on March 19. It celebrates the anniversary of the beginning of NATO intervention during the 2011 Libyan Civil War.

On March 19, Western Christians celebrate Saint Joseph’s Day. This feast day commemorates Saint Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary and legal father of Jesus Christ. The Feast of Saint Joseph is a public or regional holiday in a number of countries. In some cultures, it is celebrated as Father’s Day.

World Social Work Day is an annual observance held on the third Tuesday of March. It is coordinated by the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), a worldwide organization that represents social workers from 116 member countries and strives for human rights, social justice and social development through the promotion of social work.

!

International Read to Me Day is celebrated annually on March 19. It was created to remind adults about the importance of reading to their children and to encourage children to ask their parents or other adults in their life to read to them.

Kashubian Unity Day is an annual festival in Poland that celebrates Kashubians, a West Slavic ethnic/linguistic group in north-central Poland. It has been held on March 19 since 2005.

Equality Day, also known as Minna Canth Day, is observed in Finland on March 19 each year. It is the birthday of Minna Canth, a Finnish playwright, novelist and social activist who fought for women's rights.

Chocolate and caramel seem to be the best combination made by man, that is why they go along in ice cream, candies, confections and other desserts. Celebrate National Chocolate Caramel Day on March 19 to honor these two ingredients.

Clients' Day is an informal holiday observed on March 19. It is celebrated mainly in Russia and Lithuania.


This Day in History

  • 2019 Nursultan Nazarbayev, the first President of Kazakhstan, resigned after five terms and almost three decades in office. He was succeeded by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
  • 2014 Died: Lawrence Walsh, American lawyer who was appointed Independent Counsel in 1986 to investigate the Iran–Contra affair during the Reagan Administration.
  • 2011 A military intervention in Libya began during the Lybian Civil War. It ended in late October following the death of Muammar Gaddafi.
  • 2008 Died: Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, British science fiction author, popular science writer and futurist who won a number of Hugo and Nebula awards.
  • 2005 Died: John DeLorean, American automobile engineer and executive who is best known as the founder of the DeLorean Motor Company.
  • 2004 Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu were shot the day before the presidential election. Fortunately, they both survived.
  • 2002 Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations on charges of electoral fraud and human rights abuses. On December 7, 2003, it withdrew voluntarily.
  • 1987 Died: Louis de Broglie, French physicist who was awarded the 1929 Nobel Prize in Physics. He made significant contributions to quantum theory.
  • 1982 Born: Eduardo Saverin, Brazilian internet entrepreneur and investor who co-founded Facebook, along with Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes.
  • 1979 Died: Richard Beckinsale, English actor best known for playing Lennie Godber in the BBC sitcom Porridge. He is the father of actresses Samantha and Kate Beckinsale.
  • 1955 Born: Bruce Willis, American actor, producer, singer, and musician who is known for his roles as David Addison in Moonlighting and John McClane in the Die Hard franchise.
  • 1950 Died: Edgar Rice Burroughs, American writer who is best known for his series of twenty-four adventure novels about Tarzan, a man raised by apes.
  • 1947 Born: Glenn Close, American stage, film and television actress who was won 3 Tony Awards, 3 Emmy Awards and received 8 Academy Award nominations (as of 2024).
  • 1945 Adolf Hitler issued the Nero Decree (Demolitions on Reich Territory Decree), ordering to destroy German infrastructure in order to prevent their use by Allied forces.
  • 1936 Born: Ursula Andress, Swiss-American actress who is best known for having played Bond girl Honey Rider in Dr. No, the first James Bond film.
  • 1930 Died: Arthur Balfour, British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. He is remembered for the 1926 Balfour Declaration.
  • 1918 The United States Congress established times zones and approved daylight saving time by the Standard Time Act, also known as the Calder Act.
  • 1917 Born: László Szabó, renowned Hungarian chess grandmaster who was one of the best players in the world at the peak of his powers.
  • 1916 Died: Vasily Surikov, Russian painter whose best known works include Boyarynya Morozova, March of Suvorov through the Alps, and Stepan Razin.
  • 1905 Born: Albert Speer, German architect who served as Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich from 1942 to 1945.
  • 1900 Born: Frédéric Joliot-Curie, French physicist who was awarded the 1935 Nobel Prize for Chemistry along with his wife Irène Joliot-Curie.
  • 1895 The Lumière brothers recorded the first footage ever using their newly patented cinematograph. It was screened on December 28, 1895.
  • 1883 Born: Norman Haworth, British chemist who was awarded the 1937 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his groundbreaking work on vitamin C.
  • 1861 The First Taranaki War in New Zealand officially ended. It was an armed conflict over sovereignty and land ownership between Māori and the government.
  • 1859 Charles Gounod's opera Faust debuted at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris after having been rejected by the Paris Opera for being insufficiently "showy".
  • 1821 Born: Richard Francis Burton, English geographer, explorer, cartographer, ethnologist, diplomat, translator, and author noted for his extraordinary knowledge of cultures and languages.
  • 1813 Born: David Livingstone, Scottish pioneer medical missionary and explorer who is known for his exploration of Southern and central Africa.
  • 1721 Died: Pope Clement XI (born Giovanni Francesco Alban), who was Pope from 1700 to his death. He was a patron of science and the arts.
  • 1563 Catherine de' Medici signed the Edict of Amboise that guaranteed the Huguenots some religious freedoms and ended the first phase of the French Wars of Religion.
  • 1296 Died: Alexander III of Scotland, King of Scots from 1249 to his death. As he died suddenly and had no children, the struggle for the throne began.
  • 1279 The Mongols defeated the Chinese in the naval Battle of Yamen (also known as the Naval Battle of Mount Ya). This event marked the fall of the Song dynasty in China.