Holidays Calendar for December 2, 2018
National Day in Laos is celebrated on December 2. This public holiday commemorates the establishment of the Lao People's Democratic Republic in 1975.
National Day in the United Arab Emirates is celebrated on December 2. It commemorates the formal nationalization of the UAE from the British Protectorate in 1971.
Advent begins on the Sunday nearest to November 30, that is the feast day of St Andrew the Apostle. It covers four weeks and finishes on Christmas. The first Sunday of Advent is not a nationwide holiday in many countries, however, the western Christianity has its own traditions for this day.
World Computer Literacy Day is observed annually on December 2. It was originally launched by NIIT, an Indian skills and talent development company, in 2001.
World Nuclear Energy Day is celebrated annually on December 2. It was inaugurated in 2020 to commemorate the first human-made self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction that was initiated on this day in 1942 during an experiment led by the Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi.
World Ice Skating Day is celebrated annually on the first Sunday of December. It was launched in 2022 by the International Skating Union (ISU), the international governing body that regulates four competitive ice skating disciplines: figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track.
Armed Forces Day in the Republic of Cuba is celebrated on December 2. The holiday commemorates the landing of the yacht Granma in 1956. It is considered to be one of the most important events of the Cuban Revolution.
Lawyer's Day is a professional holiday in Belarus. It's annually celebrated by all lawyers on the first Sunday in December. This professional day was officially established by President of Belarus in 1998.
2D Artist Day, also known as 2December, is an unofficial professional observance inspired by 3December. It was launched to celebrate digital artists and illustrators who create digital art and animation.
Bank Employee Day is a Russian professional holiday celebrated on December 2 every year. Although it has yet to be officially recognized by the Russian government, the observance is quite popular within the professional community.
MLM Day is an unofficial professional holiday in Russia celebrated on the first Sunday of December. Although the holiday is not recognized by the Russian government, it is quite popular within the professional community, which is quite large.
National Special Education Day, sometimes referred to as simply Special Education Day, is celebrated annually on December 2. It was established to highlight the importance of special education and commemorate the anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA).
National Pollution Prevention Day, also known as National Pollution Control Day, is an Indian observance held annually on December 2. It was inaugurated to honor the memory of the victims of the Bhopal disaster and raise awareness of the importance of industrial pollution prevention.
Sindh Cultural Day is an annual observance that celebrates the rich cultural heritage of Sindhi, an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group who are native to the Sindh province of Pakistan. The culture of Sindh has its roots in the Indus Valley Civilization of the Bronze Age.
Constitution Day is an Iranian observance celebrated on the 12th day of Azar (December 2 in the Gregorian calendar). It was established to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979. Although Constitution Day is not a public holiday, it is marked with various ceremonies and other events.
Anniversaries and Memorial Days →
Latvia
Commemoration Day of Victims of Genocide Against the Latvian People by the Totalitarian Communist Regime in Latvia
Commemoration Day of Victims of Genocide Against the Latvian People by the Totalitarian Communist Regime is a memorial day in Latvia, that is annually observed on the first Sunday in December. This memorial day was initiated by the Eastern Latvian Society and it was approved by the government of Latvia in 1998.
Good Neighborliness Day is a public holiday in Turkmenistan, that is annually celebrated on the first Sunday in December. This holiday was established on the basis of an old custom goňşy okara, according to which people were to share bread and salt with their neighbors. Festive events dedicated to this holiday take place in many cities across Turkmenistan.
Assam Day, also known as Sukaphaa Day or Su-Ka-Pha Day (Su-Ka-Pha Divas), is an official holiday celebrated in the Indian state of Assam on December 2. It honors a Dai prince who founded the Ahom kingdom in medieval Assam in the 13th century.
Pasay City Day (Araw ng Pasay), also known as Pasay City Foundation Day, is a special non-working holiday in the City of Pasay, Philippines. It is celebrated annually on December 2 to commemorate Pasay’s founding anniversary.
National Fritters Day is a food-related holiday celebrated on December 2. Fritters are pan-fried or deep-fried cakes with a wide variety of fillings. Fritter batter is made with milk and egg and is similar to pancake batter.
National Jandal Day is an annual fundraising event held by Serf Life Saving New Zealand (SLSNZ), the national association that represents voluntary lifeguard clubs across the country. The event is typically launched on December 2.
On December 2, American teenagers have a holiday named National Skip School Day. It is unofficial, of course, and relatively new. The first mentions of National Skip School Day began to circulate online in the fall of 2019.
International Day for the Abolition of Slavery is an annual United Nations observance celebrated on December 2. It was officially established by the UN General Assembly in 1986 to commemorate the adoption of the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others in 1949.
National Mutt Day, also known as National Mixed Breed Dog Day, is celebrated in the United States twice a year, on July 31 and December 2. It was initiated by Colleen Paige, an animal behaviorist, pet and family lifestyle expert, photographer, author, and interior designer.
Women’s Brain Health Day is observed in Canada on December 2 every year. It is an awareness campaign that was launched to bring attention to the fact that many brain health conditions occur in women more frequently than in men.
Festivals on December 2, 2018
- British Independent Film Awards in London, United Kingdom
- National SALT Restaurant Awards in Kyiv, Ukraine
- Vancouver Santa Claus Parade in Vancouver, Canada
- Fantafestival in Rome, Italy
- Wales Comic Con in Wrexham, United Kingdom
- New York WinterCon in New York, USA
- Gdansk Christmas Market in Gdansk, Poland
- Prague Christmas Market in Prague, Czech Republic
- Helsinki Christmas Market in Helsinki, Finland
- Vilnius Christmas Market in Vilnius, Lithuania
- Maastricht Christmas Market in Maastricht, Netherlands
- Portland Christmas Ship Parade in Portland (OR), USA
- Anime Festival Asia in Singapore, Singapore
- Riga Christmas Market in Riga, Latvia
- Krakow Christmas Market in Krakow, Poland
This Day in History
- 2020 The United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs voted to remove cannabis and cannabis resin from Schedule VI of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961.
- 2008 Died: Odetta Holmes, better known as Odetta, American singer, actress, songwriter and activist. She is often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". She was an important figure in the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s.
- 1988 Born: Alfred Enoch, British-Brazilian actor best known for his roles as Dean Thomas in the Harry Potter films and Wes Gibbins on How to Get Away with Murder.
- 1987 Died: Luis Federico Leloir, Argentinian physician and chemist. He is known for his discovery of the metabolic pathways in lactose that won him the 1970 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
- 1982 Died: Giovanni Ferrari, Italian football player. He is regarded as one of the best players of his generation and one of the greatest players of all time, having won the Serie A 8 times and 2 consecutive FIFA World Cup titles with the Italy national football team.
- 1982 Barney Clark, a dentist from Seattle, became the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.
- 1981 Born: Lesley-Ann Brandt, South African actress best known for the role of Mazikeen on the television series Lucifer.
- 1981 Born: Britney Spears, American singer and actress. Her first and second studio albums Baby One More Time and Oops!... I Did It Again brought her international fame. She is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
- 1978 Born: Christopher Wolstenholme, English musician. He is known as the bassist, backing vocalist and vocalist for the alternative rock band Muse.
- 1978 Born: Nelly Furtado, Canadian singer and songwriter. Her most famous songs include "I'm Like a Bird, "Turn Off the Light", "Powerless", "Try" and "Força".
- 1976 Fidel Castro replaced Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado, becoming President of Cuba.
- 1970 Born: Joe Lo Truglio, American actor and comedian best known for his role as Detective Charles Boyle on the Fox/NBC sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
- 1968 Born: Lucy Liu, American actress and model. She rose to prominence playing the role of Ling Woo in the TV series Ally McBeal. Her other successful works include Shanghai Noon, Charlie's Angels, Chicago, Kill Bill, Elementary.
- 1963 Born: Ann Patchett, American author known for her novels The Patron Saint of Liars, The Magician's Assistant, Bel Canto, State of Wonder, Commonwealth, and The Dutch House.
- 1960 Born: Rick Savage, English singer-songwriter and bass player, one of the founding members of the English rock band Def Leppard.
- 1947 The Arab Higher Committee started strikes and protests in Jerusalem against the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, issued three days earlier on November 29.
- 1946 Born: Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer, founder of the Versace fashion house that produces accessories, fragrances, make-up, home furniture and clothes.
- 1942 The Manhattan Project: a team led by Enrico Fermi initiated the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
- 1936 Died: John Ringling, American businessman, the best known of the seven Ringling brothers. He was one of the co-founders of Ringling Brothers Circus that created a virtual monopoly of traveling circuses and helped shape the circus into what it is today.
- 1927 The Ford Motor Company unveiled the Ford Model A, the new automobile after consequent 19 years of Ford Model T production.
- 1923 Born: Maria Callas, Greek opera singer. Callas is known for her bel canto technique, wide ranging soprano voice and dramatic interpretations, that made her one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century.
- 1918 Died: Edmond Rostand, French poet and dramatist, best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac.
- 1908 Puyi, the twelfth and final ruler of the Qing dynasty, became Emperor of China at the age of two.
- 1885 Born: George Minot, American physician and academic, remembered as the 1934 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate for his pioneering work on pernicious anemia.
- 1881 Died: Jenny von Westphalen, German author, wife of the philosopher Karl Marx. They had 7 children, only three of them survived: Jenny Caroline, Jenny Laura and Jenny Julia Eleanor.
- 1867 British author Charles Dickens gave his first public reading in the United States of America. This event took place at Tremont Temple in Boston.
- 1859 Died: John Brown, American activist against slavery in the United States. He was responsible for numerous slave uprisings in the Caribbean.
- 1859 Born: Georges Seurat, French painter and draftsman. Seurat is noted for his innovative use of drawing media and for devising the painting techniques chromoluminarism and pointillism.
- 1837 Born: Joseph Bell, Scottish lecturer. He is best known as an inspiration for the literary character Sherlock Holmes.
- 1823 President of the USA James Monroe proclaimed American neutrality in future European conflicts and warned European powers not to interfere in the Americas.
- 1814 Died: Marquis de Sade, French philosopher, author, and politician. He is famous for his erotic novels, short stories and plays, depicting sexual fantasies with an emphasis on violence, criminality and blasphemy against the Catholic Church.
- 1804 Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of the French at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, becoming the first French Emperor in a thousand years.
- 1775 American naval fighter John Paul Jones hoisted the Grand Union Flag on the USS Alfred. The vessel became the first one to fly this flag, which is known as the precursor to the Stars and Stripes.
- 1665 Died: Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet, French author, an influential figure in the literary history of the 17th-century France.
- 1547 Died: Hernán Cortés, Spanish conquistador. He was the head of the expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large areas of mainland Mexico under Spanish rule.