Holidays Calendar for February 4, 2018
On February 4, Angola celebrates Liberation Movement Day, also known as Day of the Armed Struggle. This public holiday commemorates the anniversary of the Baixa de Cassanje revolt that is considered a trigger for the Angolan War of Independence.
Sri Lanka celebrates its Independence Day on February 4. It is the country's national holiday celebrated with much pomp and ceremony.
Rosa Parks Day is a U.S. observance dedicated to the civil rights activist Rosa Parks. It is celebrated on February 4 or December 1, depending on the state.
Anniversaries and Memorial Days →
Philippines
Philippine–American War Memorial Day in the Philippines
Philippine–American War Memorial Day is a special working holiday observed in the Philippines on February 4 every year. It was established to honor Filipinos who died fighting against American occupational forces.
USO Day, sometimes referred to as National USO Day, is celebrated annually on February 4. It was created to pay tribute to an organization that provides live entertainment, social facilities, and other programs to American service members and their families.
There's nothing better than a bowl of hot homemade soup on a cold winter day. Celebrate National Homemade Soup Day on February 4.
If you love mushrooms, we have good news for you: February 4 is National Stuffed Mushroom Day. This is a great occasion to throw a party where your friends and family can enjoy delicious stuffed mushrooms.
The United Kingdom might not have as many food days as the United States, but it does celebrate some of its most famous dishes. For example, National Yorkshire Pudding Day is observed annually on the first Sunday of February.
On February 4 each year, World Cancer Day is observed. This international event was founded by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and is supported by the World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer and numerous international, national, and local health agencies.
The International Day of Human Fraternity was added to the list of the international days observed by the United Nations in December 2020. It is held annually on February 4.
National Hemp Day is observed every February 4 to celebrate the long history of the hemp industry in the United States and raise awareness of the many agricultural, medicinal and scientific uses of hemp.
Festivals on February 4, 2018
- Bruges Beer Festival in Bruges, Belgium
- Carnival of Acireale in Acireale, Italy
- Carnival of Solsona in Solsona, Spain
- FurCoNZ in Turangi, New Zealand
- Mardi Gras! Galveston in Galveston, USA
- National Apple Festival in Argentina in General Roca, Argentina
- Chiang Mai Flower Festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand
- CYFEST (CYBERFEST) in Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Winterlude in Gatineau, Canada
- Winterlude in Ottawa, Canada
- Kurentovanje Carnival (Carnival of Ptuj) in Ptuj, Slovenia
- Sapporo Snow Festival in Sapporo, Japan
- Panagbenga Festival in Baguio, Philippines
- Havana International Book Fair in Havana, Cuba
- Carnival in the Dominican Republic in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
This Day in History
- 2018 Died: John Mahoney, English-American actor of stage and screen, best known for playing the blue-collar patriarch, Martin Crane, in the American sitcom Frasier on NBC.
- 2012 Died: Mike deGruy, American documentary filmmaker specializing in underwater cinematography. His credits include Trials of Life and Pacific Abyss.
- 2006 Died: Betty Friedan, American writer, activist and feminist. Her book The Feminine Mystique is believed to have sparked the second wave of American feminism in the 20th century.
- 2004 Facebook, an online social networking service, was founded by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow Harvard University students.
- 2003 The federal parliament of Yugoslavia created a loose state union - State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. Three years later, Montenegro declared its independence.
- 2000 Died: Phil Tonken (born Philip Simon Tonken), American radio and television producer, announcer, and voice-over artist.
- 1995 Died: Patricia Highsmith, American short story writer and novelist best known for her psychological thrillers. Her notable works include The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Price of Salt.
- 1992 Hugo Chávez led a coup d'état attempt against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez. The attempt failed to depose the government.
- 1987 Died: Liberace (Władziu Valentino Liberace), American pianist and entertainer whose career spanned four decades. He was recognized with two Emmy awards.
- 1982 Born: Kimberly Wyatt, American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and TV personality best known as a former member of The Pussycat Dolls.
- 1977 A Chicago Transit Authority elevated train rear-ended another on the northeast corner of the Loop during the evening rush hour. 11 people died and over 180 were injured.
- 1975 Born: Natalie Imbruglia, Australian singer-songwriter, actress, and model. She became internationally recognized thanks to her cover and hit "Torn".
- 1969 Yasser Arafat was elected the third Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization by the Palestinian National Council convened in Cairo.
- 1967 Born: Sergei Grinkov, Soviet pair skater who was the 1988 and 1994 Olympic Champion and a four-time World Champion together with partner and wife Ekaterina Gordeeva.
- 1963 Born: Noodles (stage name of Kevin John Wasserman), American musician best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for The Offspring.
- 1960 Born: Jonathan Larson, American composer, lyricist and playwright most famous for writing the musicals Rent and Tick, Tick... Boom! He received three posthumous Tony Awards and a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Rent.
- 1959 Died: Una O'Connor, Irish actress who worked extensively in theater before becoming a notable character actress in film in the 1930s.
- 1956 Died: Ksawery Tartakower (also known as Savielly Tartakower), Polish and French chess grandmaster, leading chess journalist and author.
- 1948 Born: Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier), American rock singer, songwriter, musician, and actor who is considered to be "The Godfather of Shock Rock".
- 1945 The Yalta Conference (also known as the Crimea Conference) opened. It was the WWII meeting of the heads of government of the US, the UK and the USSR.
- 1941 Born: John Steel, English musician who is best known as the drummer for The Animals. As of 2024, he is the only original bandmember currently playing in the band.
- 1940 Died: Nikolai Yezhov, Soviet secret police official under Joseph Stalin who was head of the NKVD during the most severe period of Stalin's Great Purge.
- 1931 Born: Isabel Martínez de Perón, Argentinian politician who was President of Argentina from 1974 to 1976. She was the first female president of any country in the world.
- 1928 Died: Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist who shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pieter Zeeman for the discovery and theoretical explanation of the Zeeman effect.
- 1906 Born: Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer who is best known for discovering Pluto in 1930. He also discovered many asteroids.
- 1900 Born: Jacques Prévert, French poet and screenwriter whose poems became and remain very popular in the French-speaking world.
- 1899 The Battle of Manila, the first and the largest battle of the Philippine–American War, began when American troops fired upon an encroaching group of Filipinos.
- 1794 The French legislature abolished slavery throughout all territories of the French Republic. However, it was reestablished in the French West Indies 8 years later,
- 1789 George Washington was unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College. He remains the only president to have received 100 percent of the electoral votes.
- 1746 Born: Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish military leader and national hero who fought in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's struggles against Russia and Prussia, and on the American side in the American Revolutionary War.
- 1615 Died: Giambattista della Porta, Italian scholar, polymath, and playwright whose most famous work is Magiae Naturalis ("Natural Magic").
- 1169 A strong earthquake struck the Ionian coast of Sicily. It had an estimated magnitude of between 6.4 and 7.3. It is estimated to have killed more than 15,000 people.