Holidays Calendar for July 4, 2018

Independence Day is an important federal holiday in the United States that commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The declaration was adopted on July 4, 1776 therefore the holiday is commonly referred to as the Fourth of July or July Fourth.

Liberation Day is a Rwandan public holiday that commemorates the defeat of the genocide regime by the Rwandan Patriotic Front in 1994. It is celebrated on July 4.

In the Kingdom of Tonga, the sovereign's birthday is a public holiday. The birthday of King Tupou VI is officially celebrated on July 4, although the king's real birthday falls on July 12.

The Northern Mariana Islands is an incorporated territory of the United States, so it recognizes all U.S. federal holidays, including Independence Day (the Fourth of July). However, it also celebrates its own holiday on the same day, called the Northern Mariana Islands Liberation Day (CNMI Liberation Day).

Alice in Wonderland Day is observed annually to celebrate one of the most beloved and imaginative children’s books in the world. Its date is July 4 because on this day in 1862, Lewis Carroll began to tell the story of Alice to Henry Liddell’s three daughters.

Forensic Expert Day is a Ukrainian professional holiday celebrated on July 4 each year. It was established in 2009 by President Viktor Yushchenko.

National Police Day in Ukraine is celebrated on July 4 every year. This professional holiday commemorates the official creation of the National Police of Ukraine in the summer of 2015.

Millions of trees are annually planted across India during the National Festival of Trees Planting (Van Mahotsav) in India. The festival lasts for one week and it corresponds to the well-known tradition of Arbor Day in other countries.

National Tom Sawyer Days is an annual event held in the city of Hannibal, Missouri. Hannibal is the hometown of Mark Twain. It served as inspiration for the fictional town of St. Petersburg, where Twain's stories about Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are set.

July 4 is Day of Remembrance of Jewish Genocide in Latvia. It marks the anniversary of the burning of the Great Choral Synagogue in Riga in 1941.

Birthdays of the members of the Royal House are official flag flying days in Norway. The birthday of Queen Sonja is one of them. It is celebrated on July 4.

Filipino-American Friendship Day, previously known as Philippine Republic Day, is a holiday in the Philippines observed on July 4. It used to be celebrated as the country's Independence Day, but now it is a working holiday not linked to the independence of the Philippines.

July 4 is a great day for a barbecue. And today is National Barbecued Spareribs Day, that all Americans across country celebrate.

National Caesar Salad Day celebrates one of the most popular salads in the United States and arguably in the world. It coincides with Independence Day in the US because, according to the most popular account of the invention of Caesar salad, it was first served during the Fourth of July weekend.

Jackfruit Day is celebrated annually on July 4. It was created to raise awareness of an amazing fruit native to South and Southeast Asia and promote it as a tasty and nutritious alternative to meat.

Independence from Meat Day is celebrated annually on July 4, coinciding with the United States Independence Day. It was created to encourage people to try a vegan, vegetarian, or at least flexitarian lifestyle.

National Hillbilly Day is observed annually on July 4. The holiday was created to dispel the negative stereotypes associated with hillbillies and celebrate the traditions and lifestyle of people dwelling in rural areas of the Appalachian region.

 

This Day in History

  • 2012 The particles mass 125-126 GeV/c2 consistent with the Higgs boson were discovered after a series of experiments at the Large Hadron Collider. The announcement was made at the CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) scientific seminar.
  • 2003 Died: Barry White, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer. He is best remembered for his distinctive bass-baritone voice and romantic image. His greatest hits were Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe and You're the First, the Last, My Everything.
  • 1998 Japan launched the Nozomi probe to Mars, thus becoming the third country to explore space, joining the USA and Russia.
  • 1976 Israeli commandos held Operation Entebbe, rescuing the passengers and the crew of the hijacked by Palestinian terrorists an Air France jetliner. All but four passengers and crew of the plane were saved (originally number of people on board was 248).
  • 1970 Died: Barnett Newman, American painter, one of the major figures in abstract expressionism and one of the foremost of the color field painters.
  • 1964 Born: Elie Saab, Lebanese fashion designer. He became an overnight success when he dressed an Oscar winner Halle Berry in 2002. Since then his dresses are seen on catwalks around the world.
  • 1951 American journalist William N. Oatis was sentenced by the court of Czechoslovakia for ten years imprisonment on charges of espionage.
  • 1943 The Battle of Kursk began between the Nazi Germany and the USSR. This battle was the largest full-scale battle in history and the world's largest tank battle.
  • 1941 300 Jews locked in the basement of the Great Choral Synagogue in Riga were burned alive after Germans occupied the city.
  • 1934 Died: Marie Curie, French-Polish physicist and chemist. In 1903 she became a Nobel Prize in Physics laureate in recognition of the extraordinary services rendered by joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel. In 1911 she became Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate for discovery of the elements radium and polonium, isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element.
  • 1927 Born: Neil Simon, American playwright and screenwriter. He wrote about 30 movie screenplays, mostly adapted on his own plays. He received more combined Oscar and Tony nominations than any other writer.
  • 1927 Born: Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actress and photographer, one of the highest profile actresses in Europe of the 1950s and early 1960s.
  • 1921 Born: Gérard Debreu, French economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate for incorporation of new analytical methods into economic theory and his rigorous reformation of general equilibrium theory.
  • 1886 The Statue of Liberty was presented by French to the people of the Unites States.
  • 1882 Died: Joseph Brackett, American composer. He became popular of his song Simple Gifts, which remains widely performed and adapted today.
  • 1872 Born: Calvin Coolidge, American lawyer and politician, 30th President of the United States. He held the office from 1923 to 1929. During the presidency he gained a fame as a man, who said very little.
  • 1865 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll was published for the first time.
  • 1855 The first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, Leaves of Grass, was published in Brooklyn, New York City.
  • 1850 Died: William Kirby, English entomologist and author, considered to be the founder of modern entomology.
  • 1848 Died: François-René de Chateaubriand, French historian and politician, known as the founder of Romanticism in French literature
  • 1837 The world's first long-distance railway was opened. The railway was running between Birmingham and Liverpool.
  • 1831 Died: James Monroe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th President of the United States, considered to be the last president of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
  • 1826 Died: Thomas Jefferson, American lawyer, architect, and politician, 3rd President of the United States. Jefferson is primarily known as the principal author of the Declaration of Independence.
  • 1826 Died: John Adams, American politician, 2nd President of the United States. Adams is known as a leading advocated of independence of America from Great Britain.
  • 1826 Born: Stephen Foster, American songwriter, known as the father of American music. His best known songs are My Old Kentucky Home, Oh! Susanna, Old Black Joe, Beautiful Dreamer etc. Many of his compositions remain popular even today.
  • 1807 Born: Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian general and politician, a key figure in the history of Italy. Together with Camillo Cavour, Victor Emmanuel II and Giuseppe Mazzini he is considered as one of Italy's fathers of the fatherland.
  • 1804 Born: Nathaniel Hawthorne, American author, one of the most publicly accepted authors of the USA. He made great contributions to development of the genres of short stories and novels.
  • 1790 Born: George Everest, Welsh surveyor and geographer, largely responsible for the Great Trigonometric Survey of India. Mount Everest was named after him, although the peak of the mount was surveyed by his successor Andrew Scott Waugh.
  • 1761 Died: Samuel Richardson, English author and painter, best known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded, Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady and The History of Sir Charles Grandison.
  • 1610 Born: Paul Scarron, French poet, dramatist and novelist. He is known for his poem Virgile travesti a parody on Aeneid, that was popular in Europe, but Roman comique is considered to be his best masterpiece.