Holidays Calendar for April 5, 2018
The Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day, is a traditional Chinese festival observed on the 15th day after the Vernal Equinox, which corresponds to April 4, 5 or 6 in the Gregorian calendar. It is a public holiday in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.
Saint Vincent Ferrer is venerated by the Catholic Church annually on April 5. He is patron saint of builders, construction workers, plumbers, fishermen and orphanages.
Maundy Thursday, also known as Holy Thursday or Great and Holy Thursday, is a Christian feast celebrated on the Thursday before Easter. It commemorates Maundy (the ritual of foot washing) and Jesus Christ’s Last Supper with the Apostles.
The Star Trek franchise has had a huge impact on the development of science fiction, popular culture, and the lives of millions of people around the globe, so it is not surprising that Star Trek fans, who call themselves Trekkies, have their own holidays. For example, they celebrate First Contact Day annually on April 5.
National Maritime Day in India is celebrated on April 5. Unlike Navy Day, which is observed on December 4, it primarily celebrates civilian shipping.
South Korean Arbor Day is called Sikmogil (literally “tree planting day”). It is celebrated on April 5. The holiday was established in 1949 and has been celebrated annually ever since, despite losing its official status as a holiday in 2006.
Jagjivan Ram’s Birthday (Babu Jagjivan Ram Jayanti), celebrated on April 5, is an official holiday in the Indian states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. It honors one of the most successful politicians in the history of independent India.
Pangasinan Day (Araw ng Pangasinan) is a special non-working holiday celebrated in the Philippine province of Pangasinan on April 5 every year. It was established to commemorate the province’s founding anniversary.
The Battle of Näfels Day (Näfelser Fahrt — “Näfels Ride”) is celebrated in the Swiss canton of Glarus on the first Thursday of April. It is a public holiday in the canton.
We're sure you remember the wonderful and comforting smell of raisin and spice bars from the kitchen. Well, today, April 5, is National Raisin and Spice Bar Day. This is a great day to make your own bars.
Pizza lovers across the nation observe National Deep Dish Pizza Day annually on April 5. This amazing food holiday celebrates an iconic style of pizza that originated in Chicago sometime in the 20th century.
If you have a sweet tooth, you absolutely should celebrate National Caramel Day on April 5. It is unclear who came up with this holiday, but we’re convinced that one of the world’s most popular treats deserves to be celebrated.
Burrito is one of the most popular dishes in Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine, so it is not surprising that people celebrate National Burrito Day, which occurs on the first Thursday of April every year.
The International Day of Conscience is a United Nations observance held annually on April 5. It was declared by the UN General Assembly in 2019 to promote inclusion, peace, solidarity, tolerance and understanding.
Quds Day, also known as International Quds Day, is observed in Iran and some other Islamic countries on the last Friday of Ramadan. This event focuses on expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people and opposing the existence of Israel and Zionism.
Chilren's Day is usually a jolly festival, dedicated to children. However, in Palestine this holiday doesn't celebrate childhood. This is rather a day highlighting the horrific treatment of Palestinian children by the occupying Israeli authorities. The event is annually observed on April 5.
Festivals on April 5, 2018
- PAX East in Boston, USA
- Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival in Vancouver, Canada
- Middle East Film and Comic Con in Dubai, UAE
- Romics in Rome, Italy
- International Orange Blossom Carnival in Adana, Turkey
- Art Paris Art Fair in Paris, France
- TechfestNW in Portland (OR), USA
- Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada
- San Francisco International Film Festival in San Francisco, USA
- Brussels International Fantasy, Fantastic, Thriller and Science Fiction Film Festival in Brussels, Belgium
- Pan Celtic Festival in Letterkenny, Ireland
- Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in Mount Vernon, USA
- St. Thomas Carnival in Charlotte Amalie, American Virgin Islands
- Edinburgh International Science Festival in Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Bacchanal Jamaica in Kingston, Jamaica
This Day in History
- 2018 One of the largest workplace raids in US history occurred at Southeastern Provisions in Grainger County, Tennessee. 11 undocumented workers were arrested and 86 more were detained.
- 2013 Died: Dave Hunt, Christian apologist, speaker, radio commentator, and author who wrote books on Catholicism, Calvinism, Mormonism, Islam, etc.
- 2012 Died: Gil Noble, American television reporter and interviewer best known for having been the producer and host of the public affairs program Like It Is.
- 2010 An explosion occurred at Upper Big Branch coal mine in Raleigh County, West Virginia, killing 29 miners. The mine was permanently closed in 2012.
- 2008 Died: Charlton Heston, American actor and political activist whose acting career spanned 60 years. He is best known for his role as Judah Ben-Hur in the 1959 film Ben-Hur.
- 2005 Died: Saul Bellow, Canadian-born American writer who was awarded the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature and the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
- 1997 Died: Allen Ginsberg, American poet best known for his epic poem Howl. He was one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation and the counterculture of the 1960s.
- 1994 Died: Kurt Cobain, American musician best known as the co-founder, primary songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana. He died at age 27.
- 1991 Died: Sonny Carter, American physician, soccer player, US Navy officer, and NASA astronaut. He was a member of the STS-33 crew.
- 1989 Born: Freddie Fox, English actor of stage and screen. His prominent roles include Marilyn in Worried About the Boy, Freddie Baxter in Cucumber and Banana, and Jeremy Bamber in White House Farm.
- 1989 Born: Lily James, English actress known for her roles in Downtown Abbey, Cinderella, War & Peace, Baby Driver, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Pam & Tommy, and other films and TV shows.
- 1986 A bombing took place at La Belle discothèque in West Berlin, killing 3 people and injuring 230. 2 of the dead and 79 of the injured were US soldiers.
- 1982 Born: Hayley Atwell, British-American actress who rose to worldwide prominence with her portrayal of Agent Peggy Carter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- 1976 Died: Howard Hughes, Jr., American business magnate, investor, aerospace engineer, inventor, aviator, filmmaker and philanthropist, founder of the Hughes Aircraft Company.
- 1973 Born: Pharrell Williams, American singer-songwriter, rapper, musician, record producer, and fashion designer. In 2014, he was nominated for an Academy Award.
- 1971 Born: Krista Allen, American actress and model best known for her roles as Billi Reed on Days of Our Lives and as Jenna Avid on Baywatch Hawaii.
- 1967 Died: Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist and educator who was awarded the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
- 1964 Died: Douglas MacArthur, American five-star general who played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during the Second World War. He also served in the Philippine Army.
- 1955 Born: Anthony Horowitz, English novelist, children's writer and screenwriter. He was the creator and principal writer for several ITV series.
- 1951 American communists Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for committing espionage, relating to passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union.
- 1950 Born: Agnetha Fältskog, Swedish singer, songwriter, and record producer best known as a member of the pop group ABBA formed in 1972.
- 1943 Chinese sailor Poon Lim was rescued by three Brazilian fishermen after surviving 133 days alone on a wooden raft in the South Atlantic.
- 1937 Born: Colin Powell, American politician, statesman, and general who served as the 65th United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005.
- 1920 Born: Arthur Hailey, British-Canadian novelist whose works are noted for having industrial or commercial setting. His best-known novels are Hotel and Airport.
- 1917 Born: Robert Bloch, American novelist and short-story writer best known for his suspense novel Psycho that was adapted for film by Alfred Hitchcock.
- 1916 Born: Gregory Peck, American actor who is probably best known for his role as Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird for which he received the Academy Award for Best Actor.
- 1908 Born: Bette Davis, American stage, film and television actress who is listed second in the AFI's 1999 list of the greatest female stars of all time.
- 1879 Chile formally declared war on Bolivia and Peru, starting the War of the Pacific. As a result of this war, Bolivia became a landlocked country.
- 1874 Johann Strauss II's operetta Die Fledermaus ("The Bat") premièred at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. It took the composer only 6 weeks to write it.
- 1862 The Battle of Yorktown, also known as the Siege of Yorktown, began during the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. Its result was inconclusive.
- 1804 A meteorite fell in a quarry near High Possil, on the outskirts of Glasgow. The High Possil meteorite is the first recorded meteorite in Scotland.
- 1722 Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen became the first European to set foot on Easter Island in Polynesia. It is one of the most remote inhabited island in the world.
- 1614 In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan tribe, married tobacco planter John Rolfe. They had one child together.
- 1588 Born: Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher who is best known for his 1651 work Leviathan that established the social contract theory.