Holidays Calendar for December 5, 2026
Public Holidays →
Thailand
King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s Birthday / National Day / Father’s Day in Thailand
On December 5, the Thai celebrate the birth anniversary of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, also known as Rama IX. His birthday is also observed as National Day and National Father’s Day. Interestingly, when the incumbent king ascended the throne, his birthday (July 28) was declared as a public holiday, but wasn’t made National Day out of respect for everything that Bhumibol Adulyadej has done for the country.
Hanukkah, also transliterated as Chanukah, is a Jewish eight-day festival of lights that starts on the 25th day of the month of Kislev. It commemorates the re-dedication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem during the Maccabean Revolt, following Judah Maccabee’s victory over the Seleucids.
World Turkish Coffee Day is celebrated annually on December 5. It was created to promote Turkey’s unique coffee culture that is hundreds of years old and commemorate the day when Turkish coffee was recognized intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.
Statistician's Day is celebrated in Ukraine annually on December 5. This professional day was instituted by President of Ukraine in 2002.
There are several days of military honor in Russia, and one of them falls on December 5, that is Battle of Moscow Day. Commemoration of this day is connected with the events of October-January 1941-1942, when the Soviet troops defended and then launched the counteroffensive against Nazi Germany.
Anniversaries and Memorial Days →
Haiti,
Dominican Republic
Discovery Day in Haiti and the Dominican Republic
Haiti and the Dominican Republic celebrate Discovery Day on December 5 every year. Although not a public holiday, it is important for both countries. Discovery Day commemorates the day when Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Hispaniola in 1492.
Volunteer Day in Russia is celebrated on December 5 every year. It was officially established by President Vladimir Putin in 2017 to highlight the contribution of volunteers to their communities and to encourage further development of the volunteer movement in Russia.
National Sachertorte Day in the United States is observed on December 5. This food holiday is dedicated to a specific type of chocolate sponge cake invented by Austrian confectioner Franz Sacher.
Day of the Ninja is a jolly and unusual holiday, that is celebrated on December 5. This holiday was created in 2003 by a parody website Ninja Burger as a day, when everyone can dress up and act as a real ninja.
Repeal Day® is an unofficial observance in the United States, celebrated on December 5. On this day in 1933, the Congress adopted the Twenty first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, officially repealing the nationwide ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages.
The first Saturday of December is the perfect day to light your favorite scented candle and enjoy its warmth and fragrance because it is Candle Day. The celebration was launched by Bath & Body Works to kick off its annual candle sale.
Although in most countries of Western and Central Europe Christmas is the most important winter holiday, in some of them children are also given present on Saint Nicholas Day. In a number of countries Saint Nicholas’s Eve is known as Krampus Night (Krampusnacht).
International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development is observed on the international level every year on December 5. This day was designated by the United Nations General Assembly in 1985 to encourage spreading the information about volunteering for economic and social development.
World Soil Day is observed around the world on December 5. This holiday was proposed by the International Union of Soil Sciences in 2002 to raise public awareness of the problems of soil and its importance for our life.
Every year the children of Suriname enjoy Children's Day on December 5. Traditions and history of this holiday has nothing in common with Children's Day in other countries around the world.
Small Business Saturday UK is an annual campaign held on the first Saturday of December. It is a grassroots, non-commercial initiative that was launched to promote and support small, independent businesses during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year.
This Day in History
- 2022 Died: Kirstie Alley, American actress known for her roles as Saavik in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Rebecca Howe in Cheers, Mollie in Look Who's Talking and Look Who's Talking Too, and others.
- 2013 Died: Nelson Mandela, South African revolutionary, politician and philanthropist. He served as the 1st President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. In 1993 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending of apartheid.
- 2007 A gunman opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle at a mall in Omaha, Nebraska. He killed 8 people before committing suicide.
- 2002 Died: Ne Win, Burmese politician and military commander. He was the 4th President of Burma from March 2, 1962 to November 9, 1981, leading the country for 26 years.
- 1995 Born: Kaetlyn Osmond, retired competitive Canadian figure skater who competed in ladies' singles. She won three Olympic medals (including individual bronze) and two World Championship medals (including gold).
- 1985 Born: Tom Sturridge, English actor of stage and screen. He is probably best known for playing Dream of The Endless / Lord Morpheus in the Netflix series The Sandman.
- 1977 Egypt broke diplomatic relations with Libya, Syria, Algeria, Iraq and South Yemen. This move was made in retaliation for the Declaration of Tripoli against Egypt.
- 1976 Born: Amy Acker, American actress best known for her roles as Winifred Burkle/Illyria on Angel, Kelly Peyton on Alias, and Root on Person of Interest.
- 1975 Born: Ronnie O'Sullivan, English snooker player, one of the most successful players in the modern history of sport. He is regarded by many as the most naturally gifted player in snooker history.
- 1973 Died: Robert Watson-Watt, Scottish engineer, best known for his pioneering and significant contributions to the development of radar.
- 1969 Born: Catherine Tate, English actress, comedian, and writer. She is best known for her work on The Catherine Tate Show and for playing Donna Noble in Doctor Who.
- 1969 Died: Claude Dornier, German airplane builder, founder of Dornier GmbH, a German aircraft manufacturer, defunct in 2002.
- 1966 Born: Patricia Kaas, French singer and actress who enjoys the greatest success in Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Belgium, Finland, Korea, Russia and Ukraine. She has sold over 16 million records worldwide.
- 1965 Died: Joseph Erlanger, American physiologist, best known for his contributions to the field of neuroscience. In 1944 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for identification of several varieties of nerve fiber and establishment of the relationship between action potential velocity and fiber diameter.
- 1963 Born: Doctor Dré (stage name of André Brown), American rapper, radio personality and former MTV VJ.
- 1958 Subscribers Trunk Dialing, a telephone system allowing subscribers to dial trunk calls without operator assistance, was inaugurated in the United Kingdom by Queen Elizabeth II when she spoke to the Lord Provost in a call from Bristol to Edinburgh.
- 1952 Great Smog in London: a cold fog descended upon the city, combining with air pollution. At least 12,000 died in the weeks and months that followed.
- 1946 Born: José Carreras, Spanish tenor, best known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini. He gained world acclaim as one of The Three Tenors along with Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti in a series of mass concerts lasting from 1990 till 2003.
- 1945 Five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers, known as Flight 19, disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle. All 14 airmen on the flight were lost.
- 1941 World War II: Great Britain officially declared war on Finland, Hungary and Romania.
- 1940 Died: Jan Kubelík, Czech violinist and composer. He was one of the best violinists of his time, often regarded as the "Czech Paganini".
- 1933 Utah ratified the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, thus establishing the required 75% of states needed to enact the amendment. Thanks to it the 18th Amendment that had made manufacture, sale and even transportation of alcohol illegal in the United States, was overturned.
- 1932 Born: Sheldon Lee Glashow, American physicist. In 1979 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the theory of electroweak interactions.
- 1926 Died: Claude Monet, French painter. He was the most consistent and prolific practitioner of Impressionism. His painting Impression, Sunrise gave name to the movement.
- 1925 Died: Władysław Reymont, Polish novelist, best known for his four-volume novel The Peasants (Chłopi in Polish). This work brought him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1924.
- 1916 Born: Hilary Koprowski, Polish-born American virologist, world renowned as the inventor of the world's first effective live polio vaccine.
- 1903 Born: Cecil Frank Powell, British physicist, known for his development of the photographic method of studying nuclear processes and for the resulting discovery of the pion, a subatomic particle. This work brought him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1950.
- 1901 Born: Walt Disney, American cartoonist, animator, producer and entrepreneur. He was a prominent figure in the American animation industry and throughout the world. Together with his brother Roy he co-founded The Walt Disney Company.
- 1901 Born: Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, one of the key pioneers of quantum mechanics. In 1932 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the creation of quantum mechanics.
- 1890 Born: Fritz Lang, German filmmaker and screenwriter, dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute. His most famous films are Metropolis and M.
- 1876 At least 278 people were killed in the Brooklyn Theater in Brooklyn, New York when it caught fire during the play The Two Orphans.
- 1870 Died: Alexandre Dumas, French writer whose works have been translated into nearly 100 languages. His most famous novels are The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne: Ten Years Later.
- 1791 Died: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian pianist and composer. He started composing at the age of 5 and performed before European royalty. He was one of the most influential composers of the Classical era.
- 1782 Born: Martin Van Buren, American lawyer and politician who served as the 8th President of the United States. He held the office from March 4, 1837 to March 4, 1841.
- 1766 James Christie, the founder of Christie's, held his first sale in London.
- 1492 Christopher Columbus became the first European to set foot on the island of Hispanola that would later be shared between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.