Holidays Calendar for May 9, 2020
Public Holidays →
Azerbaijan,
Armenia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Belarus,
Georgia,
Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan,
Moldova,
Russia,
Tajikistan,
Uzbekistan
Victory Day
On May 9, some former Soviet Republics and some other countries celebrate Victory Day. It is a public holiday that commemorates the capitulation of Nazi Germany to the USSR in World War II.
Liberation Day is a public holiday in Jersey that commemorates the end of the island's occupation by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. It is celebrated on May 9 as the national day of Jersey.
Liberation Day is a public holiday on the island of Guernsey celebrated on May 9. It commemorates the end of the German occupation that lasted from 1940 to 1945.
Shusha Liberation Day is celebrated in Armenia on May 9, coinciding with Victory and Peace Day. It commemorates the Battle of Shusha, which was Armenia’s first significant military victory during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.
World Fair Trade Day is an annual observance held on the second Saturday in May. It is held by the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), a global association of more than 300 hundred organizations that promote fair trade.
World Belly Dance Day, also spelled World Bellydance Day, is observed annually on the second Saturday of May. It was created to raise awareness of the ancient art of belly dance and dispel common misconceptions surrounding it.
Russian counterpart of Arbor Day is called National Forest Planting Day. It is celebrated on the second Saturday in May. The campaign was launched in 2011 by the Federal Forestry Agency and has been held annually ever since.
World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) is an annual awareness campaign held on the second weekend in May. It is supported by the United Nations Environment Program as well as a number of international organizations.
Many countries around the world celebrate only one Arbor Day during the year. Mongolia is one of the few countries, that celebrates National Tree Planting Day twice a year. The tree planting events are organized on the second Saturday in May and October respectively.
Europe Day is a common term for several annual celebrations of unity and peace in Europe held in May. For example, Ukraine celebrates Europe Day on May 9, on the same day as EU member states.
Cultural Observances →
Austria,
Belgium,
Bulgaria,
United Kingdom,
Hungary,
Germany,
Greece,
Denmark,
Ireland,
Spain,
Italy,
Cyprus,
Latvia,
Lithuania,
Luxembourg,
Malta,
Netherlands,
Poland,
Portugal,
Romania,
Slovakia,
Slovenia,
Finland,
France,
Croatia,
Czech Republic,
Sweden, ...
Europe Day in the European Union
May 9 is Europe Day in the countries of European Union. This day is also known as Schuman Day and it commemorates the creation of the EU's forerunner.
National Mills Day in the Netherlands is celebrated on the second Saturday in May. On this day, may wind- and watermills open their doors to general public.
In Denmark, there are three kinds of official flag flying days: public holidays and birthdays in the Royal Family; big religious holidays (Good Friday, Easter, Ascension Day, Whit Sunday, Christmas); military flag flying days. Battle of Heligoland Day, observed on March 9 every year, belongs to the third category.
Anniversaries and Memorial Days →
Latvia
Day of Remembrance for Victims of the War in Ukraine in Latvia
The Day of Remembrance for Victims of the War in Ukraine is observed in Latvia on May 9. It was created to honor the memory of all Ukrainians who died as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
May 9 is National Moscato Day. Celebrated for over a decade, it was established to honor one of the most popular white wines in the United States (some sources even claim that Moscato is the most popular white wine among American consumers).
National Cycling Day (Landelijke Fietsdag) is an informal observance in the Netherlands celebrated annually on the second Saturday in May.
National Miniature Golf Day, also known as National Minigolf Day, is celebrated annually on the second Saturday of May. It was created to honor an offshoot of golf that focuses solely on the putting aspect of the game.
UN Observances
Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War
In November 2004, May 8– 9 were declared as a time of remembrance and reconciliation for those who lost their lives during the Second World War.
National Home Front Heroes Day is a U. S. observance celebrated annually on May 9. It was created to honor civilians who support service members from the home front, contributing to the war effort without playing an active role in the war.
Festivals on May 9, 2020
- Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa, Canada
- Prague Spring International Music Festival in Prague, Czech Republic
- Festival Accès Asie in Montreal, Canada
- World Amigurumi Exhibition in New York, USA
This Day in History
- 2022 US President Joe Biden signed the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 into law, facilitating the supply of materiel to the Ukrainian government in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- 2017 Died: Robert Miles, Italian composer, musician, DJ, and record producer. His composition "Children" is considered one of the pioneering tracks of dream trance.
- 2013 Died: Ottavio Missoni, Italian hurdler and fashion designer, founder of Missoni, a high-end Italian fashion house. He was part of the group of designers who launched Italian ready-to-wear in the 1950s, ensuring the global success of Italian fashion.
- 2010 Died: Lena Horne, American singer, actress, and dancer, one of the first musical stars, winner of a Tony Award for Best Actress and a Lifetime Achievement Award.
- 2001 129 football fans died in Ghana due to a stampede following a controversial decision by the referee.
- 1997 Died: Marco Ferreri, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter. His films combined social and political criticism, black humor and sex, and often shocked the audience with their candor.
- 1987 A LOT Polish Airlines Ilyushin IL-62M, Tadeusz Kościuszko (SP-LBG), crashed after takeoff in Warsaw, Poland. 183 people on board died.
- 1986 Born: Grace Gummer, American actress whose television work includes The Newsroom, American Horror Story: Freak Show, and Mr. Robot. She is the daughter of Meryl Streep.
- 1986 Died: Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese mountaineer, one of the first two individuals known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest.
- 1979 Born: Rosario Dawson, American actress known for her roles in the films Men in Black II, Rent, Sin City, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, and many others.
- 1978 Died: Aldo Moro, Italian politician, 38th Prime Minister of Italy, known as one of the Italy's longest-serving post-war Prime Ministers (from 1963 to 1968 and from 1974 to 1976).
- 1977 The Hotel Polen in Amsterdam was burned down by a disastrous fire. 33 people died and 21 got severe injures.
- 1974 The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opened formal and public impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon.
- 1970 About 100,000 war protesters demonstrated in front of the White House against the U.S. military actions in Vietnam.
- 1962 Born: Dave Gahan, English singer-songwriter, best known as the lead singer for Depeche Mode.
- 1957 Died: Ezio Pinza, Italian opera singer, a bass known for his rich, smooth and sonorous voice. Pinza appeared in more that 750 performances and 50 operas, enjoyed career on Broadway in the musical theater and in several Hollywood films.
- 1955 NATO was joined by West Germany.
- 1949 Died: Louis II, Prince of Monaco. He was succeeded by his grandson, Prince Rainer III, because his mother hereditary Princess Charlotte had ceded her succession rights to him.
- 1949 Born: Billy Joel, American singer-songwriter and pianist, a six-time Grammy Award winner, one of the best-selling artists of all time. "New York State of Mind" is his one of the best-known songs.
- 1936 Born: Albert Finney, English actor, singer, and producer. He is best known for his roles in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Tom Jones, The Dresser, Miller's Crossing, Big Fish, The Bourne Ultimatum, Annie, The Bourne Legacy, and Skyfall.
- 1931 Died: Albert A. Michelson, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate for his optical precision instruments and the spectroscopic and metrological investigations carried out with their aid.
- 1911 The Vatican placed the works of Italian writer and poet Gabriele D'Annunzio in the Index of Forbidden Books. The reason for that was his collaboration with Claude Debussy on Le martyre de Saint Sébastien (The Martyrdom of St Sebastian).
- 1893 Born: William Moulton Marston, American psychologist and author, best known as a comic book writer and the creator of Wonder Woman.
- 1882 Born: Henry J. Kaiser, American businessman and shipbuilder, the father of modern American shipbuilding. He founded the Kaiser Shipyards that built Liberty ships during World War II.
- 1874 Born: Howard Carter, English archaeologist, famous for the discovery of the intact tomb of the 14th-century BC pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922.
- 1874 The first horse-drawn buses appeared in the city of Mumbai. The buses operated two routes.
- 1874 A magnitude 8.8 earthquake off the coast of Peru killed 2,541 people. People died mainly in Peru, although some deaths were reported from Hawaii and Japan.
- 1860 Born: J. M. Barrie, Scottish author and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pen.
- 1850 Died: Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French chemist and physicist, best known for two laws related to gases and his work on alcohol-water mixtures.
- 1845 Born: Gustaf de Laval, Swedish engineer and inventor who made important contributions to the development of steam turbines and dairy machinery.
- 1837 Born: Adam Opel, German engineer, founder of the Opel Company, a German automobile manufacturer of passenger vehicles.
- 1805 Died: Friedrich Schiller, German poet, playwright, and historian. His Ode to Joy is one of the best known poetic works; it became the basis for the fourth movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.
- 1746 Born: Gaspard Monge, French mathematician and engineer. Monge is considered the inventor of descriptive geometry and the father of differential geometry.
- 1386 England and Portugal formally ratified their alliance with the signing of the Treaty of Windsor. This treaty is the oldest diplomatic alliance in the world which is still in force.