Holidays Calendar for August 11, 2020

August 11 is Independence Day in Chad. This public holiday commemorates the independence of the Republic of Chad from France in 1960.

Mountain Day is one of Japan’s newest public holidays. It was officially proclaimed in 2014, but the first celebration took place only in 2016. Mountain Day in Japan is observed on August 11.

Like many other countries in the Caribbean, Grenada has a tradition of celebrating annual Caribbean Carnival. Carnival in Grenada is known as Spicemas, it is held in August. The culminating two days of Grenada Carnival (Carnival Monday and Carnival Tuesday) are declared public holidays.

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Defense Forces Day is a public holiday in Zimbabwe celebrated the day after Heroes' Day (the second Monday in August). It is typically marked with a military parade that takes place in the capital city of Harare.

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Krishna Jamashtami is a religious holiday, that celebrates birth of Krishna. This holiday is observed in the Hindu countries, particularly in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. In India and Bangladesh this is a public holiday, and only religious holiday in Nepal.

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International Fufu Day is observed by people of West African descent and those who like West African and Caribbean cuisines on August 11. The holiday was created to celebrate an indigenous West African dish found in the cuisines of over a dozen countries.

Children love to play with sand and should be encouraged to do so because playing with sand has many developmental benefits for young kids. Originally an outdoor summer activity, sand play is now available all the year round thanks to various amazing products such as Kinetic Sand, which, by the way, has a holiday dedicated to it. Global Kinetic Sand Day is celebrated annually on August 11.

In many former Soviet republics, Border Guard Day is celebrated on May 28. However, in Turkmenistan this date was changed to August 11 in order to celebrate the establishment of the country's Border Service in 1992.

August 11 is celebrated in the Republic of Armenia as Day of Armenian National Identity. The holiday's other name is Nawasard. Nawasard was the first month of the ancient Armenian calendar, the first day of Nawasard corresponds to August 11 in the Gregorian calendar.

Hip Hop Celebration Day is a U.S. observance celebrated on August 11. It was officially established by the United States senate on July 29, 2021. In addition, the Senate designated August as Hip Hop Recognition Month and November as Hip Hop History Month.

Latvian Freedom Fighters' Remembrance Day (also known as Commemoration Day of the Latvian Freedom Fighters) is observed on August 11 every year. It was established in 1995 to commemorate those who died during the Latvian War of Independence in 1918-1920.

Flag Day in Pakistan is observed on August 11 because on this day in 1947 the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan officially adopted the national flag of Pakistan. Four days later, Pakistan declared its independence.

August 11 is National Raspberry Tart Day in the United States. This food holiday honors a popular baked dessert that consists of a fruit filling over a pastry.

Although the majority of unofficial and semi-official food holidays originated in the United States, the United Kingdom also has its fair share of food days. For example, National Bakewell Tart Day, observed annually on August 11, celebrates a beloved English dessert that originated in Bakewell, Derbyshire.

August 11 is the perfect day to pamper yourself because it’s National Face Mask Day. We aren’t talking about medical masks that protect from infections and became ubiquitous during the COVID-19 pandemic; we’re talking about skincare products that help to keep your skin moisturized, nourished, smooth, and radiant.

National Raspberry Bombe Day is observed annually on August 11. It was created to celebrate a delicious frozen dessert that originated in French cuisine.

National Son’s and Daughter’s Day, also known as National Son and Daughter Day, is celebrated annually on August 11. It was created to encourage parents to spend some quality time with their children.

National Align Your Teeth Day is observed in the United States annually on August 11. It was created by dentists and orthodontists to promote the benefits of orthodontic treatment and encourage people to give it a try.

Ingersoll Day is an unofficial holiday celebrating the life and legacy of Robert G. Ingersoll, a famous American lawyer, writer, and public speaker who was active during the Golden Age of Freethought.

National Presidential Joke Day is celebrated annually on August 11. This fun holiday was created to remind people that presidents are human and can crack jokes just like everyone else.


This Day in History

  • 2014 Died: Robin Williams, American actor and comedian. He is best known for works in Jumanji, Night at the Museum, The World According to Garp, The Fisher King and received an Academy Award, six Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards and four Grammy Awards.
  • 2012 A pair of earthquakes occurred near Tabris, the most populated city in the northwest of Iran. The earthquakes caused death of at least 306 people and injuries of 3,000 others.
  • 2009 Died: Eunice Kennedy Shriver, American activist, sister of President of the USA John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy. she is known as the founder of the Special Olympics, world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.
  • 2006 The oil tanker Solar 1 sank off the coast of Guimaras and Negros Islands in the Philippines. The spilled damaged Taklong Island National Marine Reserve and affected the fishing industry of the Philippines.
  • 1996 Died: Vanga, Bulgarian mystic, clairvoyant and herbalist. She is known around the world for her prophesies, millions of people were convinced, that she possessed paranormal abilities.
  • 1994 Died: Peter Cushing, English actor, mainly known for roles as Baron Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes and vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing in Hammer Films Productions. His best roles were Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars and Dr. Who in Dr. Who and the Daleks.
  • 1983 Born: Chris Hemsworth, Australian actor, best known for role as Thor in the Marvel Studios superhero films Thor, its sequel, and The Avengers. He also appeared in films Star Trek, A Perfect Getaway, Snow White and the Huntsman, Red Dawn and Rush.
  • 1982 A bomb exploded on Pan Am Flight 830 en route from Tokyo, Japan to Honolulu, Hawaii. Despite the damage, the aircraft was landed in Honolulu. One passenger was killed and 15 others injured.
  • 1979 Two airliners Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134s collided over Dniprodzerzhynsk, the city in Ukraine. All 178 passengers aboard of both airliners were killed.
  • 1972 Died: Max Theiler, South African-American virologist and academic. He was awarded with a Nobel Prize for developing a vaccine against yellow fever in 1951.
  • 1962 Vostok 3 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev became the first person to float in microgravity.
  • 1956 Died: Jackson Pollock, influential American painter and major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He is well known for his unique style of drip painting.
  • 1953 Born: Hulk Hogan, American wrestler and actor. He enjoyed mainstream popularity in the 1980s and 1990s as the all-American character Hulk Hogan in WWE and as Hollywood Hulk Hogan. He is a six-time WWE Champion and six-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion. He starred in films Gremlins 2, Mr. Nanny, Santa with Muscles, Thunder in Paradise.
  • 1950 Born: Steve Wozniak, American computer scientist and programmer. Together with Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne he founded Apple Inc., world leading designing, developing and selling consumer electronic, online services computer software and personal computers.
  • 1949 Born: Eric Carmen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known as a member of the pop/pop rock band Raspberries. Later he started his own career and released such hits, as All By Myself, Never Gonna Fall in Love Again, Hungry Eyes, She Did It, Make Me Lose Control.
  • 1946 Born: Marilyn vos Savant, American journalist and author. She rose to prominence through her former listing in the Guinness Book of World Records under "Highest IQ".
  • 1944 Born: Frederick W. Smith, American businessman, known as the founder of FedEx, the first overnight express delivery company and the largest delivery company in the world.
  • 1944 Born: Ian McDiarmid, Scottish actor and director, most famous for role as Emperor Palpatine in the Star Wars film series. In total, he appeared in 47 films and won 12 various awards.
  • 1942 Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil received a patent for a Frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system, that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones and Wi-Fi.
  • 1937 Died: Edith Wharton, American author, winner of a Pulitzer Prize, and a three-time Nobel Prize in Literature nominee. She is best known for novels The Age of Innocence, Summer, The Reef, The House of Mirth, The Touchstone.
  • 1926 Born: Aaron Klug, Lithuanian-English chemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate for development of crystallographic electron microscopy and structural elucidation of biologically important nucleic acid-protein complexes.
  • 1920 Latvia and the USSR signed the Latvian-Soviet Peace Treaty (Treaty of Riga). According to the Treaty, Russian authority relinquished pretenses to Latvia, that led to the end of the Latvian War of Independence.
  • 1919 Died: Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist, founder of the Carnegie Steel Company and Carnegie Hall. He led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry and gave about $350 million to charities (in 2015 the sum estimates $4.76 billion), that was almost 90 percent of his fortune.
  • 1886 Died: Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet and writer. Her poetry and newspaper work remained anonymous during her lifetime, because writing in Estonia, like elsewhere in Europe, was not considered a suitable career for a respectable young lady. At the same time she was the founder of the Estonian theater and was a close ally to Estonian writer and influential radical Carl Robert Jakobson and writer Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald.
  • 1858 Born: Christiaan Eijkman, Dutch physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate for demonstration that beriberi is caused by poor diet, that eventually led to discovery of vitamins.
  • 1858 Irish merchant accompanied by Charles Barrington accompanied by Swiss mountain guide Christian Almer and Peter Bohren became first people to ascend the mountain Eiger of the Bernese Alps in Switzerland.
  • 1837 Born: Marie François Sadi Carnot, French politician, the 4th President of the French Republic. His presidency lasted from 1887 till assassination in 1894.
  • 1804 Francis I assumed the title of the first Emperor of Austria, thus founding the Austrian Empire. The empire existed till 1867, when it became a part of a new dual monarchy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
  • 1614 Died: Lavinia Fontana, Italian painter, mainly regarded as the first woman artist. Her best known paintings were Portrait of a Noblewoman, Minerva Dressing, Portrait of a Lady with a Lap Dog.
  • 1332 The Battle of Dupplin Moor, one of the significant battles of the Second War of Scottish Independence: Scots under the regent Domhnall II, Earl of Mar were routed by the army of Edward Balliol. A few weeks after the battle Balliol was crowned king at Scone.