Holidays Calendar for May 12, 2025
Saint Andrew the First-Called Day is one of the important religious holidays in Georgia. This holiday is annually observed on May 12.
Public Holidays →
Bangladesh,
Cambodia,
Malaysia,
Singapore,
Thailand,
Indonesia,
Nepal
Vesak (Buddha's Day)
Vesak (also known as Vesakha, Wesak, Buddha Purnima, Buddha's Day, Buddha Jayanti) is one of the most important Buddhist holidays. It is sometimes referred to as Buddha's birthday, but Vesak actually commemorates the birth, enlightenment and passing away of Gautama Buddha.
In Samoa and Tokelau, Mother's Day is an official public holiday. It is celebrated on the second Sunday in May with the following Monday taken as a non-working public holiday.
Gospel Day is a public holiday in Tuvalu celebrated on the Monday after the second Sunday in May. It commemorates the arrival of Christianity on the archipelago in the 19th century.
Nursing is an essential profession within the health care sector. While doctors treat patients, nurses care for their general well-being, working collaboratively with other health care professionals and the patients’ families. Their professional holiday is celebrated around the globe on May 12. International Nurses Day honors their contributions to the society.
International May 12th Awareness Day, also sometimes referred to as International ME/CFS Awareness Day, International Fibromyalgia Awareness Day, International Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Awareness Day, International Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Awareness Day and International Awareness Day for Chronic Immunological and Neurological Diseases, is observed annually on May 12. It was created to raise awareness and dispel misconceptions about chronic immunological and neurological diseases.
Environmental Education Day is observed on May 12 in Russia and other CIS countries. This annual ecological observance was established in 1991 to emphasize the importance of environmental knowledge in all sciences and fields of human activity.
Day of the Finnish Identity is observed in Finland on May 12 each year. It commemorates the birthday of Johan Vilhelm Snellman, an influential philosopher and statesman.
Shashmaqam Day is one of the many official holidays observed in the Republic of Tajikistan. It was created to celebrate an iconic style of music that is believed to have developed in the city of Bukhara.
Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of two entities – the Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Both entities have their own holidays. For instance, the Republika Srpska annually observes Army Day on May 12.
May 12 is National Nutty Fudge Day. There is something special about nutty fudge, and today you have a perfect excuse to indulge in this sweet delight.
Vesak is an important Buddhist holiday that celebrates the birth, enlightenment and passing of Gautama Buddha. In 1999, the General Assembly officially declared the Day of Vesak as a United Nations international day.
The International Day of Plant Health is observed annually on May 12. It was established by the United Nations to highlight the importance of plant health for sustainable development and the elimination of hunger and rural poverty.
This Day in History
- 2018 A 20-year-old Chechnya-born French citizen, armed with a knife, killed one pedestrian and injured four others near the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris, before being fatally shot by police.
- 2014 Died: H. R. Giger, Swiss surrealist painter, sculptor and set designer who designed, among other things, the Alien creature from Ridley Scott's film Alien.
- 2008 The Great Sichuan Earthquake occurred in the Chinese province of Sichuan, killing 69,195 people and leaving 18,392 missing. More than 370,000 people were injured.
- 2008 Died: Robert Rauschenberg, American artist whose early works anticipated the pop art movement. He coined the phrase "combine painting".
- 2008 Died: Irena Sendler, Polish nurse and social worker who smuggled about 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II.
- 2006 In São Paulo, Brazil, the worst outbreak of violence in the Brazilian history began. It started after 40 police officers were killed by gang violence.
- 1998 At Trisakti University, Jakarta, Indonesia, four students were shot by soldiers at a demonstration demanding President Suharto's resignation.
- 1994 Died: Erik Erikson, German-born American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst who is best known for coining the term "identity crisis".
- 1986 Born: Emily VanCamp, Canadian actress known for her roles as Emily Thorne on Revenge, Nic Nevin on The Resident, and Sharon Carter / Agent 13 / Power Broker in the MCU.
- 1983 Born: Domhnall Gleeson, Irish actor and screenwriter who became known to a wide audience for his portrayal of Bill Weasley in the last two entries of the Harry Potter film series.
- 1983 Born: Alina Kabaeva, Russian retired rhythmic gymnast who won 2 Olympic medals, 14 world championship medals and 25 European championship medals.
- 1981 Born: Rami Malek, American actor known for portraying computer hacker Elliot Alderson on Mr. Robot and Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury in the biographical film Bohemian Rhapsody.
- 1980 Born: Rishi Sunak, British politician who assumed office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party in October 2022. He is the first British Asian prime minister.
- 1970 Died: Nelly Sachs, Jewish German poet and playwright who was awarded the 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature, sharing it with Shmuel Yosef Agnon.
- 1968 Born: Catherine Tate, English comedian, actress, and screenwriter best known for her award-winning sketch comedy series The Catherine Tate Show.
- 1966 Born: Stephen Baldwin, American actor, director, producer, author, political and religious activist, the youngest of the Baldwin brothers.
- 1962 Born: Emilio Esteves, American actor and filmmaker who starred in three film franchises: Stakeout and its sequel, Young Guns and its sequel, and The Mighty Ducks.
- 1949 The Soviet Union lifted its blockade on Berlin. The Berlin blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War.
- 1944 Died: Max Brand (pen name of Frederick Schiller Faust), American writer best known for his thoughtful and literary Western novels.
- 1937 At Westminster Abbey, the Duke and Duchess of York were crowned as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the British Empire and Commonwealth.
- 1935 Died: Józef Piłsudski, Polish politician, statesman, and field marshal who served as Chief of State of the Second Republic of Poland from 1918 to 1922.
- 1926 A general strike began in the United Kingdom. It was organized by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress. The strike turned out unsuccessful.
- 1926 The semi-rigid Italian-built airship Norge became the first vessel to fly over the North Pole. This trip was known as the Amundsen-Ellsworth 1926 Transpolar Flight.
- 1925 Died: Amy Lawrence Lowell, American poet of the imagist school who was posthumously awarded the 1926 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
- 1918 Born: Mary Kay Ash (born Mary Kathlyn Wagner), American businesswoman known for having founded Mary Kay Cosmetics in 1963.
- 1910 Born: Dorothy Hodgkin, British biochemist who was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her technique of X-ray crystallography.
- 1907 Born: Katharine Hepburn, American actress whose career spanned more than six decades. She received four Academy Awards for Best Actress, which is a record.
- 1895 Born: William Giauque, American chemist who was awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to chemical thermodynamics.
- 1884 Died: Bedřich Smetana, Cezch composer who is widely regarded as the father of Czech music. He is known for his symphonic cycle Má vlast.
- 1860 Died: Charles Barry, English architect best known for rebuilding the Palace of Westminster after the previous building had burned down.
- 1828 Born: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English poet, translator, illustrator, and painter primarily remembered for having founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
- 1820 Born: Florence Nightingale, English nurse and social reformer who founded modern nursing by establishing her nursing school at St Thomas' Hospital in London.
- 1812 Born: Edward Lear, English poet, writer, artist, and illustrator primarily remembered for his literary nonsense and especially his limericks.
- 1780 During the American Revolutionary War, the Siege of Charleston ended when Continental Army Major General Benjamin Lincoln had to surrender.
- 1551 The National University of San Marcos was officially established by a royal decree in Lima, Peru. It is the oldest university in the Americas.
- 1364 In Kazimierz (now a district of Kraków), Poland, the Jagiellonian University was established by Casimir III the Great. It is the oldest university in Poland.