Holidays Calendar for August 12, 2024

One of the public holidays in Samoa and Tokelau is Father's Day, that is observed annually on Monday after the second Sunday in August. Although this is a public holiday, unfortunately, it's not given much attention to.

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Queen Mother’s birthday, also known as Queen Dowager’s birthday or Queen Sirikit’s birthday, is a national holiday in Thailand honoring the mother of the incumbent King Maha Vajiralongkorn. It is also Mother’s Day in Thailand.

The second Monday in August is Heroes' Day in Zimbabwe. This day commemorates sons and daughters of Zimbabwe, who died, protecting their country in the liberation war against British rule.

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The second Monday in August is Carnival Monday in Grenada. This public holiday is a part of widely known Spicemas, Granada's Carnival, that includes various concerts and other activities.

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Air Force Day is one of the Russian professional holidays. It's annually celebrated on August 12. The holiday was established in 2006 by a presidential decree and it has the status of a memorial day.

Penitentiary System Employee Day is celebrated in Kyrgyzstan annually on August 12. This professional holiday was officially established by the country’s government in September 2003 to recognize the societal contribution of the employees of the penitentiary system of Kyrgyzstan.

National Police Service Day (Araw ng Pambansang Serbisyong Pangpulisya) is observed in the Philippines annually on August 12. It commemorates the creation of the Philippine Constabulary that would eventually merge with the Integrated National Police to form the Philippine National Police.

Issues of elephants preservation and their protection are risen in many countries around the world. And many ecological observances are established to highlight the importance of biodiversity on our planet. One of these observances is World Elephant Day, that is annually celebrated on August 12.

August 12 is an important day for hunters in the United Kingdom. Widely referred to as the Glorious Twelfth, it marks the beginning of the shooting season for red grouse in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

If you’re a fan of retro aesthetic and high-quality analog sound, don’t forget to celebrate National Vinyl Record Day on August 12. Vinyl records might not be ubiquitous these days, but they are definitely not going anywhere.

Didgoroba is Georgian holiday, that is annually observed on August 12. This holiday commemorates the Battle of Didgori on August 12, 1121. This is not an official holiday, but the festival is much loved by the nation.

In all Malaysian states the actual or official birthday of the ruler (sultan, raja or governor) is a public holiday, but Johor is the only state where the death anniversary of the previous ruler is a public holiday, too. The death anniversary (Hari Hol) of Sultan Iskandar of Johor is observed on the sixth day of the month of Safar in the Islamic calendar.

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August 12 is National Julienne Fries Day in the United States. Julienne fries are a type of french fries that are thinner than regular fries. They are sometimes referred to as shoestring fries.

National Middle Child Day is observed annually on August 12. It was created to celebrate everyone who has at least one older and one younger sibling, and raise awareness of the unique challenges that middle children may face.

International Youth Day is a holiday, that was established by the UN General Assembly in 1999 under recommendation of the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth. This day is annually celebrated on August 12.

NGO Day is an annual observance in the Islamic Republic of Iran celebrated on August 12 (the 22th of Mordad in the Iranian calendar). Although it was officially established by the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, it is not a public holiday.

Ukrainian Youth Day is celebrated annually on August 12. This date, which coincides with International Youth Day, was approved in 2021. For years before that, Youth Day in Ukraine had been celebrated on the last Sunday of June.

 

This Day in History

  • 2007 The Panamanian bulk-carrier cargo ship MV New Flame collided with an oil tanker and ended up partially submerged in the Strait of Gibraltar.
  • 2004 Died: Godfrey Hounsfield, English electrical engineer who shared the 1979 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Allan McLeod Cormack.
  • 2000 The Oscar class submarine K-141 Kursk of the Russian Navy exploded and sank in the Barents Sea while preparing to load a dummy torpedo.
  • 1996 Died: Victor Ambartsumian, Soviet Armenian astronomer and astrophysicist regarded as one of the founders of theoretical astrophysics.
  • 1985 Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashed into two ridges of Mount Takamagahara, 62 miles from Tokyo. 520 of the 524 people on board died.
  • 1982 Died: Henry Fonda, American actor of stage and screen whose career spanned over 5 decades. He was the patriarch of a family of famous actors.
  • 1981 The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, was released. It was developed by a team directed by Don Estrige.
  • 1977 The NASA Space Shuttle Enterprise made its first free flight. The shuttle was so named after the Starship Enterprise from the Star Trek series.
  • 1973 Died: Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss psychologist who was awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, sharing it with Egas Moniz.
  • 1973 Died: Karl Ziegler, German chemist who was awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on polymers, sharing it with Giulio Natta.
  • 1971 Born: Pete Sampras, retired American tennis player and former World No. 1 widely regarded as one of the greatest players in tennis history.
  • 1964 Died: Ian Fleming, English writer, journalist and naval intelligence officer primarily remembered for his James Bond series of spy novels.
  • 1964 Born: Katherine Boo, American investigative journalist who documents the lives of people in poverty. She won a Pulitzer Prize in 2000.
  • 1958 Art Kane took the famous photograph of 57 notable jazz musicians in front of a brownstone in Harlem known as A Great Day in Harlem.
  • 1956 Born: Bruce Greenwood, Canadian actor and musician known for his roles in Thirteen Days, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Star Trek.
  • 1955 Died: Thomas Mann, German novelist, short story writer, essayist and critic who was awarded the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature for Buddenbrooks.
  • 1953 The Soviet Union carried out its first test of a thermonuclear weapon, Joe 4. Joe 4 detonated with a force equivalent to 400 kilotons of TNT.
  • 1952 Thirteen Soviet Jews were executed in the Lubyanka Prison in Moscow. This event is known as the Night of the Murdered Poets.
  • 1950 Members of the North Korean People's Army executed seventy-five captured US Army prisoners of war (the Bloody Gulch massacre).
  • 1950 Born: Jim Beaver, American actor, screenwriter, playwright and director. He is known for his role as Bobby Singer in Supernatural.
  • 1918 Born: Guy Gibson, British pilot, the first CO of the Royal Air Force's 617 Squadron, which he led in the famous Dam Busters raid in 1943.
  • 1900 Died: Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian and later American chess player. He was the first undisputed world chess champion from 1886 to 1894.
  • 1887 Born: Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist known for his significant input into quantum theory. He was awarded the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics.
  • 1866 Born: Jacinto Benavente, Spanish dramatist who was awarded the 1922 Nobel Prize in Literature. His creative legacy comrpises 172 works.
  • 1848 Died: George Stephenson, English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which opened in 1830.
  • 1831 Born: Helena Blavatsky, Russian occultist, spirit medium and writer best known as one of the founders of the Theosophical Society.
  • 1827 Died: William Blake, English painter, printmaker and poet. He is regarded as a seminal figure in the history of the poetry of the Romantic Age.
  • 1774 Born: Robert Southey, English poet of the Romantic school. He was one of the so-called Lake Poets and Poet Laureate for three decades.
  • 1644 Born: Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Bohemian-Austrian violinist and composer. He is one of the most important composers for the violin.
  • 1323 Sweden and the Novgorod Republic signed the Treaty of Nöteborg that regulated the border between the two countries for the first time.