Holidays Calendar for March 13, 2026
Most public holidays in Vatican City are religious feasts such as Epiphany, Assumption Day, Nativity of Mary, Christmas Day, and others. However, there are two exceptions: the anniversary of the foundation of Vatican City and the anniversary of the election of Pope Francis. The latter is celebrated on March 13.
World Sleep Day is an annual awareness day held on the Friday before the vernal equinox. It is designed to promote the benefits of good and healthy sleep, as well as to raise public awareness of sleep disorders and the importance of their prevention.
Africa Scout Day is celebrated annually on March 13. It was officially established by the Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity (replaced by the African Union in 2002) in 1995 to recognize the Scout movement in Africa.
Intrauterine Growth Restriction Awareness Day, also known as IUGR Awareness Day, is observed annually on March 13. It was created to raise awareness of a little-known medical condition which affects around 3% of pregnancies.
We bet that when you hear the words “German wine”, the first thing that comes to mind is a Riesling. The most widely planted grape variety in Germany, Riesling has been grown here since the 15th century. It even has an “official birthday”, which falls on March 13. This day is celebrated around the world as International Riesling Day.
Trisomy 13 Awareness Day, also known as Patau Syndrome Awareness Day, is observed annually on March 13. It was created to raise awareness of a rare genetic syndrome with an extremely poor prognosis.
National Thai Elephant Day was established by the Thai government in 1998. It's annually celebrated on March 13, the anniversary, when the white elephant was added to the old version of the Thai flag.
Statute of Autonomy Day, also known as simply Autonomy Day, is an official holiday in the Spanish autonomous city of Melilla. It is celebrated on March 13 to commemorate the approval of the Statute of Autonomy of Melilla on this day in 1995.
In 1991, a wave of popular uprisings swept through Iraq, resulting in the establishment of the Kurdish Autonomous Republic in Iraqi Kurdistan (a region in the north of the country mainly populated by Kurds). To commemorate these events, several observances are held in Iraqi Kurdistan. One of them is Duhok Liberation Day, which is observed annually on March 13.
March 13 is K9 Veterans Day, the day when all military dogs should be commemorated. This is an unofficial holiday, but the enthusiast make efforts to change the situation.
Tropical coconuts meet European-style torte in this divine delight that originated in the cuisine of the Southern United States. Celebrate National Coconut Torte Day on March 13 with a slice of a rich cake covered in coconut flakes.
This Day in History
- 2022 Died: William Hurt, American actor of stage and screen whose accolades included an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor.
- 2020 Breonna Taylor, an African-American woman from Louisville, Kentucky, was shot and killed while unarmed in her home by three police officers who entered under the auspices of a "no-knock" search warrant.
- 2020 American president Donald Trump declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a national emergency in the United States.
- 2013 Pope Francis was elected as the 226th Pope of the Catholic Church.
- 2012 28 of 52 people on board were killed in a bus crush in a motorway tunnel near Sierre, Switzerland. The bus carried school teachers and students aged between 10 and 12.
- 2010 Died: He Pingping, Chinese dwarf, who was the world's shortest man who was able to walk, according to the Guinness World Records.
- 2006 Died: Maureen Stapleton, American actress, whose accolades include an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, two Tony Awards and a British Academy Award.
- 2006 Died: Robert C. Baker, American chef, best known for his different inventions of poultry-related products, including the chicken nugget.
- 1998 Died: Bill Reid, Canadian sculptor and painter. Some of his major creations featured the Canadian $20 banknote of the Canadian Journey series.
- 1997 Hundreds of people and millions on television saw the Phoenix lights, a UFO sighting, over Phoenix, Arizona.
- 1996 16 primary school students and one teacher were killed in Dunblane, Scotland by Thomas Watt Hamilton, who later committed suicide.
- 1992 Born: Kaya Scodelario, British actress known for her roles as Effy Stonem on Skins, Teresa in the Maze Runner film series, and Carina Smyth in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
- 1992 Born: Lucy Fry, Australian actress and model, best known for role as Zoey in the TV series Lightning Point and as Lissa Dragomir in Vampire Academy.
- 1988 The Seikan tunnel was opened between Aomori and Hakodate, Japan. This tunnel is known as the longest undersea tunnel in the world.
- 1985 Born: Emile Hirsch, American actor, best known for his roles in The Girl Next Door, Lords of Dogtown, Into the Wild, Ultimate Spider-Man.
- 1984 Born: Noel Fisher, Canadian actor known for his portrayal of Mickey Milkovich on the Showtime series Shameless and Cael Malloy on the FX series The Riches.
- 1960 Born: Adam Clayton, English-Irish bass player and songwriter, best known as the bassist of the rock band U2.
- 1957 Cuban student revolutionaries stormed the presidential palace in Havana. Their attempt on the life of President Fulgencio Batista failed.
- 1950 Born: William H. Macy, American actor known for his roles in the films Fargo, Boogie Nights, Mystery Men, Jurassic Park III, Cellular, Bobby, Wild Hogs, and Shorts.
- 1943 Died: Stephen Vincent Benét, American author and poet, best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War John Brown's Body that won him a Pulitzer Prize.
- 1943 The Jewish ghetto in Kraków was liquidated by the German forces. Most inhabitants were went to the Bełżec extermination camp and the Płaszów slave-labor camp.
- 1934 Born: Barry Hughart, American author of fantasy novels. His best known works include Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone, and Eight Skilled Gentlemen.
- 1911 Born: L. Ron Hubbard, American religious leader and author, best known as the founder of the Church of Scientology.
- 1906 Died: Susan B. Anthony, American activist and social reformer, who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement.
- 1900 Born: Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet and diplomat. He was one of the most important Greek poets of the 20th century and won a Nobel Prize for his eminent lyrical writing.
- 1899 Born: John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate for his contributions to the understanding of the behavior of electrons in magnetic solids.
- 1879 Died: Adolf Anderssen, German chess player, who is famous today for his brilliant sacrificial attacking play, particularly in the Immortal Game and the Evergreen Game.
- 1845 Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto received its premiere performance in Leipzig with Ferdinand David as soloist.
- 1842 Died: Henry Shrapnel, English general, inventor of the shrapnel shell.
- 1825 Born: Hans Gude, Norwegian painter, one of Norway's foremost landscape painters.
- 1781 Born: Karl Friedrich Schinkel, German architect, city planner and painter, best known as one of the most prominent architects of Germany. One of Schinkel's best works is Konzerthaus in Berlin.
- 1781 William Herschel, a British astronomer, discovered Uranus.
- 1720 Born: Charles Bonnet, Swiss historian and author. He discovered parthenogenesis in aphids and described a condition when vivid, complex hallucinations occur in psychologically normal people.
- 1719 Died: Johann Friedrich Böttger, German alchemist, remembered today for his discovery of the secret of hard-paste porcelain.
- 1697 The capital city of the Itza Maya kingdom, Nojpetén, fell to Spanish conquistadors, which marked the final step in the conquest of Guatemala.
- 1395 Died: John Barbour, Scottish poet and the first major literary figure to write in Scots. The Brus, a historical verse romance, is his principle surviving work.