Holidays Calendar for December 14, 2013
Hanukkah, also transliterated as Chanukah, is a Jewish eight-day festival of lights that starts on the 25th day of the month of Kislev. It commemorates the re-dedication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem during the Maccabean Revolt, following Judah Maccabee’s victory over the Seleucids.
International Shareware Day is observed annually on the second Saturday of December. It was created to raise awareness of shareware, educate the general public about its differences from freeware and open-source software, and celebrate programmers who give users the opportunity to try their products before deciding whether to buy them.
Petroleum Industry and Geology Workers' Day is an official professional day in Turkmenistan, that is observed every year on December 14. This holiday was established by President of Turkmenistan in 2010 to celebrate the anniversary of placing the Central Asia-China gas pipeline into operation.
Helicopter Industry Day in Russia is celebrated annually on the second Saturday of December. Although it has no official status, it is widely celebrated by all people involved in the helicopter industry, who consider it their professional holiday.
National Energy Conservation Day is observed in India on December 14. It was initiated by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency under the Ministry of Power, Coal and Non-Conventional Energy Sources in 1991 and has been celebrated annually ever since.
Bashkir Language Day is celebrated on December 14 in the Republic of Bashkortostan of the Russian Federation. It was created by the World Kurultay (Congress) of the Bashkirs to promote the Bashkir language and culture.
Martyred Intellectuals Day is observed in Bangladesh annually on December 14. This memorial day commemorates the death of Bengali intellectuals, who were killed by the Pakistani Army during the 1971 Liberation War.
Alabama Day is celebrated on December 14 every year to commemorate Alabama’s admission to the Union as the 22nd state. The celebration was initiated by the Alabama Department of Archives and History and the Alabama Department of Education.
On December 14, the Japanese honor the memory of the forty-seven ronin (a group of leaderless samurai who avenged the death of their master). This remembrance day has no official status, but it is commemorated with a festival held at Sengaku-ji temple in Tokyo, where the forty-seven ronin are buried next to their master.
Chernobyl Liquidators Day is officially observed in Ukraine every December 14. It was established to honor the military and civil personnel who risked their lives to deal with the devastating consequences of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
National Bouillabaisse Day is dedicated to a traditional French fish stew or soup originating from Marseilles, a large port city in Provence. This food related holiday is observed on December 14.
Each year people around the world and wildlife activists celebrate Monkey Day on December 14. This unofficial holiday gained widespread popularity among all people, who like and would like to protect monkeys.
December 14 is the perfect day to attend your local Christmas market and get yourself a treat because it is Roast Chestnuts Day. This amazing holiday was created in honor of a food item that’s considered a staple of the winter holiday season in some parts of the world.
Festivals on December 14, 2013
- Mooloolaba Yacht Club’s Christmas Boat Parade in Mooloolaba, Australia
- Buckingham Christmas Parade in Buckingham, United Kingdom
- Christmas Beer Festival in Essen (Kerstbierfestival) in Essen (Belgium), Belgium
- Ocala Christmas Parade in Ocala, USA
- Chennai International Film Festival in Chennai, India
- Zimbabwe International Film Festival in Harare, Zimbabwe
- Stalker International Human Rights Film Festival in Moscow, Russia
- Whirling Dervish Festival (Şeb-i Arûs) in Konya, Turkey
- FreedomFilmFest in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
- Portland Christmas Ship Parade in Portland (OR), USA
- Crucian Christmas Carnival in Christiansted, American Virgin Islands
- Dubai International Film Festival in Dubai, UAE
- Havana Film Festival in Havana, Cuba
- Jazz Bez in Lviv, Ukraine
- Saint Kitts and Nevis National Carnival (Sugar Mas) in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis
This Day in History
- 2020 A total solar eclipse occurred in a narrow path across Earth's surface across parts of the South Pacific Ocean, southern South America, and the South Atlantic Ocean. Totality was visible in from Argentina and Chile.
- 2013 A reported coup attempt took place in South Sudan, sparking the South Sudanese Civil War between the government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition.
- 2013 Died: Peter O'Toole, British-Irish actor of stage and screen. He achieved international recognition playing T. E. Lawrence in the epic adventure drama film Lawrence of Arabia.
- 2012 A shooting occurred at the Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot twenty children and six adult staff members.
- 2008 Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi threw his shoes at then United States President George W. Bush during a press conference at the Prime Minister's Palace in Baghdad.
- 2004 The Millau Viaduct was officially inaugurated in southern France. It is the tallest bridge in the world with one mast's summit at 1,125 ft above the base of the structure.
- 1995 The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement, was signed. It put an end to the Bosnian War.
- 1993 Died: Myrna Loy, American actress of stage and screen. She rose to prominence playing Nora Charles in The Thin Man. Loy received an Honorary Academy Award.
- 1990 Died: Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss novelist and playwright. His best known works include The Physicists: A Comedy in Two Acts, The Visit, Romulus the Great and others.
- 1989 Died: Andrei Sakharov, Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident, and human rights activist. He was awarded the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize for his struggle for human rights and disarmament.
- 1988 Born: Vanessa Hudgens, American actress of stage and screen and singer who rose to prominence playing Gabriella Montez in the High School Musical film series.
- 1984 Died: Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish poet who was awarded the 1977 Nobel Prize for Literature. His collections of poetry include Destruction or Love and Shadow of Paradise.
- 1972 Born: Miranda Hart, English actress, comedian, and writer. She best known for her performance in her self-titled, self-penned and semi-autobiographical sitcom Miranda.
- 1949 Born: Cliff Williams, English musician best known as the bassist and backing vocalist of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. He joined the band in 1977, replacing Mark Evans.
- 1947 Died: Stanley Baldwin, British Conservative politician who served three terms as Prime Minister. He is the only British premier to have served under three monarchs.
- 1946 Born: Patty Duke, American actress of stage and screen. She first rose to prominence as a child star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the age of 16.
- 1939 The Soviet Union was expelled from the League of Nations for attacking Finland and initiating the Winter War. In expelling the USSR, the League broke its own rules.
- 1927 Died: Julian Karol Sochocki, Russian-Polish mathematician mainly remembered for the Casorati–Sokhotski–Weierstrass theorem and for the Sokhotski–Plemelj theorem.
- 1924 Born: Raj Kapoor, Indian film actor, producer and director of Hindi cinema. He was two-time nominee for the Palme d'Or grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his films.
- 1922 Born: Nikolay Basov, Soviet physicist and educator who was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics for his fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics (the maser-laser principle).
- 1922 Born: Don Hewitt, American television news producer and executive. He is best known as the creator of 60 Minutes, the CBS newsmagazine television program that debuted in 1968.
- 1918 Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse renounced the Finnish throne two months after being elected King of Finland, without ever arriving in the country and taking up the position.
- 1911 Antarctic expedition led by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first to reach the South Pole. They arrived over a month before the group led by Robert F. Scott.
- 1909 Born: Edward Lawrie Tatum, American geneticist who was awarded the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that genes act by regulating definite chemical events.
- 1902 Died: Julia Grant, the wife of the 18th President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant. She was was First Lady of the United States from 1869 to 1877.
- 1900 German theoretical physicist Max Planck presented a theoretical derivation of his black-body radiation law, now known as the Planck postulate, to the German Physical Society.
- 1895 Born: Paul Éluard (born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel), French poet and one of the founders of the surrealist movement. He was the first husband of Gala, Salvador Dalí's muse.
- 1883 Born: Morihei Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist best known as the founder of the martial art of aikido. He developed aikido after experiencing three instances of spiritual awakening.
- 1861 Died: Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince consort of the United Kingdom as the husband of Queen Victoria. The Queen mourned her husband for the rest of her life.
- 1799 Died: George Washington, American army officer, revolutionary, and statesman. Washington was the first President of the United States and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
- 1546 Born: Tycho Brahe (born Tyge Ottesen Brahe), Danish nobleman, astronomer, astrologist, and alchemist. He is known for his comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations.
- 1542 Six-day-old Princess Mary Stuart became Mary, Queen of Scots, following the death of her father James V of Scotland. As she was an infant, the country was ruled by regents.