Holidays Calendar for April 15, 2020
April 15 is Kim II-sung's Birthday in the Democratic Republic of Korea. This holiday was established to commemorate Kim II-sung, the leader of the country from the year of its establishment in 1948 to 1994. The holiday is also known as the Day of the Sun.
Public Holidays →
Thailand,
Laos,
Maldives,
India,
Nepal,
Bangladesh,
Myanmar,
Sri Lanka,
Cambodia
New Year in South and Southeast Asia
Most people think that Asian countries only use lunar (or, to be more precise, lunisolar) calendars. While this is true to some extent, there are exceptions. For example, the date of the traditional New Year’s festival in many countries of South and Southeast Asia is based on the entry of the sun into the constellation of Aries. In modern times, it usually occurs around April 13 in the Gregorian calendar.
Father Damien Day is celebrated in the American state of Hawaii on April 15 every year. It is dedicated to a Roman Catholic priest and missionary who spent his life helping people with leprosy on the island of Moloka’i.
World Art Day is an international celebration of the fine arts, that annually takes place on April 15. The holiday is observed since 2012.
International Biomedical Laboratory Science Day, also known as BLS Day, is observed annually on April 15. Its main goal is to raise public awareness of and celebrate the key role of biomedical laboratory personnel in healthcare systems around the world.
International Microvolunteering Day is celebrated on April 15 every year. It was created to spread awareness of the concept of microvolunteering and empower people to make the world a better place through small actions that can have a big impact.
April 15 is a professional holiday of all specialists involved into radio-electronic defense of Russia. They celebrate Day of Radio-Electronic Fight Troops.
Criminal Investigation Department Employees Day is a Ukrainian professional holiday celebrated annually on April 15. It commemorates the creation of the criminal investigation department in the People’s Commissariat of Justice of the Ukrainian SSR on this day in 1919.
Many countries around the world annually observe World Culture Day on April 15. This holiday was established to commemorate the adoption of the Roerich Pact in 1935.
April 15 is Day of Love in Georgia. This secular holiday is devoted to all people in love and it should replace Valentines' Day.
April 15 is Lovers' Day (also known as Kozy Korpesh and Bayan Sulu Day) in Kazakhstan. This holiday appeared only in 2011 as an answer to international St. Valentine's Day, that is observed on February 14.
All Canadian film lovers, as well as people involved in the Canadian film industry, celebrate National Canadian Film Day every year on the third Wednesday of April. This day was launched in 2014 as a massive one-day celebration of Canadian cinema.
American Sign Language Day, also known as ASL Day, is observed annually on April 15. It celebrates the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone Canada. The date was chosen to commemorate the opening of the American School for the Deaf where ASL developed.
One Boston Day is an annual commemorative event held in Boston, Massachusetts to honor the memory of those who died in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Established by the Mayor of Boston in 2015, it is dedicated to helping others out and conducting random acts of kindness.
Himachal Day is an official holiday celebrated on April 15 in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. On this day in 1948, 28 petty princely states located in the western Himalayas were integrated to form the Chief Commissioner's Province of Himachal Pradesh.
Anniversaries and Memorial Days →
Malaysia
Declaration of Malacca City as a Historical City in Malacca
In addition to federal public holidays, each individual state and federal territory in Malaysia observes a few holidays of its own. For example, Malacca celebrates the Declaration of Malacca City as a Historical City on April 15.
Glazed ham is a common dish for Christmas and Thanksgiving. But there is no law that prohibits using ham for any other holiday. And today, on April 15, we celebrate National Glazed Spiral Ham Day to honor the best savory and hearty dish.
Bananas are one of the world’s most widely consumed fruit for a reason: they are affordable, delicious, nutritious, and have a number of health benefits. So it is not surprising that there is a holiday dedicated to them! National Banana Day is celebrated annually on the third Wednesday of April.
Jackie Robinson Day is an annual event celebrated in Major League Baseball on April 15. It honors Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play in the major leagues in the modern era, who made his major league debut on April 15, 1947.
Children are the most valuable what people have, and the Spanish nation understands it. Annually Children's Day is celebrated in Spain twice – on April 15 and November 20.
Festivals on April 15, 2020
- Columbus International Film & Animation Festival in Columbus, USA
- International Istanbul Film Festival in Istanbul, Turkey
- Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival in Vancouver, Canada
- CPH:DOX Film Festival in Copenhagen, Denmark
- World Amigurumi Exhibition in New York, USA
This Day in History
- 2019 A fire broke out in the roof space of Notre-Dame de Paris, a medieval Catholic cathedral in Paris, France. By the time the fire was extinguished, the spire had collapsed and most of the roof had been destroyed.
- 2018 Died: R. Lee Ermey, American actor, voice actor and former U.S. Marine Corps staff sergeant who achieved fame when he played Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the 1987 film Full Metal Jacket.
- 2014 A total lunar eclipse took place, visible in the Americas and the Pacific Ocean region, including Australia and New Zealand. It lasted for 5 hours and 44 minutes.
- 2013 Two bombs exploded during the Boston Marathon, killing 3 people and injuring more than 260. The bombings were followed by a shooting on the MIT campus.
- 1998 Died: Pol Pot (born Saloth Sar), Cambodian communist revolutionary, politician and statesman who is mainly remembered as the leader of Khmer Rouge.
- 1997 Born: Maisie Williams, English actress and dancer best known for her role as Arya Stark in the HBO fantasy drama series Game of Thrones.
- 1990 Died: Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson), Swedish and American film actress who is ranked fifth on the AFI's list of greatest female stars of all time.
- 1990 Born: Emma Watson, English actress, model, and women's rights advocate best known for her role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series.
- 1989 A human crush occurred at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England, resulting in the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans. 766 people were injured.
- 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests began in Beijing, following the death of former Communist Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang, a liberal reformer.
- 1986 Died: Jean Genet, French novelist, dramatist, essayist, poet, and political activist whose best known works include The Thief's Journal and The Maids.
- 1982 Born: Seth Rogen, Canadian actor, comedian and filmmaker. His breakthrough came with the leading role in Judd Apatow's 2007 romantic comedy Knocked Up.
- 1980 Died: Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher, dramatist, novelist, political activist, and literary critic. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature but refused it.
- 1979 Born: Luke Evans, Welsh actor and singer known for his roles in The Three Musketeers, The Hobbit film trilogy, the Fast & Furious franchise, Beauty and the Beast, and other films.
- 1968 Born: Ed O'Brien, English musician and songwriter best known as guitarist and backing vocalist for the British rock band Radiohead.
- 1965 Born: Linda Perry, American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer who has founded two record labels, Rockstar Records and Custard Records.
- 1963 Born: Paula Pell, American writer, actress, comedian, and producer. She is best known for her work as a writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1995 to 2020.
- 1959 Born: Emma Thompson, English actress and writer. Her numerous accolades, as of 2024, include two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award.
- 1955 Born: Dodi Fayed, Egyptian film producer. He was romantically involved with Diana, Princess of Wales, when they both died in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.
- 1938 Born: Claudia Cardinale, Tunisian-born Italian actress who appeared in the films Rocco and His Brothers, Cartouche, 8½, Once Upon a Time in the West.
- 1935 The Roerich Pact was signed in Washington, D.C. Its most important idea is the legal recognition that the defense of cultural objects is more important than military defense.
- 1927 The Great Mississippi Flood began when 15 inches of rain fell in New Orleans in 18 hours. It was the most destructive flood in the history of the US.
- 1927 Died: Gaston Leroux, French journalist and author of detective fiction who is remembered primarily for his novel The Phantom of the Opera.
- 1912 The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean after colliding with an iceberg, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,500 people. It is one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in modern history.
- 1912 Born: Kim Il-sung (born Kim Sŏng-ju), North Korean politician and statesman, the founder and leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
- 1896 The closing ceremony of the Games of the I Olympiad (also referred to as the 1896 Summer Olympics) took place in Athens, Greece.
- 1888 Died: Matthew Arnold, English poet and literary, social, and religious critic. His best known poems include Sohrab and Rustum and The Scholar Gipsy.
- 1886 Born: Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet, translator, and literary critic. He is one of the best known representatives of the Silver Age of Russian poetry.
- 1865 Died: Abraham Lincoln, American army captain, lawyer, and politician who served as the 16th President of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865.
- 1858 Born: Émile Durkheim, French philosopher, sociologist and social psychologist who is commonly regarded as the father of sociology.
- 1765 Died: Mikhail Lomonosov, renowned Russian polymath, scientist and writer who made significant contributions to science, literature, and education.
- 1764 Died: Madame de Pompadour, also known as Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, the official chief mistress of King Louis XV of France from 1745 to her death.
- 1755 The first edition of Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language was published in London. It was the pre-eminent English dictionary until 1928.
- 1719 Died: Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon, the second wife of King Louis XIV of France. Their marriage was never officially announced.
- 1707 Born: Leonhard Euler, prominent Swiss mathematician and physicist who introduced much of the modern mathematical notation and terminology.
- 1638 The Tokugawa shogunate suppressed the Shimabara Rebellion, a peasant uprising in southwestern Japan. The majority of rebels were Catholic Christians.
- 1452 Born: Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, architect, musician, engineer, inventor, writer, and scientist who made significant contributions to diverse fields of the arts and sciences.