Holidays Calendar for March 16, 2026
On the third or fourth Monday in March, the citizens of Christmas Island observe Labor Day. It is an annual public holiday that celebrates the achievements of workers.
On the third Monday in March, the Mexicans celebrate Benito Juárez Day. It is an annual public holiday dedicated to a Mexican politician who served as President of Mexico for five terms.
Religious Holidays →
Gambia,
Guinea,
Saudi Arabia,
Bangladesh,
Qatar,
Ivory Coast,
Yemen
Laylat al-Qadr
Laylat al-Qadr (Lailatul Qadr') is believed to be the night when the first verses of Quran were revealed to Muhammad the Prophet. It is thought to take place at the end of the month of Ramadan. There is no exact date, but many traditions insist on celebrating it on the night before the 27th of Ramadan.
National Panda Day is celebrated every March 16 to raise awareness of one of the world’s most recognizable animals that desperately needs protection: the giant panda. This species has become synonymous with conservation efforts because it is the symbol of the World Wide Fund for Nature (formerly named the World Wildlife Fund).
Book Smugglers Day is a Lithuanian cultural observance held on March 16. It honors the people who defied a ban on Lithuanian language publications printed in the Latin alphabet within the Russian Empire.
Latvian Legion Day, also referred to as Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires, is a controversial commemoration day observed in Latvia on March 16.
Halabja Remembrance Day, also referred to as simply Halabja Day, is a somber remembrance day observed in Iraqi Kurdistan on March 16. It honors of memory of thousands of people who died in the Halabja chemical attack carried out by Saddam Hussein’s troops in March 1988.
Davao City Day (Araw ng Dabaw) is a special non-working holiday in the City of Davao, Philippines celebrated annually on March 16. It commemorates the day when Davao was granted cityhood.
Saint Urho's Day is an informal celebration of Finnish culture that originated in America. Despite its name, it is not an official church holiday. It was invented in 1956 by Richard Mattson, a Finnish-American from Minnesota.
Although we refer to artichokes as to vegetables, they are actually the flower buds of the plant. They are so delicious that deserve their own holiday. By the way, March 16 is National Artichoke Hearts Day.
The government of India designated March 16 as National Vaccination Day, also known as National Immunization Day. The main goal of the holiday is to raise awareness of the importance of immunization for public health and celebrate healthcare workers who deliver vaccines to children and adults.
This Day in History
- 2022 A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 struck off the coast of Fukushima, Japan. As a result of this natural disaster, four people died and 247 were injured.
- 2019 Died: Dick Dale, American rock guitarist. He was a pioneer of surf music, drawing on Middle Eastern music scales and experimenting with reverb.
- 2016 Died: Frank Sinatra Jr., American singer, songwriter, and conductor. He was the son of singer and actor Frank Sinatra, and the brother of singer and actress Nancy Sinatra and the television producer Tina Sinatra.
- 2014 A controversial referendum on the status of Crimea was held. According to the official results, more then 95% of voters supported the integration of the region into the Russian Federation. In reality, the peninsula was annexed by Russia.
- 2013 Died: Jason Molina, American musician and singer-songwriter who came to prominence in the 1990s performing and recording as Songs: Ohia.
- 2013 Died: Frank Thornton, English actor best known for his role as Captain Peacock in Are You Being Served? and its sequel Grace & Favour.
- 2005 Died: Ralph Erskine, English-born Swedish architect and planner. He was responsible for the design of numerous innovative buildings in Sweden, England, and Canada.
- 1998 Died: Derek Barton, English organic chemist who was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Norwegian physical chemist Odd Hassel.
- 1995 Mississippi formally ratified the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, becoming the last state to approve the slavery abolition.
- 1988 Between 3,200 and 5,000 people were killed in the Halabja chemical attack, a genocidal massacre against the Kurdish people in Southern Kurdistan.
- 1986 Born: Alexandra Daddario, American actress known for her roles as Annabeth Chase in the Percy Jackson film series and Dr. Rowan Fielding in the AMC series Mayfair Witches.
- 1986 Born: Daisuke Takahashi, retired Japanese figure skater (men's singles and ice dance) and ice show producer. As a singles skater, he is the 2010 Olympic bronze medalist.
- 1983 Died: Arthur Godfrey, nicknamed The Old Redhead, American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was extremely popular in the 1950s.
- 1978 Supertanker Amoco Cadiz ran aground on Portsall Rocks, split in three and sank. This resulted in the largest oil spill of its kind in history to that date.
- 1971 Born: Rupert Sanders, English film director known for directing the films Snow White and the Huntsman and Ghost in the Shell, as well as the pilot episode of Foundation.
- 1971 Born: Alan Tudyk, American actor known for his film, television, and voice roles. His film credits include 28 Days, A Knight's Tale, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and more.
- 1969 Viasa Flight 742 crashed in Maracaibo, Venezuela, killing 84 people on board and 74 on the ground. The crash was caused by faulty sensors and overload.
- 1967 Born: Lauren Graham, American actress, producer and writer who is best known for her role as Lorelai Gilmore on the comedy-drama series Gilmore Girls.
- 1964 Born: Gore Verbinski, American film director, producer, screenwriter, and musician. He is best known for directing the first three installments in the Pirates of the Caribbean series.
- 1955 Died: Nicolas de Staël, Russian-born French painter who was noted for his highly abstract landscape painting and his use of a thick impasto.
- 1949 Born: Victor Garber, Canadian actor of stage and screen. He has been nominated for three Gemini Awards, four Tony Awards, and six Primetime Emmy Awards.
- 1941 Born: Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian film director and screenwriter whose best known works include Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor.
- 1936 Born: Raymond Vahan Damadian, American medical practitioner who is best known for having invented the first magnetic resonance scanner.
- 1935 Died: John James Rickard Macleod, Scottish biochemist and physiologist who was awarded the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Frederick Banting for their discovery of insulin.
- 1926 American engineer, professor, physicist, and inventor Robert Hutchings Goddard successfully launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket at Auburn, Massachusetts.
- 1919 Germany's national defense force (Reichswehr) was reintroduced in the form of Wehrmacht. It consisted of the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navy) and the Luftwaffe (air force).
- 1918 Born: Frederick Reines, American physicist who was awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics along with Clyde Cowan. They detected the neutrino.
- 1914 Died: Charles Albert Gobat, Swiss lawyer, politician, and educational administrator who was awarded the 1902 Nobel Peace Prize along with Élie Ducommun.
- 1859 Born: Alexander Popov, Russian physicist who is best known as one of the inventors of radio transmission along with Guglielmo Marconi.
- 1853 Born: Heinrich Kayser, German physicist and spectroscopist who is best known for having discovered the occurrence of helium in the atmosphere of Earth.
- 1851 Born: Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch botanist and microbiologist who is considered to be one of the founders of virology and microbial ecology.
- 1839 Born: Sully Prudhomme, French poet and essayist who was awarded the 1901 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was the first ever winner of this prize.
- 1792 Swedish king Gustav III was shot during a masked ball at the Royal Opera House. The wound wasn't mortal, but it became infected. The king died on March 29.
- 1789 Born: Georg Ohm, German physicist and mathematician who is best known of his discovery of Ohm's law. The unit of electrical resistance was named after him.
- 1738 Died: George Bähr, German architect best known for designing the Frauenkirche in Dresden. Unfortunately, he did not live to see it completed.
- 1660 The Long Parliament of England voted for its own dissolution. It was succeeded by the Convention Parliament elected on April 25, 1660.
- 1621 Samoset, a sagamore of an Eastern Abenaki tribe, became the first Native American to make contact with the Pilgrims of Plymouth Bay Colony.
- 37 Died: Tiberius (born Tiberius Claudius Nero), Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. He is considered one of Rome's greatest generals.