Holidays Calendar for April 16, 2020
In some historic counties in the United Kingdom, county days celebrating their cultural heritage traditionally coincide with the feast days of their respective patron saints. For example, Orkney Day is celebrated on the same day as the feast day of Saint Magnus.
Maundy Thursday, also known as Holy Thursday or Great and Holy Thursday, is a Christian feast celebrated on the Thursday before Easter. It commemorates Maundy (the ritual of foot washing) and Jesus Christ’s Last Supper with the Apostles.
April 16 is World Voice Day. This annual event is devoted to the celebration of the phenomenon of voice, that is as unique as every person themselves.
International Pizza Cake Day is a fun culinary holiday observed annually on the third Thursday of April. It was launched to celebrate a creative type of pizza that originated, surprisingly, in Canada.
Police Day is annually observed in Armenia on April 16. This is a relatively new celebration, that was established in 2002.
The lawyers of Bulgaria annually celebrate their professional day on April 16. Lawyers' Day is observed on the anniversary of adoption of the Tarnovo Constitution.
The birthday of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark is celebrated on April 16. It is not a public holiday, but it was an official flag-flying day during the Queen’s reign and remained one even after her abdication in 2024.
Anniversaries and Memorial Days →
Iraq
Remembrance of Chemical Attack on Balisan and Sheikh Wasan in Iraqi Kurdistan
The Anfal genocide is one of the most tragic pages in Kurdish history. In Iraqi Kurdistan, there are several remembrance days dedicated to the victims of the genocide. One of them is Remembrance of Chemical Attack on Balisan and Sheikh Wasan. It is observed on April 16 every year.
Memorial Day for the Victims of the Holocaust (A holokauszt áldozatainak emléknapja) is observed on April 16 every year. On this day in 1944, the Jews of Subcarpathia were rounded up and forced into ghettos and then extermination camps.
Eggs Benedict is a great dish to start your day. Celebrate National Eggs Benedict Day on April 16 with a delicious breakfast or brunch!
National Healthcare Decisions Day, known as Advance Care Planning Day in Canada, is an annual observance held on April 16. It was created to inspire, educate and empower healthcare providers and the general public about the importance of advance care planning.
Emancipation Day, also known as Juneteenth, is a U. S. federal holiday that commemorates the emancipation of slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865. However, some states and even cities also observe their own Emancipation Day on other dates. For example, Emancipation Day in the District of Columbia is observed on April 16.
Festivals on April 16, 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
- 2021 Died: Helen McCrory, English actress. She was known for her roles in the films Charlotte Gray, The Queen, The Special Relationship, Hugo, Skyfall, and the Harry Potter film series.
- 2016 An earthquake with a moment magnitude of 7.8 struck Ecuador, killing 676 people and injuring over 6,000. It was the country's worst earthquake in nearly 40 years.
- 2014 The MV Sewol ferry with more than 450 people aboard capsized near Jindo Island off South Korea. 295 passengers died, 9 more were declared missing.
- 2007 Died: Maria Lenk, Brazilian swimmer, one of the greatest Brazilian female athletes. She became the first Brazilian and South-American woman to participate in the Summer Olympic Games.
- 2001 India and Bangladesh began a five-day border conflict, but were unable to resolve the longstanding disputes about their border.
- 1996 Born: Anya Taylor-Joy, British-American actress. She is known for her roles in the films Split, Glass, Last Night in Soho, The Menu, as well as for her lead role in the miniseries The Queen's Gambit.
- 1994 Born: Midori Francis, American actress known for her roles as Lily on Dash & Lily, Alicia on The Sex Lives of College Girls, and Dr. Mika Yasuda on Grey's Anatomy.
- 1993 Born: Mirau Nagasu, American figure skater. She is a 2018 Olympic Games team event bronze medalist, three-time Four Continents medalist, and a seven-time U.S. national medalist
- 1992 Died: Andy Russell, American popular vocalist, actor, and entertainer of Mexican descent, specializing in traditional pop and Latin music. He sold 8 million records in the 1940s.
- 1992 60,000 tons of crude oil spilled into the ocean when the Katina P, a Greek oil tanker, ran aground off of Maputo, Mozambique.
- 1991 Died: David Lean, English director, producer, and screenwriter, best remembered for the epics The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and Brief Encounter.
- 1984 Born: Claire Foy, British actress. She is known for her portrayal of the young Queen Elizabeth II in the Netflix series The Crown and Anne Boleyn in the BBC series Wolf Hall.
- 1982 Born: Gina Carano, American actress and former mixed martial artist. She is known for her roles in Haywire, Fast & Furious 6, Deadpool, and The Mandalorian.
- 1972 Died: Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese author. His sparse, lyrical and subtly-shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize for Literature. He became the first Japanese author to receive this award.
- 1965 Born: John Cryer, American actor, writer, producer, and television director. He is best known for his co-leading role as Alan Harper on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men.
- 1965 Born: Martin Lawrence, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, a leading actor during the 1990s. He is best known for the films Bad Boys, Life, Big Momma's House, Bad Boys II.
- 1961 Cuban leader Fidel Castro declared in his nationally broadcast speech that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba was going to adopt Communism.
- 1954 Born: Ellen Barkin, American actress known for her roles in the films Diner, Tender Mercies, Eddie and the Cruisers, The Big Easy, Johnny Handsome, Sea of Love, and more.
- 1952 Born: Michel Blanc, French actor and director, best known for roles of losers and hypochondriacs. As a director he is known for his films Grosse Fatigue and Summer Things.
- 1945 The German refugee ship Goya was sunk by a Soviet submarine. More than 6,000 people died (only 183 survived), making the accident one of the major maritime losses of life in history.
- 1928 Died: Henry Birks, Canadian businessman, founder of Henry Birks and Sons, a designer, manufacturer and retailer of jewelry, timepieces, silverware and gifts.
- 1927 Born: Pope Benedict XVI (born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger), whose papacy lasted from 2005 until his resignation in 2013. Upon his resignation, Benedict chose to be known as "Pope emeritus".
- 1926 Born: Pierre Fabre, French pharmacist, founder of Laboratoires Pierre Fabre, a French multinational pharmaceutical and cosmetics company present in over 130 countries.
- 1925 150 people were killed and 500 were wounded during the St. Nedelya Church assault in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Bulgarian Communist Party blew up the roof of the church during a funeral service.
- 1922 Born: John Christopher, English author, recipient of the Guardian Prize and the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Youth Literature Prize). He is best known for his books The Death of Grass and novel series The Tripods.
- 1922 Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Treaty of Rapallo that re-established diplomatic relations between the countries.
- 1921 Born: Peter Ustinov, British actor, filmmaker, and writer. He received two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for his roles in Spartacus and Topkapi.
- 1912 Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.
- 1904 Died: Samuel Smiles, Scottish author, best known for his book Self-Help. This book elevated Smiles to celebrity status almost overnight.
- 1889 Born: Charlie Chaplin, English actor, director, producer, screenwriter, and composer. He rose to fame in the silent film era and became a worldwide icon through his screen persona the Tramp.
- 1867 Born: Wilbur Wright, American pilot, engineer, and businessman, co-founder of the Wright Company.
- 1853 The first passenger railroad was opened in India. It connected Bori Bunder (Mumbai) and Thane.
- 1850 Died: Marie Tussaud, French-English sculptor, the founder of the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in London.
- 1844 Born: Anatole France, French journalist, author, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements, characterized as they are by a nobility of style, a profound human sympathy, grace, and a true Gallic temperament.
- 1828 Died: Francisco Goya, Spanish painter, often regarded as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns.
- 1818 The Rush-Bagot Treaty was ratified by the United States Senate, establishing the border between Canada and the United States.
- 1788 Died: Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French mathematician, cosmologist, and author, whose works influenced the next two generations of naturalists. His major work was 36 quarto volumes of Histoire Naturelle.
- 1783 Died: Christian Mayer, Czech astronomer and educator, most noted for pioneering the study of binary stars, although his equipment was ill-suitable for this.
- 1755 Born: Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, French painter widely regarded as the most important female painter of the 18th century. She created 660 portraits and 200 landscapes.
- 1682 Born: John Hadley, English mathematician, known for the invention of the octant, a measuring instrument used in navigation.