Holidays Calendar for December 16, 2026
Kazakhstan became the very last country to declare independence from the Soviet Union after its dissolution. This event took place on December 16, 1991 and this anniversary is annually celebrated by the Kazakh nation as Independence Day.
National Day is celebrated in Bahrain every year on December 16. This public holiday was established to celebrate the accession of Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the first Emir of Bahrain, on December 16, 1961.
Day of Reconciliation is celebrated in South Africa on December 16. This public holiday was observed for the first time in 1994 after the end of apartheid to foster reconciliation and national unity.
Victory Day is a public holiday in Bangladesh, that is celebrated every year on December 16. Various events are organized across the country to celebrate the end of the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.
Pinot Meunier Day, also known as International Pinot Meunier Day, Meunier Day or International Meunier Day, is celebrated annually on December 16. It was created to honor the most overlooked grape variety used in the production of Champagne.
Ministry of Emergency Situations Workers' Day is observed in Azerbaijan on December 16. This professional day was established by President of Azerbaijan in December 2006. The date of the holiday was chosen to celebrate the foundation anniversary of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Azerbaijan in December 2005.
Research Day is a professional and cultural observance in Iran held on the 25th day of Azar (December 16 in the Gregorian calendar). The main goal of the holiday is to raise public awareness of the importance of supporting and developing science and technology in Iran.
Digital Marketing Day, also known as DM Day or Digital Marketers Day, is celebrated annually on December 16. It was created in India to recognize one of the most important components of marketing in the modern world.
National Sports Day is celebrated in Thailand on December 16. The holiday was established in 1986 to commemorate the day when King Bhumibol Adulyadej won gold medal in sailing in 1967.
The Day of the Vow (Geloftedag) is an official holiday in the South African city of Orania founded by Afrikaners (descendants of early predominantly Dutch settlers at the Cape of Good Hope). It used to be a public holiday celebrated nationwide, but the South African government replaced the Day of the Vow with the Day of Reconciliation following the fall of apartheid.
Chocolate can improve the taste of just about anything, or so the chocoholics think. December 16 is the perfect day to figure out if this is really true because it is considered the National Chocolate Covered Anything Day.
Green Chili Day is observed annually on December 16. It celebrates a variation of chili con carne made with green chili peppers.
This Day in History
- 2009 Died: Roy E. Disney, American businessman, senior executive for The Walt Disney Company for a long time. He was the last of the Disney family to be actively involved in the company.
- 1995 The name of Euro, the currency of the eurozone, was officially adopted.
- 1988 Born: Anna Popplewell, English actress best known for playing Susan Pevensie in the fantasy film series The Chronicles of Narnia and starring as Lady Lola on Reign.
- 1984 Born: Theo James, English actor known for playing in The Divergent Series film trilogy. His notable television credits include The Time Traveler's Wife and The White Lotus.
- 1982 Died: Colin Chapman, English engineer and inventor. He is remembered as the founder of Lotus Cars, a British racing and sports cars manufacturer. As of 2023, the company was majority owned by Geely.
- 1981 Born: Krysten Ritter, American actress and musician. She is best known for roles as Jane Margolis on Breaking Bad, Chloe on Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, and Jessica Jones on Jessica Jones and The Defenders.
- 1980 Died: Colonel Sanders, American businessman, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (now known as KFC), the world's second largest restaurant chain after McDonald's.
- 1969 Born: Adam Riess, American astrophysicist, known for his research in using supernovae as cosmological probes. In 2011 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for providing evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.
- 1965 Died: William Somerset Maugham, British author and playwright, one of the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest paid author during the 1930s.
- 1963 Born: James Mangold, American film director, producer, and screenwriter. His best known films include Cop Land, Girl, Interrupted, Walk the Line, The Wolverine, Logan, and Ford v Ferrari.
- 1960 A United Airlines Douglas DC-8 and a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation collided over Staten Island, New York. All 128 people aboard the aircraft and 6 more on the ground were killed.
- 1950 President of the USA Harry S. Truman declared a state of emergency after Chinese troops had entered the fight in support of Communist North Korea.
- 1949 Born: Billy Gibbons, American musician, producer and actor, best known as the guitarist of the American rock band ZZ Top.
- 1947 William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain built the first practical point-contact transistor.
- 1946 Born: Benny Andersson, Swedish musician and composer, best known as a former member of the Swedish pop group ABBA.
- 1946 Thailand joined the United Nations.
- 1945 Died: Giovanni Agnelli, Italian entrepreneur. In 1899 he founded the Fiat car manufacturing company.
- 1937 Two American criminals, Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe, attempted to escape from Alcatraz, an American federal prison in San Francisco Bay. Although the officials stated that the criminals perished in the attempt, their remains were never found.
- 1928 Born: Philip K. Dick, American author and philosopher. His best known works include The Man in the High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Flow My Tears, the Policemen Said, and more.
- 1926 Born: Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson, Trinidadian lawyer and politician. He served as the 3rd President of Trinidad and Tobago from March 19, 1997 to March 17, 2003.
- 1922 Died: Gabriel Narutowicz, Polish politician. He was the 1st President of the Second Polish Republic, serving from December 11, 1922. His presidency lasted only for five days because he was assassinated while attending an art exhibition.
- 1921 Died: Camille Saint-Saëns, French composer of the Romantic era. His best known works include the opera Samson and Delilah, the Third Violin Concerto, the First Cello Concerto, etc.
- 1920 An estimated 200,000 were killed by the earthquake magnitude 8.5 that hit the Gansu province in China.
- 1917 Born: Arthur C. Clarke, British writer, inventor and explorer. He is best known as the co-author of the screenplay for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, that is widely considered to be one of the most influential films of all time.
- 1903 The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, claimed by many as the best hotel in India, was opened in Mumbai to the guests for the first time.
- 1889 Born: Kim Chwa-chin, South Korean guerrilla leader, who played an important role in the attempt of the development of Anarchism in Korea.
- 1883 Born: Gabriel-Maximilien Leuvielle, better known by the stage name Max Linder, French actor of the silent film era. His on-screen persona Max was one of the first recognizable recurring characters in film and he's also cited as the first international movie star.
- 1859 Died: Wilhelm Grimm, German author, the younger brother of Jacob Grimm. The Brothers Grimm collected, published and helped popularize many folk tales, including Cinderella, The Frog Prince, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel.
- 1783 Died: Johann Adolph Hasse, German composer, singer and educator. He was immensely popular in his time and nowadays he is best known for his prolific operatic output. He was a key figure in the development of opera seria and the 18th-century music.
- 1775 Born: Jane Austen, English novelist, one of the most widely read authors in English literature. Her best known novels are Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Emma.
- 1707 Mount Fuji erupted for the last time. The eruption produced no lava but released some 800 million cubic meters of volcanic ash. Seismologists closely watch Mount Fuji for the upcoming eruptions.
- 1687 Died: William Petty, English economist and philosopher, who became prominent while serving Oliver Cromwell. He is famous for developing efficient methods to survey the land that was to be confiscated and given to Cromwell's soldiers.
- 1431 Henry VI of England was crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris.