Holidays Calendar for January 17, 2020
Heroes’ Day is an annual public holiday celebrated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is a two-day celebration that takes place on January 16 and 17. The first day is dedicated to Laurent-Désiré Kabila and the second day honors Patrice Lumumba.
Public Holidays →
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Possession Day in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Possession Day is one of the bank holidays in the British overseas territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It is celebrated on January 17 to commemorate the day when Captain James Cook claimed the island of South Georgia for Great Britain.
January 17 is the Feast Day of Anthony the Great, also known as Saint Anthony, that patron saint of basket makers, brushmakers and gravediggers. He is also appealed to against skin diseases.
Guru Gobind Singh’s birthday (Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti) is a Sikh holiday celebrated every January. It is dedicated to the tenth and last Sikh Guru. The holiday has an official status in some Indian states.
Thai Pongal is a Tamil harvest festival dedicated to Surya, the solar deity in Hinduism. It begins on the 1st day of the 10th month in the Tamil calendar, which corresponds to January 14 in the Gregorian calendar, and lasts for four days.
International Fetish Day is an annual observance dedicated to supporting the BDSM and fetish community. It is held on the third Friday of January. One of the main aspects of the celebration is known as “Perverts Wear Purple”.
International Mentoring Day is celebrated annually on January 17. This observance was created to educate the general public about mentoring and its importance, promote the global mentoring movement, and encourage people to show appreciation to their mentors, past and present.
International We Are Not Broken Day is observed annually on January 17. It was created to celebrate individuals who have overcome or are living with physical and emotional trauma, mental illness, or disease.
National Dairy Day (Wan Khonom Haeng Chat) in Thailand is celebrated on January 17. It was inaugurated by the government of Thailand in 1987 and is considered the professional holiday of all people who work in the dairy farming industry.
Kid Inventors' Day is annually celebrated on January 17. The holiday honors all kids inventors around the world, who invented different things, that are common today.
The Spanish island of Menorca, which belongs to the archipelago of the Balearic Islands and the autonomous community of the same name, celebrates its national holiday on January 17. Menorca National Day was established to commemorate the conquest of the island by King Alfonso III of Aragon in 1287.
Ram Khamhaeng Day (Wan Pho Khun Ram Khamhaeng Maharat) is observed in Thailand annually on January 17. It commemorates the day the future King Rama IV discovered the Ram Khamhaeng Inscription in 1833.
James Leonard Tagle Gordon Day (Araw ng Kapanangakan ni James Leonard Tagle Gordon) is observed in the Philippines on January 17 every year to commemorate the birthday of the first mayor of Olongapo City. It is a special nonworking holiday in the city of Olongapo and the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.
Hot buttered rum is a warm alcoholic beverage that is perfect for cold fall and winter days. Enjoy this drink on January 17 and celebrate National Hot Buttered Rum Day.
Popeye Day celebrates a beloved cartoon character that has been around for almost a century. It is observed on January 17 to commemorate the day when Popeye the Sailor made its first appearance in the comic strip Thimble Theatre.
National Bootlegger’s Day is celebrated on January 17 every year to commemorate alcohol smugglers who became legendary during the Prohibition era.
Festivals on January 17, 2020
- Fringe World in Perth, Australia
- Massafra Carnival in Massafra, Italy
- Berlin International Green Week in Berlin, Germany
- PAX South in San Antonio, USA
- Patras Carnival in Patras, Greece
- Manfredonia Carnival in Manfredonia, Italy
- Rijeka Carnival in Rijeka, Croatia
- Spark STEM Fest in Orlando, USA
- Montreal International Auto Show in Montreal, Canada
- Celtic Connections in Glasgow, United Kingdom
- Küstendorf International Film and Music Festival in Drvengrad, Serbia
- imm cologne (Cologne Furniture Fair) in Cologne, Germany
- Gualeguaychú Carnival in Gualeguaychú, Argentina
- Dhaka International Film Festival in Dhaka, Bangladesh
- European Motor Show Brussels in Brussels, Belgium
This Day in History
- 2023 An avalanche struck a road in Nyingchi, Tibet, killing 28 people. 53 others were rescued, five of whom were seriously injured.
- 2011 Died: Don Kirshner, known as The Man With the Golden Ear, American music publisher, talent manager, record producer, and songwriter.
- 2008 British Airways Flight 38 crash landed near London Heathrow Airport in England. Fortunately, there were no fatalities, but 47 people were injured.
- 2008 Died: Bobby Fischer (full name Robert James Fischer), American chess prodigy, grandmaster, and the eleventh World Chess Champion, one of the greatest chess players of all the time.
- 2005 Died: Albert Schatz, American microbiologist and science educator. He is best known as the discoverer of streptomycin, an antibiotic drug.
- 2002 Died: Camilo José Cela, Spanish essayist, short story writer and novelist associated with the Generation of '36 movement. He was awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Literature.
- 1998 The Drudge Report broke the Monica Lewinsky scandal to the public. The story broke into mainstream press four days later in The Washington Post.
- 1997 Died: Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer best known for discovering Pluto in 1930. He also supported serious scientific research of UFOs.
- 1995 Born: Indya Moore, American actor and model. They are best known for playing the role of Angel Evangelista in the FX television series Pose.
- 1994 Born: Lucy Boynton, British and American actress best known for starring as Mary Austin in the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which received numerous accolades and was a box office success.
- 1991 Died: Olav V of Norway (born Alexander Edward Christian Frederik), the King of Norway from 1957 until his death. He was nicknamed The People's King (Folkekongen).
- 1987 Born: Oleksandr Usyk, Ukrainian professional boxer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Ukrainian boxers of all time and one of the greatest cruiserweights of all time.
- 1986 Born: Max Adler, American actor, best known for his roles as Dave Karofsky on the television series Glee and Tank on the television series Switched at Birth.
- 1980 Born: Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Ukrainian-born American Latin–ballroom dance champion, choreographer, and instructor. He is widely known as one of the professional dancers on Dancing with the Stars.
- 1980 Born: Zooey Deschanel, American actress, producer, and singer-songwriter. Her breakout role was Anita Miller in the 2000 film Almost Famous.
- 1971 Born: Kid Rock (Robert James Ritchie), American musician, singer, rapper, and songwriter. His breakthrough album was Devil Without a Cause (1998), which sold 14 million copies.
- 1970 Born: Genndy Tartakovsky, Russian-born American animator, writer, producer, and director. He is known for creating Star Wars: Clone Wars and directing three Hotel Transylvania animated films.
- 1969 Born: Tiësto (Tijs Michiel Verwest), Dutch DJ and record producer. He won the Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for his remixed version of John Legend's hit "All of Me".
- 1964 Died: Terence Hanbury White, English writer best known for his Arthurian fantasy novel The Once and Future King, which is a sequence of several works.
- 1964 Born: Michelle Obama (born Michelle LaVaughn Robinson), American lawyer and writer, the 44th First Lady of the United States and the first African-American First Lady.
- 1962 Born: Jim Carrey, Canadian American actor comedian, and producer. He is best known for his roles in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Bruce Almighty.
- 1961 Died: Patrice Lumumba, Congolese independence leader and the first Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo. He was assassinated after an army coup in Congo.
- 1945 Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg was detained in Budapest by Soviet authorities on suspicion of espionage. He was never seen again and was reported to have died on July 17, 1947.
- 1945 As Soviet troops approached Poland, the Nazis began to evacuate prisoners from Auschwitz, one of the largest concentration and extermination camps.
- 1942 Born: Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.), American former professional boxer. He is one the greatest heavyweights in the history of sport.
- 1933 Born: Dalida (stage name of Yolanda Cristina Gigliotti), Egyptian-Italian singer and actress who performed and recorded in more than ten languages.
- 1922 Born: Betty White, American actress, comedian and producer. She was noted for her vast television appearances acting in sitcoms, sketch comedy, and game shows during a career spanning almost seven decades.
- 1917 Popular cartoon fictional character Popeye the Sailor first appeared in Thimble Theatre, the daily King Features comic strip.
- 1912 Robert Falcon Scott and four companions reached the South Pole in the course of the British Antarctic Expedition, also known as the Terra Nova Expedition.
- 1904 Anton Chekhov's last play The Cherry Orchard opened at the Moscow Art Theatre in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski.
- 1899 Born: Al Capone, American gangster who attained fame during the Prohibition era. He had been a crime boss for seven years by the time he was put in jail for tax evasion.
- 1869 Died: Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Russian composer best known for his operas. His most famous operas are Esmeralda, Rusalka, and The Stone Guest.
- 1863 Born: Constantin Stanislavski, Russian actor and theater director, best known for the eponymous Stanislavski system, a progression of techniques used to train actors and actresses.
- 1820 Born: Anne Brontë, British poet and novelist, the youngest of the Brontë sisters. She wrote two novels, Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
- 1811 The Battle of Calderón Bridge took place. It was a decisive battle in the Mexican War of Independence. The battle resulted in Spanish victory.
- 1773 James Cook and his crew became one of the first to cross the Antarctic Circle. This happened during James Cook's second voyage.
- 1751 Died: Tomaso Albinoni, Italian Baroque composer. In his day he was famous as an opera composer, but today he is mainly known for his instrumental pieces.
- 1706 Born: Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a man of many talents: an author, printer, politician, political theorist, civic activist, inventor, scientist, diplomat, and statesmen.
- 1648 The English Long Parliament passed the Vote of No Addresses after breaking off negotiations with King Charles I who entered into an engagement with the Scots.