Holidays Calendar for April 17, 2020
Evacuation Day is a national holiday in Syria, that is annually observed on April 17. This holiday celebrates the recognition of independence of Syria from France and evacuation of the last French soldier in 1946.
April 17 is FAO Day in Iraq. This holiday honors the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. It's observed since 2003.
Gabon annually celebrates Women's Day on April 17. The holiday was created in 1998 to commemorate the entry of the first woman in the Gabonese Government.
Flag Day is one of the public holidays in American Samoa. It is celebrated on April 17 to commemorate the adoption of the flag of American Samoa on this day in 1960.
Religious Holidays →
Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Bulgaria,
Cyprus,
Georgia,
Greece,
Lebanon,
Romania,
Montenegro,
Serbia,
Sudan,
Eritrea,
Ethiopia
Good Friday in Eastern Christianity
Good Friday, also known as Great Friday and Holy Friday, is a Christian feast that commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Golgotha. It is celebrated on the Friday preceding Easter by all Christian denominations.
April 17 is World Hemophilia Day. This international observance was created to raise public awareness of people suffering hemophilia (another spelling is haemophilia) and other bleeding disorders.
International Haiku Poetry Day, formerly known as National Haiku Poetry Day, is observed annually on April 17. It was created to celebrate the art of haiku poetry in general and English-language haiku in particular.
Bats have a bit of a bad reputation due to their close association with witchcraft and vampires, but in reality they play an important role in ecosystems and provide humans with some great benefits. International Bat Appreciation Day is celebrated annually on April 17 to dispel negative stereotypes about bats and raise awareness of the importance of bat conservation.
Veterans' Day of Internal Affairs Bodies and Internal Troops was established in Russia in 2010. This professional holiday is observed annually on April 17 since 2011.
Migration Service Employees Day is an official professional holiday in Turkmenistan. It was declared in 2017 by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. The holiday is celebrated on April 17 to commemorate the establishment of the State Migration Service of Turkmenistan.
Fire Service Day is a professional holiday celebrated in the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Kazakhstan on April 17. It commemorates the 1918 Decree on State Firefighting Measures issued by the Council of People’s Commissars. Although Kazakhstan wasn’t part of the Soviet Union back then, it inherited this Soviet professional holiday.
Verrazzano Day, sometimes misspelled Verrazano Day, is a relatively obscure observance commemorating the discovery of New York Harbor by the Florentine explorer Giovanni de Verrazzano. It is celebrated on April 17 in New York state and the Italian town of Greve in Chianti, where Verrazzano is said to have been born.
Did you know that cheeseball may refer to two different products? No matter what comes to your mind, it's National Cheeseball Day, that falls annually on April 17.
National Crawfish Day celebrates one of the most iconic foods of the American South. It has been observed every April 17 since 2020.
Espresso is a worldwide appreciated Italian invention. This drink is known for its rich taste, fine texture and hazelnut or dark brown foam. Annually Italians don't forget to celebrate Espresso Italiano Day, that falls on Friday in April.
Malbec World Day (a slightly incorrect translation of Día Mundial del Malbec) is an annual holiday established by Wines of Argentina, an organization responsible for promoting Argentine wines in the international market. It is dedicated to a purple grape variety commonly identified with Argentine wine.
Festivals on April 17, 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 The funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, took place.
- 2018 Died: Barbara Bush, the wife of George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States, who served as the First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993.
- 2014 NASA's Kepler spacecraft discovered Kepler-186f, the first planet with a radius similar to Earth's in the habitable zone of another star.
- 2014 Died: Gabriel García Márquez, renowned Colombian novelist, short-story writer, journalist, and screenwriter who was awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature.
- 2003 Died: Robert Atkins, American physician and cardiologist best known for having created the Atkins Nutritional Approach, also known as the Atkins diet.
- 1998 Died: Linda McCartney (née Eastman), American musician, photographer, animal rights activist, and entrepreneur who was married to Paul McCartney.
- 1997 Died: Chaim Herzog, Irish-born Israeli politician, lawyer, and writer who served as the 6th President of Israel for two consecutive terms from 1983 to 1993.
- 1995 Born: Phoebe Dyvenor, English actress best known for her role as Daphe Bridgerton (later Basset) in the Netflix historical romance television series Bridgerton.
- 1994 Died: Roger Wolcott Sperry, American neurobiologist and neuropsychologist who was awarded the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine.
- 1989 Born: Avi Kaplan, American singer-songwriter known for being the former vocal bass of the a cappella group Pentatonix. He released his solo debut studio album in 2022.
- 1986 At Heathrow Airport in London, Israeli security guards found explosives in the bag of Anne-Marie Murphy who intended to take them on board an El Al flight and detonate.
- 1985 Born: Rooney Mara, American actress. She is known for her roles in the films The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Carol, Mary Magdalene, and more.
- 1985 The Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly officially ended. The truth of this war ever existing is disputed.
- 1985 Born: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, French professional tennis player who rose to fame after reaching the final in the 2008 Australian Open as an unseeded player.
- 1982 Queen Elizabeth II signed the Canada Act and the Constitution Act into law. The Constitution act contains the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
- 1974 Born: Victoria Beckham (née Adams), English fashion designer, businesswoman, model, and singer. She rose to fame as a member of the pop group Spice Girls.
- 1972 Born: Jennifer Garner, American actress and film producer who starred in the films 13 Going on 30, Elektra, The Invention of Lying, Dallas Buyers Club, and more.
- 1970 NASA's Apollo 13 spacecraft returned safely to Earth. Its mission lasted for five days, twenty-two hours, fifty-four minutes, and forty-one seconds.
- 1969 Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of the assassination of US Senator Robert F. Kennedy. A motive cited for his actions was the Middle East conflict.
- 1967 Died: Red Allen, American jazz trumpeter and vocalist whose style has been claimed to be the first to fully incorporate the innovations of Louis Armstrong.
- 1964 The Ford Motor Company introduced the Ford Mustang. It was the most successful launch of the automaker since the Ford Model A.
- 1960 Died: Eddie Cochran, American musician whose first success came when he performed the song "Twenty Flight Rock". He died at age 21 after a road accident.
- 1959 Born: Sean Bean, English theater, film, television, and voice actor. He is probably best known for his role as Boromir in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
- 1957 Born: Nick Hornby, English novelist, essayist, screenwriter, editor, and lyricist. He is best known for his novels High Fidelity and About a Boy.
- 1951 Born: Olivia Hussey (born Olivia Osuna), Argentinian actress who is best known for her role as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film Romeo and Juliet.
- 1942 Died: Jean Baptiste Perrin, French physicist who was awarded the 1926 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the discontinuous structure of matter.
- 1937 Daffy Duck first appeared in the animated short film Porky's Duck Hunt. This early Daffy was less anthropomorphic and resembled a regular duck.
- 1934 Born: Don Kirshner, American music publisher, record producer, songwriter, and talent manager. He was referred to as The Man With the Golden Ear.
- 1919 Born: Chavela Vargas (born Isabel Vargas Lizano), Mexican singer who is primarily remembered for her renditions of traditional Mexican rancheras.
- 1918 Born: William Holden, American actor best known for his role as J.J. Sefton in the 1953 film Stalag 17 that earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor.
- 1895 The Empire of Japan and the Qing Empire signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, an unequal treaty that ended the first Sino-Japanese war.
- 1820 Born: Alexander Cartwright, American citizen who is one of the several people considered to be the "fathers of baseball", the national sport of the US.
- 1797 The British attacked the Spanish colonial port city of San Juan in Puerto Rico. The Battle of San Juan was one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in America.
- 1790 Died: Benjamin Franklin, American politician, statesman, diplomat, writer, inventor, and polymath. He is remembered as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
- 485 Died: Proclus Lycaeus, called the Successor, Greek Neoplatonist philosopher considered one of the last major Classical philosophers.