Holidays Calendar for June 17, 2020
June 17 is National Day in Iceland. This holiday celebrates the foundation day of the Republic of Iceland.
Public Holidays →
Argentina
Anniversary of the Death of General Martín Miguel de Güemes in Argentina
Anniversary of the Death of General Martín Miguel de Güemes, also known as General Martín Miguel de Güemes Pass to Immortality (Paso a la Inmortalidad del General Martín Miguel de Güemes), is an Argentine public holiday. It honors a hero of the Argentine War of Independence.
Martyrdom of imam Ja'far al-Sadiq is an important religious and public holiday in Iran. It is celebrated on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Shawwal. Al-Sadiq is the last person to be recognized as an imam by all Shiite sects.
World Croc Day is observed annually on June 17. No, the holiday isn’t about foam clogs; it is an environmental observance dedicated to crocodiles that aims to raise awareness of these amazing reptiles and highlight the dangers they face.
Global Garbage Man Day is observed annually on June 17 to honor all men and women who help to keep our cities, towns and villages clean and safe. Although this job is often looked down upon, it is very important and someone’s gotta do it.
National Aviation Day in Romania is observed annually on June 17. On this day in 1910, Romanian engineer and inventor Aurel Vlaicu flew his first powered airplane, the A Vlaicu I, for the first time.
Medical Worker’s Day in Azerbaijan is celebrated annually on June 17. The President of Azerbaijan officially established this professional holiday in 2001.
Cultural Observances →
Philippines
Naliyagan Festival (Province’s Founding Anniversary) in Agusan del Sur
Naliyagan Festival (Pistang Naliyagan) is an annual six-day festival held in the Philippine province of Agusan del Sur. It starts on June 12 (Philippines Independence Day) and culminates on June 17 (the province’s founding anniversary). The final day of the festival is a special non-working holiday in Agusan del Sur.
The Soviet troops invaded Latvia on June 17, 1940. This date is commemorated in Latvia as Occupation of the Latvian Republic Day (or Soviet Occupation Day).
Anniversaries and Memorial Days →
Portugal
National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Forest Fires in Portugal
The National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Forest Fires is a Portuguese observance marked annually on June 17. It was officially established in 2019 to commemorate over 60 people who died and more than 250 who were injured in the devastating wildfires that occurred in June 2017.
The best apple strudels come from Austria, where they originated. Strudels sold in supermarkets are even not similar to real strudels. Celebrate National Apple Strudel Day, that falls annually on June 17.
The United Nations General Assembly declared June 17 as World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. This observance was established in 1995.
El Salvador and Guatemala annually celebrate Father's Day on June 17. Although this holiday has American roots, it's observed almost in every country.
Festivals on June 17, 2020
- Istanbul Tanpınar Literature Festival in Istanbul, Turkey
- Annecy International Animated Film Festival in Annecy, France
- Sydney Film Festival in Sydney, Australia
- Festspiele Zürich in Zurich, Switzerland
- TED Conference in Vancouver, Canada
- ILA Berlin Air Show in Berlin, Germany
- World Amigurumi Exhibition in New York, USA
This Day in History
- 2021 President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law, recognizing Juneteenth as a federal holiday. It was the first federal holiday established since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.
- 2012 Died: Rodney King, American construction worker who became nationally known after being beaten by LAPD officers in March 1991.
- 2008 Died: Tsutomu Miyazaki, Japanese serial killer, cannibal and necrophile who killed four girls between ages four and seven in 1988-1989. He was executed by hanging.
- 2007 Died: Gianfranco Ferré, Italian fashion designer who is often referred to as the "architect of fashion". White shirts were his signature item.
- 2001 Died: Donald J. Cram, American chemist who was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, sharing it with two other scientists.
- 1996 Died: Thomas Kuhn, American physicist, historian, and philosopher of science whose best known work is The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
- 1987 Born: Kendrick Lamar, American rapper and songwriter. He is the only musician outside of the classical and jazz genres to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music.
- 1987 The last definite known individual of the dusky seaside sparrow died. The subspecies was officially declared extinct in December 1990.
- 1985 STS-51-G Space Shuttle Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Sultan Salman Al Saud of Saudi Arabia was on board as a payload specialist.
- 1982 Born: Jodie Whittaker, English actress, best known for her roles in television as the Thirteenth Doctor in Doctor Who and Beth Latimer in Broadchurch.
- 1982 Born: Arthur Darvill, English actor and musician best known for his roles as Rory Williams in Doctor Who and Reverend Paul Coates in Broadchurch.
- 1980 Born: Venus Williams, American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles.
- 1972 Five White House operatives were arrested inside the Democratic National Committee office. This arrest resulted in the so-called Watergate scandal.
- 1966 Born: Tory Burch, American fashion designer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. She launched her own fashion label in 2004.
- 1953 In East Berlin, a popular uprising against the government of the German Democratic Republic was violently suppressed by the police and Soviet troops.
- 1943 Born: Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus), American singer-songwriter and record producer whose best known recordings include "Mandy" and "Copacabana".
- 1942 Born: Mohamed ElBaradei, Egyptian law scholar, diplomat and politician who was awarded the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with the IAEA.
- 1940 The British Cunard liner RMS Lancastria was sunk during the Second World War. It is considered to be Britain's worst maritime disaster.
- 1940 Died: Arthur Harden, British biochemist who was awarded the 1929 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, sharing it with Hans von Euler-Chelpin.
- 1939 French criminal Eugen Weidmann became the last person to be publicly executed by guillotine in France. Private executions continued until 1977.
- 1933 Four law enforcement officers and a criminal fugitive were murdered in a shootout at the Union Station railroad depot in Kansas City, Missouri.
- 1929 Born: Tigran Petrosian, Soviet Armenian Chess Grandmaster and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed Iron Tigran.
- 1920 Born: François Jacob, French biologist who was awarded the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, sharing it with André Lwoff and Jacques Monod.
- 1898 The United States Navy Hospital Corps was established by President William McKinley. Hospital corpsmen are enlisted medical specialists of the US Navy.
- 1898 Died: Edward Burne-Jones, British artist and designer primarily associated with the medievalist strand of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
- 1898 Born: M. C. Escher, Dutch graphic artist known for his woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. His best known works include Relativity and Drawing Hands.
- 1885 The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor. 2,000 people lined the docks to welcome the French steamer Isère that carried the statue.
- 1882 Born: Igor Stravinsky, Russian (and later French and American) composer, pianist and conductor. His music is notable for its innovativeness and stylistic diversity.
- 1858 Died: Rani Lakshmibai, the queen of the Jhansi State in India. She was one of the leading figures of India's First War for Independence.
- 1818 Born: Charles Gounod, French composer best known for his Ave Maria, based on a work by Bach, and his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.
- 1719 Died: Joseph Addison, English poet, essayist, playwright and politician. He is primarily remembered as a co-founder of The Spectator magazine.
- 1696 Died: John III Sobieski, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. His reign was marked by the stabilization of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
- 1579 English explorer Francis Drake landed on the coast of California. He claimed the land for the English Crown and named it Nova Albion.