Holidays Calendar for December 19, 2026
National Heroes and Heroines Day is a public holiday in Anguilla, that annually falls on December 19. Previously this holiday was known as Separation Day.
In many countries, Saint Nicholas has a reputation as a bringer of gifts to well-behaved children (in fact, Santa Claus and Father Christmas derive from this patron saint of Children. That’s why many children around the world look forward to Saint Nicholas Day, observed on December 6 in Western Christian countries and December 19 in Eastern Christian countries.
Defense Lawyer Day, also known as Advocate Day or Advocacy Day, is one of the many professional holidays celebrated in Ukraine. It has been observed every December 19 for more than two decades.
Goa Liberation Day is an annual observance held on December 19. It commemorates the anniversary of the day when Goa was liberated from Portuguese colonial rule and became part of India.
National Wreaths Across America Day is observed on every second or third Saturday of December by wreath-laying ceremonies held at Arlington National Cemetery and other cemeteries across the country. It was created to remember fallen United States veterans and honor those who currently serve their country in the armed forces.
The National Oatmeal Muffin Day is observed on December 19. It is a perfect occasion to have a couple of healthy and at the same time delicious muffins.
Emo music and its associated subculture might seem like a thing of the past, but they have experienced a sort of revival lately. There’s even a holiday that celebrates all things emo, called National Emo Day. It is observed annually on December 19.
If you have a sweet tooth, we know a holiday you might want to celebrate! National Hard Candy Day, observed annually on December 19, was created in honor of one of the oldest and most popular types of candy.
Deck the halls with boughs of holly on December 19 because it is Holly Day. This unofficial holiday was created in honor of one of the most recognizable decorations associated with Christmas and the winter holiday season.
December 19 is a great day to finally get a Christmas tree if you haven’t done it yet because it is Look for an Evergreen Day. This amazing holiday was created by the Tree Care Industry Association, formerly known as the National Arborist Association.
This Day in History
- 2016 A truck was driven into the Christmas market next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 56.
- 2004 Died: Herbert C. Brown, American chemist and academic, a Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate for his work with organoboranes.
- 2001 A record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa was recorded at Tosontsengel, Khövsgöl, Mongolia.
- 1998 The United States House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton. He became the second president of the USA to be impeached.
- 1997 104 people on board of SilkAir Flight 185 died when the aircraft crashed into the Musi River, near Palembang, Indonesia. No one survived.
- 1996 Died: Marcello Mastroianni, Italian actor. He is famous for his roles in the films La Dolce Vita, Divorce, Italian Style, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, etc.
- 1989 Died: Cleo Virginia Andrews, better known by her pen name V. C. Andrews, American novelist. She is famous for her novels combining Gothic horror and family saga; her best known bestseller is Flowers in the Attic.
- 1986 Born: Annie Murphy, Canadian actress. She is best known for her starring role as Alexis Rose in the sitcom Schitt's Creek, for which she garnered universal acclaim and won a Primetime Emmy Award.
- 1984 China and the United Kingdom singed the Sino-British Joint Declaration in Beijing. The declaration stated that China would resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong on July 1, 1997.
- 1980 Born: Jake Gyllenhaal, American actor whose career started at the age of 10. His film credits include in Donnie Darko, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, The Day After Tomorrow, Nightcrawler, and many more.
- 1972 Born: Alyssa Milano, American actress and producer. She is best known for starring in a number TV shows, such as Who's the Boss?, Melrose Place, Charmed, and Mistress.
- 1967 Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt, who had disappeared earlier in December while swimming at Cheviot Beach near Portsea, Victoria, was officially presumed dead.
- 1963 Born: Jennifer Beals, American actress. She is best known fo her breakout performance as Alexandra Owens in Flashdance and for her portrayal of Bette Porter on The L Word.
- 1963 Born: Til Schweiger, German actor, producer and director, one of most successful filmmakers in Germany. He appeared in a number of American films, including Already Dead, King Arthur, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, Inglourious Basterds etc.
- 1961 Born: Scott Cohen, American actor. He is known for his roles as Wolf in The 10th Kingdom, Steve Thomas in Perfect Murder, Perfect Town, and Max Medina on Gilmore Girls.
- 1961 Born: Eric Allin Cornell, American physicist, known for his efforts to synthesize the first Bose-Einstein condensate. This work brought him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001.
- 1956 Irish physician John Bodkin Adams was arrested in connection with the suspicious death of over 160 his patients. He would be eventually convicted only of minor charges.
- 1953 Died: Robert Andrews Millikan, American physicist, remembered for his investigations of the measurement of the elementary electronic charge and work on the photoelectric effect. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1923.
- 1944 Died: Abbas II Hilmi Bey, the last Ottoman viceroy of Egypt and Sudan who ruled from January 8, 1892 to December 19, 1914. His removal from the position by Britain de facto marked the end of Egypt's four-century era as a province of the Ottoman Empire.
- 1941 Born: Lee Myung-bak, South Korean politician. He served as the 10th President of South Korea from February 25, 2008 to February 25, 2013.
- 1934 Born: Pratibha Patil, Indian politician, the 12th President of India. She became the first Indian woman to hold this office.
- 1915 Died: Alois Alzheimer, German psychiatrist. He is credited with identifying the first published case of dementia that would be later identified as Alzheimer's disease.
- 1915 Born: Édith Piaf, French singer. She became widely regarded as France's national diva and one of the country's greatest international stars.
- 1907 239 miners died in a mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.
- 1899 Born: Martin Luther King, Sr., American priest and activist, an early figure in the American Civil Rights Movement. He was the father of Martin Luther King, Jr.
- 1863 Frederick Walton applied for a patent for linoleum, the first widely used smooth surface floor covering.
- 1852 Born: Albert A. Michelson, American physicist remembered for his measurement of the speed of light. In 1907 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
- 1851 Died: Joseph Mallord William Turner, English painter famous for his watercolor landscape paintings. He was considered to be a controversial figure in his days, but now he's regarded as the artist who elevated the landscape painting to an eminence rivaling history painting.
- 1848 Died: Emily Brontë, English novelist and poet, the eldest of the Brontë sisters. She is best known for her only novel Wuthering Heights, which is now considered a classic of English literature.
- 1779 Born: Albine de Montholon, French noblewoman. She was reputed to be the mistress of Napoleon during his exile on Saint Helena.
- 1741 Died: Vitus Bering, Danish-Russian explorer, famous for his explorations of the north-eastern coast of the Asian continent. Many geographical objects were named after him (the Bering Sea, Bering Island, the Bering Strait etc).
- 1606 Three ships, the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery, departed from England carrying settlers who would later found the first of the 13 colonies of the United States.
- 1370 Died: Pope Urban V. He is known for his pressure for reform, restoration and construction of churches and monasteries. He also came close to the unification of the Eastern and Western churches, but wasn't able to achieve this.
- 1154 Henry II of England was crowned at Westminster Abbey.