Holidays Calendar for March 24, 2016

On March 24, the citizens of the Northern Mariana Islands celebrate a public holiday known as Commonwealth Covenant Day. It commemorates the anniversary of the enactment of the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America in 1976.

Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice is an Argentinian public holiday that commemorates the victims of the so-called Dirty War. It is held annually on March 24, the anniversary of the 1976 coup that overthrew Isabel Perón.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, there are three public holidays named Heroes’ Day. The first two are celebrated back-to-back on January 16 and 17; they honor Laurent Kabila and Patrice Lumumba, respectively. The date of the third one is March 24. This holiday is dedicated to Joseph Kasa-Vubu, the first president of the Republic of the Congo.

Purim, also referred to as the Festival of Lots, is a Jewish holiday commemorating one of the victories of the Jewish people over their enemies who wanted to destroy the Jews. Set in the ancient Achaemenid Persian Empire, the story of the holiday is told in the Book of Esther (Megillat Ester).

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Maundy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter. This holy day commemorates the Maundy (washing of the feet) and the Last Supper of Jesus Christ. It is a public holiday in most countries that were part of the Danish colonial empire or the Spanish empire.

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International Whistleblower Day is celebrated annually on March 24. It was created to celebrate people who are not afraid to report information about crimes, acts of corruption, public health threats and environmental dangers to achieve justice and make a difference.

World Kabaddi Day celebrates one of the most popular traditional sports in the Indian subcontinent. It is observed on March 24 every year to commemorate the foundation of World Kabaddi, an international organization that aims to promote kabaddi across the world.

March 24 is National Tree Planting Day in Uganda. The holiday was established to raise awareness of the importance of fighting deforestation.

National Life Day (Narodowy Dzień Życia) is an official holiday declared by parliamentary resolution in Poland. It was established by a resolution of Sejm on August 27, 2004. The holiday is observed annually on March 24, the day before the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Western Churches.

The Day of Remembrance of the Victims of NATO Bombing is observed in Serbia every March 24. It was established to honor the memory of those who died as a result of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War.

Raisins coated with dark chocolate or milk chocolate have their own special day to be honored. March 24 is National Chocolate Covered Raisins Day.

National Cheesesteak Day celebrates an iconic Philly sandwich that has been around for almost a century. It is observed annually on March 24.

March 24 is a perfect day to go out to your favorite bar or throw a cocktail party for your friends and family because it is National Cocktail Day. This amazing holiday celebrates numerous cocktails that are enjoyed by people all over the world.

World Tuberculosis Day is an annual international observance that focuses on raising public awareness about the global epidemic of tuberculosis and importance of the elimination of the disease. It is coordinated by the World Health Organization.

International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims is a United Nations observance held annually on March 24. It was proclaimed on December 21, 2010 by the UN General Assembly.

 

This Day in History

  • 2013 Died: Barbara Anderson, New Zealand author, who became world recognized despite only starting of her career in the late fifties (Girls High, Portrait of the Artist's Wife, All the Nice Girls, The House Guest, Proud Garments).
  • 2010 Died: Jim Marshall, American photographer of rock stars. He made photos of Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Guns N' Roses, Santana, The Beatles.
  • 2008 The Kingdom of Bhutan officially became the county with a democratic form of government. The first ever general elections in the history of Bhutan were held.
  • 2003 The Arab League passed the resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of the U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq.
  • 2002 Died: César Milstein, Argentinian biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate for development of the technique allowing the production of antibodies.
  • 1999 NATO attacked a sovereign country for the first time in the course of aerial bombardment against Yugoslavia.
  • 1998 A tornado swept through Dantan, India. 250 were killed and 3000 others injured.
  • 1998 Mitchell Johnson (age 11) and Andrew Golden (age 13) started fire upon teachers and students a Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Five were killed, 10 more wounded.
  • 1989 240,000 barrels of crude oil were spilled when the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound in Alaska. This accident is considered as one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters.
  • 1973 Born: Jim Parsons, American actor, best known for the role as Sheldon Cooper in sitcom The Big Bang Theory.
  • 1971 Died: Arne Jacobsen, Danish architect and designer. He is best remembered for his contribution to architectural Functionalism, for simple, but effective chair designs and as a designer of the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel and Aarhus City Hall in Denmark.
  • 1965 Born: Peter Jacobson, American actor, best known for the role as Dr. Chris Taub in medical drama series House.
  • 1948 Died: Sigrid Hjertén, Swedish painter, a major figure in Swedish modernism. She produced more than 500 paintings together with sketches, drawings and water-colors during her career. She was interested in humankind and it was often manifested in dramatic compositions, while her approach to color was emotional and theoretical.
  • 1946 Died: Carl Schuhmann, German gymnast, the most successful athlete of the modern era.
  • 1944 76 Allied prisoners began breaking our of the German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft III. This event was later dramatized in movie The Great Escape.
  • 1930 Born: Steve McQueen, American actor, who was often called The King of Cool. He is best remembered for roles in The Sand Pebbles, The Thomas Crown Affair, Bullitt, The Great Escape and The Towering Inferno.
  • 1926 Born: Dario Fo, Italian actor, director, composer, and playwright, the major figure in the 20th-century world theater. He became Nobel Prize in Literature laureate as a writer ""who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden".
  • 1923 Born: Murray Hamilton, American actor, best known for the roles in Anatomy of a Murder, The Hustler, The Gratitude, The Amityville Horror, Jaws.
  • 1917 Born: John Kendrew, English biochemist and crystallographer, Nobel Prize laureate for determining the first atomic structures of proteins using X-ray crystallography.
  • 1911 Born: Joseph Barbera, American animator, director, and producer, co-founder of Hanna-Barbera animation studio.
  • 1905 Died: Jules Verne, French author, best remembered for his adventure novels Journey to the Center of the Earth, Around the World in Eighty Days, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
  • 1882 Died: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet and educator, best known for the works Paul Revere's Ride, The Song of Hiawatha and Evangeline. He is also remembered for translation of The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri into English.
  • 1882 Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that caused tuberculosis.
  • 1874 Born: Harry Houdini, Hungarian-American magician and actor, best known for this sensational escape acts.
  • 1829 The Parliament of Great Britain passed the Roman Catholic Relief Act, that allowed members of the Catholic Church to serve in Parliament.
  • 1707 The Act of Union was signed by the Kingdoms of England and Scotland, resulting in the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain.
  • 1693 Born: John Harrison, English carpenter and clockmaker, inventor of the marine chronometer, a device for solving the problem of establishing the East-West position of longitude of a ship at sea.
  • 1603 Died: Elizabeth I of England, the Queen of England and Ireland from 1558 till her death. She was the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty.
  • 1494 Born: Georgius Agricola, German mineralogist and scholar, known to the modern world as the father of mineralogy.
  • 809 Died: Harun al-Rashid, Arab caliph, whose surname is translated to "the Just". Harun is known for The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, that was fantasized by his court and even himself.