Holidays Calendar for December 25, 2014
On December 25, citizens of Pakistan celebrate the birthday of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. This day is observed as a national holiday also known as Quaid-i-Azam Day.
Religious Holidays →
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Christmas
On December 25, Western and some Eastern Christian churches celebrate Christmas, an important festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. What originated as a religious festival has evolved into a cultural celebration observed by billions of people around the world, many of them non-Christians. Christmas Day is a public holiday in over 100 countries.
Pancha Ganapati is a modern Hindu festival that lasts for five days, from December 21 to December 25. It honors Ganesha, one of the most worshiped Hindu deities. Ganesha is venerated as the patron of arts and culture.
Isaac Newton was a renowned English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and author who is widely considered to be one of the most influential scientists of all time. Thanks to his enormous contribution to science Newton, alongside Albert Einstein, became a scientific icon. To celebrate his work, many scientists, science communicators, educators and science enthusiasts celebrate his birthday, and not once, but twice a year.
Good Governance Day is an annual observance held in India on December 25. It was declared by the Indian government in 2014.
Constitution Day in Taiwan is celebrated on December 25. It marks the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of China in 1946. Constitution Day is not a public holiday, but it is sometimes marked with relevant official events.
Pumpkin pie is one of the most popular desserts in the United States and Canada. It is typically cooked during the fall and winter. There even is the National Pumpkin Pie Day observed on December 25.
Tulsi Pujan Divas (Tulsi Worship Day) is a relatively new Indian holiday celebrated on December 25. It was created to honor holy basil, commonly known as tulsi or tulasi, which is one of the most sacred plants in Indian culture and a popular medicinal herb in the Indian subcontinent.
Takanakuy is an annual Christmastime festival held in Chumbivilcas Province in the Cusco region of Peru. The vibrant celebration features traditional music, dancing… and public fist fights! The primary purpose of the Takanakuy festival is to help people settle grievances and let out the pent-up aggression accumulated over the year.
Festivals on December 25, 2014
- Chennai International Film Festival in Chennai, India
- TSB Festival of Lights in New Plymouth, New Zealand
- World Amigurumi Exhibition in New York, USA
- Crucian Christmas Carnival in Christiansted, American Virgin Islands
- Saint Kitts and Nevis National Carnival (Sugar Mas) in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Owen Sound Festival of Northern Lights in Owen Sound, Canada
- Nišville International Jazz Festival in Niš, Serbia
This Day in History
- 2021 The James Webb Space Telescope was launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana. Its first image was released to the public on July 11, 2022.
- 2016 A Tupolev Tu-154 jetliner of the Russian Defense Ministry crashed into the Black Sea shortly after taking off from Sochi International Airport, Russia. All 92 passengers and crew aboard died.
- 2016 Died: George Michael, English singer, songwriter, and record producer who rose to fame as a member (with Andrew Ridgeley) of the music duo Wham!. Michael sold more than 100 million records worldwide.
- 2010 Died: Carlos Andrés Pérez, Venezuelan politician. He served as President of Venezuela from March 12, 1974 to March 12, 1979 and again from February 2, 1989 to May 20, 1993.
- 2006 Died: James Brown, American singer and dancer, one of the founders of funk music and a major figure of the 20th-century pop music. He is very often referred to as the Godfather of Soul.
- 2005 Died: Birgit Nilsson, Swedish soprano, specializing in operatic works of Wagner and Strauss. Her voice was noted for its overwhelming force, reserves of power, gleaming brilliance and clarity in the upper register.
- 2004 Cassini orbiter released Huygens probe. The probe would successfully land on Titan, one of Saturn's moons, on January 4, 2004.
- 1995 Died: Dean Martin, American singer, actor and producer, one of the most popular entertainers of the mid-20th century. He was one of the members of the Rat Pack, a group of actors centered on Humphrey Bogart.
- 1991 Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, resigned as General Secretary of the Soviet Union. The Union would be dissolved the next day.
- 1989 President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Prime Minister Elena Ceaușescu were deposed. They were condemned to death and executed on the same day.
- 1984 Born: Georgia Tennant (née Moffett), English actress and producer. She is known for playing Abigail in The Bill, Jenny in the Doctor Who episode "The Doctor's Daughter", and Lady Vivian in Merlin.
- 1977 Died: Charlie Chaplin, English comic actor and filmmaker. He rose to fame in the silent film era and before his death he became an iconic figure in the history of cinema.
- 1976 Born: Tuomas Holopainen, Finnish musician and producer, best known as one of the co-founding members of the symphonic metal band Nightwish.
- 1973 Died: İsmet İnönü, Turkish general and politician. He served as the 2nd President of Turkey, assuming the office the next day after the death of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, from November 11, 1938 to May 22, 1950.
- 1971 Born: Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong, best known by stage name Dido, British singer and songwriter. American rapper Eminem introduced Dido to the American audience in 2000, when he used the first verse of Dido's song "Thank You" in his hit single "Stan".
- 1971 Born: Noel Hogan, Irish musician, best known as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the rock band The Cranberries.
- 1968 Apollo 8 performed the first successful trans-Earth injection maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit.
- 1968 44 Dalits (untouchables) were burnt to death in Kizhavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, India, as a reaction to a campaign for higher wages by Dalit laborers.
- 1961 Died: Otto Loewi, German-born American pharmacologist, best known for his discovery of acetylcholine. This discovery won him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1936.
- 1954 Born: Annie Lennox, Scottish singer, songwriter, activist and philanthropist. As of 2023, she has received eight Brit Awards, four Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe award and an Academy Award.
- 1949 Died: Leon Schlesinger, American producer, best known for founding Leon Schlesinger Studios that would later become known as the Warner Bros. Cartoons.
- 1946 Europe's first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was initiated within Soviet F-1 nuclear reactor.
- 1941 Japan occupied Hong Kong after its decisive victory in the Battle of Hong Kong. The occupation lasted until August 15, 1945, when Japan surrendered at the end of World War II.
- 1938 Died: Karel Čapek, Czech writer. Čapek is considered to be one of the most important Czech writers of the 20th century. During his career he wrote a number of science fiction novels that made him popular.
- 1925 Born: Carlos Castaneda, American author of a number of bestsellers. His books describing his training in shamanism have sold over 28 million copies in 17 languages.
- 1924 Born: Rod Serling, American screenwriter and producer, best known for his live TV dramas of the 1950s and science fiction anthology series The Twilight Zone.
- 1904 Born: Gerhard Herzberg, German-born Canadian physicist and chemist. In 1971 he won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his contributions to the knowledge of electronic structure and geometry of free radicals.
- 1899 Born: Humphrey Bogart, American actor, an Academy Award for Best Actor winner. Bogart is best known for leading roles in iconic films The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca and The Big Sleep.
- 1887 Born: Conrad Hilton, American hotelier. In 1919 he founded Hilton Hotels & Resorts.
- 1878 Born: Louis Chevrolet , American racer. In 1911 he founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company.
- 1868 All Civil War Confederate soldiers were granted an unconditional pardon by the United States President Andrew Jackson.
- 1809 The first recorded ovariotomy was performed by Dr. Ephraim McDowell. He removed a 22-pound tumor.
- 1643 Captain William Mynors of the English East India Company discovered and named Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.
- 1635 Died: Samuel de Champlain, French explorer, soldier and geographer. He's a very important figure in the history of Canada, because he founded New France and Quebec City and made the first accurate map of the Canadian coast.