Holidays Calendar for February 26, 2028
On February 26, the citizens of Kuwait celebrate Liberation Day. This public holiday commemorates the country's liberation from Iraq in 1991.
Michael Somare Remembrance Day is a public holiday in Papua New Guinea observed on February 26. It honors the memory of the first Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, who is widely referred to as the Father of the Nation and the Grand Chief.
World Sword Swallowers Day, sometimes referred to as International Sword Swallowers Day, is observed annually on the last Saturday of February. It was created to celebrate the exciting and dangerous art of sword swallowing and raise funds to help injured sword swallowers.
Cooperatives Day (Wan Sahakon) is an official observance in Thailand. Held every year on February 26 to commemorate the creation of Thailand’s first cooperative, it was officially established in 1967 at the request of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives of Thailand.
Anniversaries and Memorial Days →
Azerbaijan
Day of Remembrance for Victims of Khojaly Massacre in Azerbaijan
Day of Remembrance for Victims of Khojaly Massacre is an official memorial day in Azerbaijan observed on February 26. The Khojaly tragedy was the largest massacre of the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Anniversaries and Memorial Days →
Ukraine
Day of Resistance to Occupation of Crimea and Sevastopol in Ukraine
The Day of Resistance to Occupation of Crimea and Sevastopol is observed in Ukraine on February 26. It was established in February 26 by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who announced it during the opening of the Age of Crimea forum.
Zamboanga Day (Día de Zamboanga, Araw ng Zamboanga) is a special non-working holiday in the City of Zamboanga, Philippines. It is celebrated on February 26 to commemorate the day when Zamboanga was officially inaugurated as a city.
Tell a Fairy Tale Day is an informal observance held on February 26. It provides a perfect opportunity to read fairy tales to your kinds and enjoy your favorite childhood tales yourself.
Pistachio nuts are very small but tasty. Celebrate National Pistachio Day, that falls on February 26, with a handful of delicious nuts.
If you have a bottle of wine that you have been saving for a special occasion, but that occasion never seems to come, you should open it on the last Saturday of February because it’s Open That Bottle Night! This holiday was created specifically to encourage people to enjoy wine and share it with their loved ones.
Curling Day is celebrated in Canada on the last Saturday of February. It was created to honor a winter sport that originated in Scotland but is particularly popular in Canada.
This Day in History
- 2021 279 female students aged between 10 and 17 were kidnapped from a boarding school in Jangebe (Zamfara State, Nigeria) during a raid by armed bandits.
- 2013 A hot air balloon crashed near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 of 21 passengers. As of 2014, it is considered the deadliest ballooning disaster in history.
- 2008 Died: Dick Fletcher, American broadcast meteorologist who was Chief Meteorologist for WTSP channel 10 in St. Petersburg, Florida, for 28 years.
- 2005 Died: Jef Raskin, American human–computer interface expert who conceived and started the Macintosh project for Apple in the late 1970s.
- 2004 Died: Boris Trajkovski, Macedonian politician who was the president and Supreme Commander of the Republic of Macedonia from 1999 to 2004.
- 1998 Died: Theodore Schultz, American economist who was awarded the 1979 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences jointly with W. Arthur Lewis.
- 1995 Barings Bank, the United Kingdom's oldest investment banking institute, collapsed after suffering losses of £827 million resulting from poor speculative investments.
- 1993 Below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, a truck bomb was detonated, killing 6 people and injuring more than 1,000.
- 1990 Died: Cornell Gunter, American rhythm and blues singer who was an original member of The Platters. He also was a member of The Flairs and The Coasters.
- 1986 Born: Teresa Palmer, Australian actress and model who is known for her roles in the films 2:37, The Grudge 2, December Boys, The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
- 1983 Born: Pepe (Képler Laveran Lima Ferreira), Brazilian-Portuguese professional footballer who plays for the Portuguese national team and has played for a number of teams.
- 1971 Born: Hélène Ségara, French singer who came to prominence playing the role of Esmeralda in the French musical Notre Dame de Paris.
- 1971 Died: Fernandel (stage name of Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin), French actor and singer who had been France's top comic actor for more than 40 years.
- 1971 Born: Erykah Badu (stage name of Erykah Abi Wright), American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and actress who is known as the "Queen of Neo-Soul".
- 1970 Pontiac introduced the second generation Pontiac Firebird. It was introduced the same year as the automaker's platform-sharing model, the Chevrolet Camaro.
- 1969 Died: Levi Eshkol (born Levi Shkolnik), Israeli politician who was the 3d Prime Minister of Israel from 1963 until hist death from a heart attack in 1969.
- 1969 Died: Karl Jaspers, outstanding German philosopher and psychiatrist who strongly influenced modern philosophy, theology, and psychiatry.
- 1966 The ROK Capital Division of the South Korean Army killed 380 unarmed civilians within an hour. This incident is now known as the Bình An massacre.
- 1966 AS-201, the first unmanned test flight of the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn IB launch vehicle, was launched. There were three problems encountered on the flight.
- 1964 Born: Mark Dacascos, American actor, martial artist, and television personality. His breakout role was in the 1993 film Only the Strong.
- 1961 Died: Mohammed V of Morocco, Sultan of Morocco from 1927 to 1953 and King of Morocco since 1957 until his death following complications of a surgery in 1961.
- 1946 Born: Ahmed Zewail, Egyptian-American scientist who was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He is known as the "father of femtochemistry".
- 1936 A group of young Imperial Japanese Army officers attempted to stage a coup d'état. Their goal was to purge the government and military leadership of their rivals.
- 1935 Robert Watson-Watt carried out a demonstration near Daventry, Northamptonshire, England, which led directly to the development of radar.
- 1932 Born: Johnny Cash, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor who is considered one of the most influential American musicians of the 20th century.
- 1931 Died: Otto Wallach, German chemist who was awarded the 1910 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on alicyclic compounds.
- 1928 Born: Ariel Sharon (born Ariel Scheinermann), Israeli general and politician who was the 11th Prime Minister of Israel since 2001 to 2006.
- 1914 HMHS Britannic, the sister ship of RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic, was launched at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. It was sunk by a mine or torpedo two years later.
- 1826 Born: Levi Strauss (born Löb Strauß), German-American businessman who founded Levi Strauss & Co., the first company to produce blue jeans.
- 1815 Napoléon Bonaparte escaped from the island of Elba in the brig Inconstant Inconstant. He arrived in Paris on March 20 and governed for a period now known as the Hundred Days.
- 1802 Born: Victor Hugo, French novelist, poet, playwright, and essayist of the Romantic movement. His best known works include Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.
- 1564 Born: Christopher Marlowe, English playwright, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. He had a great influence on William Shakespeare.