Holidays Calendar for April 26, 2025
Union Day is a public holiday in Tanzania that commemorates the unification of Tanganyika and the People's Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba into the United Republic of Tanzania in 1964. It is celebrated on April 26.
Passover, also known as Pesach, is one of the most significant Jewish holidays. It commemorates the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in ancient Egypt and the story of the Exodus. This festival commences on the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar and lasts for seven days in Israel and for eight days in the diaspora.
World Tai Chi and Qigong Day (WTCQD, alternative spelling World T'ai Chi and Ch'i Kung Day) is an annual observance that has been held on the last Saturday in April since 1999. It focuses on promoting the related Chinese disciplines of tai chi chuan and qigong.
World Veterinary Day is a global professional observance celebrated annually on the last Saturday in April. It was established in 2000 by the World Veterinary Association (WVA).
International Flamingo Day is observed annually on April 26. It was created to raise awareness of the difference species of flamingo and to celebrate and appreciate the remarkable birds that the flamingos are.
World Disco Soup Day is an annual campaign held on the last Saturday of April to raise awareness on the environmental impact of food waste and climate change. The campaign is promoted by the Slow Food Youth Network (SFYN), a global network of young people who strive to create a better future through food.
Border Guard Day is an annual professional holiday in the Republic of Armenia celebrated on April 26. It was established in 2007 by President Robert Kocharyan.
National Kids and Pets Day is observed annually on April 26. It was created to celebrate the special bond between children and their pets, highlight the importance of picking the right pets for children at the right time, and encourage pet adoption.
Tatar Language Day, also referred to as Mother Tongue Day, is celebrated in the Republic of Tatarstan (Russian Federation) on April 26. It commemorates the birthday of Gabdulla Tuqay, a renowned Tatar poet, translator, critic and publicist, who is considered to be the founder of the modern Tatar literary language and literature.
Anniversaries and Memorial Days →
Russia
Memorial Day for the Liquidators and Victims of Radiation Accidents and Catastrophes
Memorial Day for the Liquidators and Victims of Radiation Accidents and Catastrophes is an official commemorative day in Russia. It honors the memory of the people who lost their lives in the Chernobyl disaster and other nuclear accidents.
Lesbian Visibility Day is an annual awareness campaign held on April 26. Its origins are unknown but the campaign is believed to have been launched in 2008 and has since spread across the world thanks to the Internet.
Nine of the thirteen Malaysian states are monarchies, where the birthday of the ruler (usually a sultan) is an official holiday. For example, Sultan of Terengganu’s birthday is celebrated on April 26. Interestingly, it’s his official birthday, which is not the same as his actual birthday.
April 26 is National Pretzel Day. Crunchy and soft pretzels were known for centuries and were involved in different ceremonies.
World Intellectual Property Day is an annual observance held on April 26. It was established by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2000 and is considered one of the United Nations official observances.
Until recently, Memorial Day for the Victims of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident was observed only in the countries directly affected by the accident (Ukraine, Belarus and Russia). This changed in 2016, when the United Nations General Assembly designated April 26 as International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day.
Children of South American countries, including Colombia, suffer many problems. For a long time they were subjected to abuse and mistreatment. Celebration of Children's Day helps change this situation in Colombia. The holiday is annually observed on the last Saturday in April.
National Dissertation Day is celebrated every April 26 to support and encourage doctoral candidates who are struggling with their dissertations, as well as to raise awareness of the challenges that doctoral students and candidates face.
This Day in History
- 2005 The Syrian occupation of Lebanon ended after 29 years, when Syria withdrew the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison under international pressure.
- 2003 Died: Edward Max Nicholson, Irish environmentalist, best known as the co-founder the World Wide Fund for Nature.
- 1994 Died: Mas Oyama, Japanese martial artist, founder of Kyokushin kaikan. Kyokushin is known as one of the hardest styles of karate.
- 1994 China Airlines Flight 140 crashed at Nagoya Airport in Japan, killing 264 of the 271 people on board.
- 1989 The deadliest tornado in world history struck Central Bangladesh. Up to 1,300 people were killed, 12,000 more were injured, and an estimated were 80,000 left homeless.
- 1986 A nuclear accident occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian SSR, creating the world's worst nuclear disaster.
- 1984 Died: Count Basie, American pianist, composer, and bandleader. He led his group for almost 50 years; many musicians came to prominence under his direction.
- 1980 Born: Channing Tatum, American actor and producer, known for his roles in the films Step Up, She's the Man, Magic Mike and its sequels, 21 Jump Street, and many more.
- 1977 Born: Tom Welling, American actor, director, and producer, best known for role as Clark Kent/Superman in the television series Smallville.
- 1970 Born: Melania Trump, Slovenian-American former model who served as the first lady of the United States from 2017 to 2021 as the wife of President Donald Trump.
- 1969 Died: Morihei Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist, founder of aikido. Ueshiba is often referred to as the Great Teacher.
- 1966 Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, was destroyed by an earthquake with a moment magnitude of 5.2. More that 300,000 people were left homeless.
- 1965 A Rolling Stones concert in London, Ontario was shut down by police after 15 minutes due to rioting.
- 1964 Died: Edwin John Dove Pratt, published as E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet. Pratt is widely regarded as the leading Canadian poet of his time.
- 1962 NASA's Ranger 4 spacecraft, designed to transmit pictures of the lunar surface, crashed into the Moon.
- 1958 Born: Giancarlo Esposito, American actor best known for portraying Gus Fring in the AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad, as well as in its prequel series Better Call Saul.
- 1957 Died: Gichin Funakoshi, Japanese martial artist, founder of Shotokan Karate-Do, which is the most widely known style of karate. Funakoshi is often called the father of modern karate.
- 1942 1549 Chinese miners died in Benxihu Colliery due to a gas and coal-dust explosion. The miners were not evacuated when the Japanese shut off the ventilation and sealed the pit head. People were left to suffocate in the smoke.
- 1940 Died: Carl Bosch, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate for the introduction of high pressure chemistry.
- 1933 Born: Carol Burnett, American comedian, actress, and singer. Her comedy-variety show The Carol Burnett Show, which originally aired on CBS, was one of the first to be hosted by a woman.
- 1933 Born: Arno Allan Penzias, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate in Physics for co-discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation.
- 1933 The official secret police force of Nazi Germany, the Gestapo, was established.
- 1932 Born: Michael Smith, English-Canadian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate for developing site-directed mutagenesis.
- 1920 Died: Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician who had almost no formal training in pure mathematics but made substantial contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions.
- 1910 Died: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian author. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit.
- 1900 Born: Charles Francis Richter, American seismologist and physicist, famous as the creator of the Richter magnitude scale that quantifies the size of earthquakes.
- 1894 Born: Rudolf Hess, Egyptian-German politician in Nazi Germany, appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933. He was one of the major criminals against peace during the World War II and served a life sentence.
- 1803 Thousands of meteor fragments fell from the skies on L'Aigle, France, convincing European science that meteors exist.
- 1798 Born: Eugène Delacroix, French painter of the Romantic period and the leader of the French Romantic school. Delacroix illustrated works by William Shakespeare, Walter Scott and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
- 1765 Born: Emma, Lady Hamilton, mistress of Lord Nelson and the muse of George Romney. Beauty and love for intrigue made Lady Hamilton a European celebrity till the end of the 18th century.
- 1717 Died: Samuel Bellamy, English pirate, the wealthiest pirate in recorded history. His career as a pirate captain lasted for less than a year, but he captured at least 53 ships.
- 1575 Born: Marie de' Medici, Queen of France as the second wife of King Henry IV of France. Medici was noted for her ceaseless political intrigues at the French court and extensive artistic patronage.
- 1564 William Shakespeare was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon. Widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language, he wrote 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses.