Holidays Calendar for November 26, 2026
People of Mongolia annually celebrate the holiday of Republic Day on November 26. This holiday marks the establishment of the Mongolian People's Republic on November 26, 1924.
Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving Day is one of the most important holidays in the United States. It was established as a federal holiday in 1863 and has been celebrated every year since then. Thanksgiving is observed on the fourth Thursday in November.
Anti-Obesity Day is an international observance held on November 26. It is organized by a group of healthcare organizations primarily in India and the Gulf Cooperation Countries states. The event aims to raise awareness of obesity as a public health hazard.
World Olive Tree Day is observed annually on November 26. It was established by the UNESCO General Conference to highlight the cultural, economic, environmental, and social significance of the olive tree, as well as to encourage its protection.
Basij Day is an Iranian observance celebrated on 5 Azar according to the Solar Hijri calendar, which corresponds to November 26 in the Gregorian calendar. It honors a paramilitary volunteer militia, which is one of the five forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Shoemaker Day is an informal professional holiday celebrated on November 26 every year. Although it is sometimes referred to as “International Shoemaker Day” or “World Shoemaker Day”, it is virtually unknown outside the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet.
World Lewis Day is an unofficial environmental observance held annually on November 26. It was created to raise awareness of the hundreds of koalas that have died or have been displaced due to bushfires and to promote koala conservation.
Constitution Day is celebrated in India every year on November 26. This is not a public holiday, but it's a widespread celebration across the country.
India celebrates National Milk Day every November 26. The holiday was created in 2014 to commemorate the birthday of Verghese Kurien, an engineer and social entrepreneur referred to as the “Father of the White Revolution” because he helped to make India the largest milk producer in the world.
Unthanksgiving Day, also known as the Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Ceremony, is an annual event that takes place on Alcatraz Island on the fourth Thursday in November, coinciding with Thanksgiving. It is designed to honor Native Americans and promote their rights.
On November 26, don't forget to grab a slice or two of your favorite cake from a local bakery because the National Cake Day is celebrated on this date.
World Sustainable Transport Day is a United Nations international observance held annually on November 26. It was inaugurated by the General Assembly in May 2023 to recognize the important role of safe, affordable, accessible, and sustainable transport systems in improving social welfare and promoting sustainable economic growth.
National Family Health History Day is observed in the United States on the fourth Thursday of November, coinciding with Thanksgiving Day. It was created to raise awareness of the importance of knowing your family health history.
This Day in History
- 2021 The World Health Organization Designated the new B.1.1.529 variant of SARS-CoV-2 as a variant of concern and named it Omicron. It was first reported in South Africa.
- 2021 Died: Stephen Sondheim, American composer and lyricist credited with reinventing with American musical. His best-known works include Company, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Merrily We Roll Along, Into the Woods, and more.
- 2018 Died: Stephen Hillenburg, American animator, cartoonist, voice actor, and marine biology teacher. He was the creator of the Nickelodeon animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants.
- 2018 Died: Bernardo Bertolucci, Oscar-winning Italian director and screenwriter, whose films include The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor, The Sheltering Sky, Stealing Beauty, and The Dreamers.
- 2012 Died: Joseph Murray, American surgeon who won the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries concerning organ and cell transplantation.
- 2011 NASA launched its robotic space probe mission Mars Science Laboratory, which successfully landed Curiosity, a Mars rover, in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012.
- 2008 In Mumbai, India, ten Pakistani members of the Islamic militant organization Lashkar-e-Teiba launched a coordinated series of shooting and bombing attacks.
- 2008 Died: Edna Parker (née Scott), American supercentenarian who was recognized as the oldest person in the world from 2007 until her death at age 115 years 220 days.
- 2004 A man armed with a knife attached twelve boys at the Number Two High School in Ruzhou, China, killing nine of them. He was tried and sentenced to death.
- 2003 The turbojet-powered supersonic passenger jet airliner Concorde made its final flight after 27 years of commercial service, landing at Filton, Bristol, United Kingdom.
- 1990 Born: Rita Ora (born Rita Sahatçiu), Kosovan-born English singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to prominence after the release of her debut album in 2012.
- 1987 Died: J. P. Guilford, American psychologist best known for his psychometric study of human intelligence, including convergent and divergent production.
- 1983 Six robbers broke into the Brink's-MAT warehouse at Heathrow Airport, London, United Kindgom, stealing 6,800 gold bars worth nearly £26 million.
- 1981 Died: Max Euwe, Dutch chess Grandmaster, mathematician, and writer. Euwe became the fifth World Chess Champion in 1935 by defeating Alexander Alekhine.
- 1975 Born: DJ Khaled (Khaled Mohammed Khaled), American disc jockey, record producer, record executive, actor, and author. As of 2023, he has won 13 BET Hip Hop Awards.
- 1973 Born: Peter Facinelli, American actor best known for playing Dr. Carlisle Cullen in the film adaptations of the Twilight novel series.
- 1965 France launched its first satellite, Astérix, by a Diamant A rocket from Hammaguir, Algeria, becoming the sixth country to have an artificial satellite in orbit.
- 1951 Born: Cicciolina (stage name of Ilona Staller), Hungarian-born Italian porn star, singer, and politician. She became the first porn star to be elected to the parliament.
- 1949 Born: Shlomo Artzi, Israeli folk rock and pop rock singer-songwriter. Having sold more than 1.5 million albums, he is one of Israel's most successful male performers.
- 1943 Died: Edward O'Hare, Irish-American naval aviator of the US Navy. He became the Navy's first flying ace when he single-handedly attacked a formation of 9 heavy bombers.
- 1939 Born: Tina Turner (stage name of Anna Mae Bullock), American singer, dancer, actress, and author who is considered to be one of the world's most popular entertainers.
- 1937 Born: Boris Yegorov, Soviet physician and cosmonaut. In 1964, Yegorov became the world's first physician to make a space flight as a member of the crew of Voskhod 1.
- 1934 Died: Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, Ukrainian historian, academician, politician, and statesman. He served as President of the Central Rada from 1917 to 1918.
- 1933 The Soviet Union's Red Army shelled the Russian village of Mainila, gaining a casus belli for launching the Winter War with Finland four days after the incident.
- 1931 Born: Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Argentine human rights activist, community organizer, pacifist, artist, and writer who was awarded the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize.
- 1926 Died: John Browning, American firearms designer. He is known as the developer of many varieties of military and civilian firearms, cartridges, and gun mechanisms.
- 1917 The National Hockey League (NHL) was founded in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is widely considered to be the world's premier professional ice hockey league.
- 1898 Born: Karl Ziegler, German chemist who was awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on polymers, sharing the prize with Italian chemist Giulio Natta.
- 1894 Born: Norbert Wiener, American mathematician and philosopher. He is best known as the founder of cybernetics, although he contributed to various fields of knowledge.
- 1883 Died: Sojourner Truth (born Isabella Baumfree), African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. She is known for her 1851 speech "Ain't I a Woman?"
- 1857 Born: Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist and semiotics who made significant contributions to the development of linguistics and semiology in the 20th century.
- 1855 Died: Adam Mickiewicz, Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, translator, and political activist. He is regarded as Poland's national poet and one of the country's "Three Bards".
- 1789 The first national Thanksgiving Day was observed in the United States as proclaimed by President George Washington at the request of Congress.
- 1778 British navigator and explorer Captain James Cook became the first European to see the island of Maui. However, he was unable to find a suitable landing.
- 1607 Born: John Harvard, English-American minister and philanthropist. He is best known for contributing to the foundation of the college that was named after him.
- 1504 Died: Isabella I of Castile, Queen of Castile and León from 1474 until her death. Her marriage to Ferdinand II of Aragon became the basis for Spanish unification.