December 21st is

Crossword Puzzle Day *

Humbug Day

National Short Story Day *

Flashlight Day *

Ribbon Candy Day  *

Short Girl Appreciation Day

Look on the Bright Side Day

International Dalek Remembrance Day *

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MORE! Jack Russell, Rebecca West and Frank Zappa, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Celebrated by Pagans and Celts:
Northern Hemisphere – Winter Solstice (aka Yule)
Southern Hemisphere – Summer Solstice (aka Litha)

Macau – Dongzhi (Solstice)

Samoa – Joseph Parker Day
(World Heavyweight Title holder)

Sāo Tomé e Príncipe –
Dia de Sāo Tomé e Príncipe

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On This Day in HISTORY

69 – The Roman Senate formally declares Vespasian emperor of Rome, the last in the ‘Year of the Four Emperors’ after the brief reigns of Galba, Otho and Vitellius during the civil war set off by the suicide of Nero

1118 – Thomas Becket born, English archbishop and saint

1603 – Roger Williams, English minister, theologian, and politician, 9th President of the Colony of Rhode Island

1620 – Plymouth Colony: William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth MA

1728 – Hermann Raupach born, German harpsichord player and composer

1795 – Jack Russell born, English priest, hunter, and dog breeder

1826 – The Fredonian Rebellion, which lasted just over month, is the first attempt by Anglo settlers in Texas to secede from Mexico. Led by Empresario Haden Edwards, they declared independence from Mexican Texas and created the Republic of Fredonia near Nacogdoches on land the Mexican government had granted to Edwards in 1825 which included areas that had been previously settled

1840 – Namik Kemal born, Ottoman Turkish writer, intellectual, reformer, journalist, playwright, and political activist, influential in formation of the Young Turks and their struggle for governmental reform in the Ottoman Empire

1841 – Thomas Bracken born in Ireland, New Zealand poet, journalist and politician who wrote the words for “God Defend New Zealand” now the country’s alternate National Anthem, sung in Maori and English, to “God Save the Queen”

1844 – The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers commences business at its  cooperative in Rochdale, England, establishing its ‘Rochdale Principles’ as the operational principles for cooperatives which continue to be used worldwide today

1861 – Medal of Honor: Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Valor, is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln

1872 – Challenger expedition: HMS Challenger leads a scientific expedition commanded by Captain George Nares, which sails from Portsmouth, England

1872 – Albert Payson Terhune born, American journalist, author of a series of collie stories beginning with Lad: A Dog

1873 – Blagoje Bersa born, Croatian composer

1879 – World premiere of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark – with a tacked-on happy ending

1883 – The Royal Canadian Dragoons and The Royal Canadian Regiment, the first Permanent Force cavalry and infantry regiments of the Canadian Army, are formed

1892 – Dame Rebecca West born, English journalist who covered the Nuremberg trials, and novelist, The Return of the Soldier

1899 – Flashlight Day * – In January 1899, a U.S. patent was issued to British Inventor David Misell for a primitive version of the modern flashlight – his company gave a number of them to the New York Police Department, and the police responded highly favorably, which helped make the new kind of light popular – celebrated on the Solstice as a reminder to check and replace your batteries to be prepared for wintertime emergencies

1907 – The Chilean Army opens fire in a massacre of 2,000 striking saltpeter miners and their wives and children in Iquique, Chile. The miners are striking to protest their terrible working conditions and low wages

1913 – Arthur Wynne’s “word-cross”, the first crossword puzzle, is published in the New York World

1914 – Marie Dressler, Charlie Chaplin, Mabel Normand and Mack Swain appear in the first six-reel, feature-length comedy, entitled “Tillie’s Punctured Romance”

1921 – Alicia Alonso born, Cuban ballerina and choreographer, founded the Cuban National Ballet

1925 – Eisenstein’s film Battleship Potemkin premieres in Moscow

1932 – U. R. Ananthamurthy born, Indian author, Samskara

1937 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premieres, the world’s first full-length animated feature

1940 – Frank Zappa born, American singer-songwriter- producer. Mother of Invention

1944 – Michael Tilson Thomas born, American composer-conductor

1956 – LaVern Baker records the song “Jim Dandy”

1959 – Florence Griffith Joyner (“Flo-Jo”) born, Olympic track and field champion, won 3 gold medals and 1 silver at 1988 Summer games, “World’s Fastest Woman”

1962 – Rondane National Park is established as Norway’s first national park

1963 – International Dalek Remembrance Day * –  the first time that the Daleks appeared on Doctor Who

1967 – Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a heart transplant, dies 18 days after  surgery in Cape Town, South Africa

1968 – NASA’s Apollo 8 is launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first orbit of another celestial body by a manned spacecraft

1973 – UN Secretary General convenes the Geneva Conference on the Arab–Israeli conflict no agreement was reached but military disengagements between Israel and Egypt and between Israel and Syria are signed the following year

1995 – The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control

1996 – After two years of denials, U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich admitted violating House ethics rules

1998 – The first vaccine for Lyme disease is approved

1998 – Ribbon Candy Day * – Judy Pancoast of New Hampshire, Ribbon Candy has a special meaning. “My father’s birthday was December 21st, and since it was so close to Christmas all he ever wanted for his birthday was a box of ribbon candy. He passed away in the spring of 1998. As his birthday approached I began to feel sad, thinking that I had no one to give a box of ribbon candy to that year. Then it dawned on me – I could honor my Daddy by giving away boxes of ribbon candy in his name on his birthday”

2010 – National Short Story Day * is launched, to celebrate the art and refinement of the short story form on the shortest day of the year
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Visuals

• Stephen King quote on short stories
• International Flags
• Roman Emperor Vespasian reign
• Thomas Becket assassination
• Jack Russell terrier
• Natural History laboratory aboard HMS Challenger
• Rebecca West feminism quote
• The first crossword puzzle
• Rondane National Park Norway
• Ribbon Candy

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