December 23rd is

Festivus *

Clement Moore Day *

HumanLight Day *

National Bake Day

Wassail Day

National Pfeffernüsse Day

National Roots Day

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MORE! George Washington, Vincent Van Gogh and Carol Ann Duffy, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Egypt – Suez Victory Day

Japan – Tenno Tanjobi
(Emperor’s birthday)

Mexico – Oaxaca: Noche de los Rábanos
(night of the radishes –
carved radish competition)

Sweden – Queen Silvia’s Birthday

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On This Day in HISTORY

562 – Hagia Sophia in Constantinople reopened with a rebuilt dome after a series of earthquakes caused the original to collapse

1572 – Theologian Johann Sylvan is executed in Heidelberg for his heretical
Antitrinitarian beliefs, as expounded in his manifesto, True Christian Confession of the Ancient Faith of the One True God and of Messiah Jesus of the True Christ, against the Three-Person Idol and the Two-Natured False Deity of the Antichrist

1783 – George Washington returned home to Mount Vernon, after the disbanding of his army following the Revolutionary War

1788 – Maryland voted to cede a 100-square-mile area for the seat of the national government. About two-thirds of the area became the District of Columbia

1823 – The poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement C. Moore (” ‘Twas the night before Christmas…”) is published – Clement Moore Day *

1834 – English architect Joseph Hansom patents his ‘safety cab’, the Hansom cab

1852 – The Theatre of Celestial John opened on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco CA, the first Chinese theatre in the U.S.

1856 – Ralph Collier patents the first rotary egg beater with rotating parts

1860 – Harriet Monroe born, American editor, scholar, literary critic and poet, founding publisher and editor of Poetry magazine

1867 – ‘Madame Walker,’ Sarah Breedlove Walker is born, American businesswoman and philanthropist considered the first black female millionaire

1888 – After a quarrel with Paul Gauguin, Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh cut off part of his own earlobe

1893 – First performance of the Engelbert Humperdinck opera Hansel und Gretel in Weimar, Germany

1902 – Norman Maclean born, American author and scholar,  A River Runs Through It, Young Men and Fire

1913 – The Federal Reserve Bill is signed into law by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, establishing 12 Federal Reserve Banks

1919 – The USS Reliefand, first hospital transport ship is launched, carrying 515 beds

1919 – By Act of British Parliament and Royal Assent, the Sex Disqualification Removal Act 1919 amends the laws disqualifying a person on account of sex or marriage from public function or vocation, lifting the bans on women in civil service, juries in higher education

1922 – The British Broadcasting Corporation begins daily news broadcasts

1926 – Robert Bly born, American poet-author, Iron John: A Book About Men 

1942 – Bob Hope entertains U.S. airmen in Alaska, the first of many Christmas shows

1947 – Bell Laboratories demonstates their transistor

1949 – Adrian Belew born, musician-songwriter-producer, with King Crimson, and Talking Heads

1954 – Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea premieres, starring James Mason, Kirk Douglas and Paul Lukas

1955 – Carol Ann Duffy born, Scottish poet and playwright, the first woman, first Scot and first openly LGBT person appointed as Britain’s Poet Laureate (May 2009)

1956 – Egypt liberates Port Said, ending the Suez Crisis

1959 – The Drifters record “This Magic Moment”

1966 – The first U.S. celebration of Festivus * but it is brought into popularity by an episode of the Jerry Seinfeld Show which originally aired on December 18, 1997

1981 – NASA approves a plan to continue the Voyager II spacecraft on a trajectory that would take it within 66,000 miles of Uranus by July 1986

1986 – The experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completes its first non-stop, around-the-world flight without refueling as it landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base CA

2001 – HumanLight Day * founded by the New Jersey Humanist Network as a secular humanist celebration of the Winter Solstice

2007 – An agreement is reached to abolish the Kingdom of Nepal and the country to become a federal republic with the Prime Minister becoming head of state

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Visuals

• Pfeffernüsse cookies
• Festivus poster
• International flags
• Hagia Sophia in Istanbul
• “A Visit from St. Nicholas” page with illustration
• Van Gogh self-portrait with bandages
• Young Men and Fire book cover
• Carol Ann Duffy with poem You
• HumanLight Day banner – Bill Haines

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