December 31st is

Champagne Day

Make Up Your Mind Day

Universal Hour of Peace *

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MORE! Arthur Guinness, Elizabeth Arden and Guy Lombardo, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Global – New Year’s Eve    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Australia – Sydney: Harbour Bridge
New Year’s Eve Fireworks Display

Azerbaijan – Solidarity Day of World Azerbaijanis

Japan – Ōmisoka Hatsumōde
(new year’s eve/worship and visits to shrines)

Maldives – Day Maldives Embraced Islam

Montserrat – New Year’s Festival Day

Scotland – Hogmanay

Switzerland – Geneva: Restoration Day

United Kingdom –
Allendale, Northumberland: Baal Fire Festival
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On This Day in HISTORY

1491 – Jacques Cartier born, French navigator and explorer

1514 – Andreas Vesalius born, Belgian anatomist, physician, and author

1600 – The British East India Company is incorporated by royal charter to compete in the East Indian spice trade

1687 – The first Huguenots set sail from France for the Cape of Good Hope, taking vines with them that would become the foundation of the South African wine industry

1695 – The British window tax is imposed, resulting in many windows being bricked up

1711 – Queen Anne sides with the Tories, and the Duke of Marlborough is dismissed as commander-in-chief – he is restored to favour by George I in 1714

1759 – Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness

1790 – Efmeris, the oldest Greek newspaper of which issues have survived till today, is published for the first time

1796 – The incorporation of Baltimore as a city

1813 – Geneva’s re-establishment as a republic is proclaimed. Over 15 years after Napoleon annexed the city, the last French troops leave on December 30

1841 – Alabama becomes the first state to issue dental licenses

1853 – A New Years Eve dinner party for 21 scientists is held inside a life size model of an Iguanodon dinosaur on the grounds of the Crystal Palace in London. Sculptor Benjamin W. Hawkins teamed up with paleontologist Richard Owen to create more than 2 dozen life-size models of dinosaurs for a special exhibit

1857 – Britain’s Queen Victoria decides to make Ottawa the capital of Canada

1862 – U.S. President Lincoln signed an act admitting West Virginia to the Union

1869 – Henri Matisse born, French painter and sculptor

1877 – U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes is the first U.S. President to celebrate his silver (25th) wedding anniversary in the White House

1878 – ‘Elizabeth Arden’ – Canadian businesswoman Florence Nightingale Graham is born, founder of Elizabeth Arden, Inc

1880 – George Catlett Marshall born, U.S. Army Chief of Staff (1939-1945), U.S. Secretary of State (1947-1949), spearheaded the post-WWII European recovery plan,  known as the Marshall Plan, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953

1891 – New York’s new Immigration Depot opens on Ellis Island, with improved facilities to cope with the massive numbers of arrivals

1897 – Brooklyn NY spent its last day as a separate entity before becoming part of New York City

1899 – Silvestre Revueltas born, Mexican violinist-composer-conductor

1900 – Selma Burke born, sculptor, part of Black Renaissance under Augusta Savage, created artwork for “Roosevelt dime,” established Selma Burke Art Center (1970s)

1905 – Jule Styne born, English-American composer

1908 – Simon Wiesenthal born, Ukrainian-Austrian nazi hunter and author

1909 – Jonah Jones born, American trumpet player and saxophonist

1917 – During WWI, sugar rationing begins in Britain

1923 – In London, the BBC first broadcasts the chimes of Big Ben

1925 – Daphne Oram born, British composer and pioneer in electronic music

1929 – Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians play “Auld Lang Syne” as their New Year’s Eve song for the first time

1930 – Odetta Holmes born, known simply as Odetta, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, civil and human rights activist, “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement”

1938 – The Harger ‘Drunkometer’, the first alcohol breath testing device, was introduced in Indiana

1940 – During a dispute between the radio networks and ASCAP (the American Society of Composers and Publishers), the radio industry was banned for ten months from playing any ASCAP-licensed music

1943 – John Denver born, American singer-songwriter-guitarist

1946 – U.S. President Truman proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II

1955 – General Motors is first U.S. corporation to earn over a billion dollars in a single year

1960 – The farthing coin, used in Britain since the 13th century, ceases to be legal tender

1961 – The U.S. Marshall Plan expires after distributing over $12 billion in foreign aid

1972 – Joey McIntyre born, American singer-songwriter, New Kids on the Block

1974 – Private U.S. citizens are allowed to buy/own gold for the first time in 40 years

1978 – Taiwanese diplomats struck their colors for the last time from their Washington DC embassy flagpole, marking the end of diplomatic relations with the U.S.

1979 – Year-end oil prices are 88% higher than at the start of 1979

1990 – Titleholder Gary Kasparov of the U.S.S.R. wins the world chess championship match against his countryman Anatoly Karpov

1995 – Dr. Barbara Condron of the School of Metaphysics launched the first Universal Hour of Peace * on October 24, to mark the 50^th anniversary of the United nations and the autumnal equinox – it is now celebrated annually from 11:30 PM on December 31 to 12:30 AM on January 1

1999 – Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigns and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is designated acting president

1999 – The world’s oldest person, Sarah Knauss, dies at age 119 years. She was born September 24, 1880

2004 – In Taiwan, the Taipei 101 skyscraper opens to the public

2009 – Both a ‘blue moon’ and a lunar eclipse occur

2011 – NASA puts first of two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellites in orbit around the Moon

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Visuals

• ‘Peace’ in flowers
• Champagne flutes
• Streamers and confetti
• International flags
• Jacques Cartier Canadian postage stamp
• British East India Company
• Guinness bottles
• The Iguanodon Dinosaur Dinner on the grounds of the Crystal Palace
• Dance II, 1910 – by Henri Matisse
• Selma Burke, with WPA project
• Peace banner
• NASA  Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellites

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