Sunday, the 21st of December, 2014 is the 355th day in 2014 and in the 51st calendar week.
General Events:
Dongzhi Festival
December 21, 2014 in East Asia
Dongzhi Festival is observed on December 21, 2014. The Dongzhì Festival or Winter Solstice Festival is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Chinese and other East Asians during the Dongzhi solar term (winter solstice) on or around December 22 when sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest. The origins of this festival can be traced back to the yin and yang philosophy of balance and harmony in the cosmos. After this celebration, there will be days with longer daylight hours and therefore an increase in positive energy flowing in.
Where is Dongzhi Festival?
Nationwide East Asia
Yalda 2014
December 21, 2014 in Persia
Yalda takes place on December 21, 2014. Yalda, Shab-e Yalda, “Night of Birth”, or Zayeshmehr, or Shab-e Chelleh is the Persian winter solstice celebration which has been popular since ancient times. Yalda is celebrated on the Northern Hemisphere’s longest night of the year, that is, on the eve of the Winter Solstice. Depending on the shift of the calendar, Yalda is celebrated on or around December 20 or 21 each year. Yalda has a history as long as the religion of Mithraism. The Mithraists believed that this night is the night of the birth of Mithra, Persian angel of light and truth. At the morning of the longest night of the year the Mithra was born. Following the Persian calendar reform of 1925, which pegged some seasonal events to specific days of the calendar, Yalda came to be celebrated on the night before and including the first day of the tenth month. Subject to seasonal drift, this day may sometimes fall a day before or a day after the actual Winter Solstice.
Nationwide Persia
Humbug Day 2014
December 21, 2014 in the World
Humbug Day is celebrated on December 21, 2014. The day allows everyone preparing for Christmas to vent their frustrations. In modern usage, the word “Humbug” is most associated with Ebenezer Scrooge, a character created by Charles Dickens.
His famous reference to Christmas, “Bah! Humbug!”, declaring Christmas to be a fraud, is commonly used in stage and television versions of A Christmas Carol and also appeared frequently in the original book. Scrooge is a cold-hearted, tight-fisted and greedy man, who despises Christmas.
The word Humbug refers to a person or item that tricks, deceives, talks, or behaves in a way that is deceptive, dishonest, false, or insincere, often a hoax or in jest. The term was first described in 1751 as student slang. It is now also often used as an exclamation to mean ‘nonsense’ or ‘gibberish’.
Where is Humbug Day?
Worldwide
Look on the Bright Side Day
December 21, 2014 in the World
Look on the Bright Side Day is observed on December 21, 2014. It is a day to be optimistic: Even if today with the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year and it is often cloudy during this season, you should remain optimistic!
Optimism is a mental attitude or world view that interprets situations and events as being best (optimized), meaning that in some way for factors that may not be fully comprehended, the present moment is in an optimum state. The concept is typically extended to include the attitude of hope for future conditions unfolding as optimal as well.
A common idiom used to illustrate optimism versus pessimism is a glass with water at the halfway point, where the optimist is said to see the glass as half full, but the pessimist sees the glass as half empty.
Where is Look on the Bright Side Day?
Worldwide
National Flashlight Day
December 21, 2014 in the USA
National Flashlight Day takes place on December 21, 2014. It is held on Winter Solstice, which is the longest night of the year. Therefore a flashlight is a useful tool on this day. A flashlight is a hand-held portable electric-powered light source. Usually the light source is a small incandescent light bulb or light-emitting diode.
The invention of the dry cell and miniature incandescent electric light bulbs made the first battery-powered flashlights possible around 1899. Today flashlights use mostly incandescent lamps or light-emitting diodes and run on disposable or rechargeable batteries. Some are powered by the user turning a crank or shaking the lamp, and some have solar panels to recharge a battery.
In addition to the general-purpose hand-held flashlight, many forms have been adapted for special uses. Head or helmet-mounted flashlights designed for miners and campers leave the hands free. Some flashlights can be used underwater or in flammable atmospheres.
Where is National Flashlight Day?
Nationwide USA
Natural Events:
December New Moon
December 21, 2014 in EST Eastern Standard Time / UTC-05
On December 21, 2014 the moon reaches its minimum brightness. Therefore it is called new moon. In astronomical terminology, the phrase new moon is the lunar phase that occurs when the Moon, in its monthly orbital motion around Earth, lies between Earth and the Sun, and is therefore in conjunction with the Sun as seen from Earth. At this time, the dark (unilluminated) portion of the Moon faces almost directly toward Earth, so that the Moon is not visible to the naked eye.
The original meaning of the phrase new moon was the first visible crescent of the Moon, after conjunction with the Sun. This takes place over the western horizon in a brief period between sunset and moonset, and therefore the precise time and even the date of the appearance of the new moon by this definition will be influenced by the geographical location of the observer. The astronomical new moon, sometimes known as the dark moon to avoid confusion, occurs by definition at the moment of conjunction in ecliptic longitude with the Sun, when the Moon is invisible from the Earth. This moment is unique and does not depend on location, and under certain circumstances it is coincident with a solar eclipse.
Where is December New Moon?
Eastcoast (North America)
EST Eastern Standard Time / UTC-05
Historical Events on 21st December:
1598 – Battle of Curalaba: The revolting Mapuche, led by cacique Pelentaru, inflict a major defeat on Spanish troops in southern Chile; all Spanish cities south of the Biobio river are eventually taken by the Mapuches, and all conquest of Mapuche territories by Europeans practically ceases, until the 1870s “Pacification of Araucania”.
1620 – 103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock [OS=Dec 11]
1788 – Hue Tay Son becomes emperor Quang Trung of Vietnam
1898 – Scientists Pierre & Marie Curie discovers radium
1906 – British Parliament pass two important pieces of social legislation: The Trades Disputes Bill, legalizing peaceful picketing, and The Workingmen’s Compensation Act, broadening employers’ liability for accidents
1912 – Denmark, Norway & Sweden declare neutrality in Comende war
1914 – 2,800 African miners strike at the Van Rhyn Deep mines in a bid to redress some of their grievances
1919 – J. Edgar Hoover deports anarchists/feminist Emma Goldman to Russia
1923 – Nepal changes from British protectorate to independent nation
1937 – The first full-length cel animated feature film and the earliest in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre
1946 – Earthquake in South Japan, kills 1,086
1948 – State of Eire (formerly Irish Free State) declares its independence
1962 – US & Cuba accord, releases bay of pigs captive
1975 – Madagascar adopts constitution
1988 – Lockerbie disaster: Pan Am Flight 103 destroyed mid air by a terrorist bomb killing all 258 on board over Scotland
1991 – Soviet Union formally dissolves 11 of 12 republics sign treaty forming Commonwealth of Independent States
1999 – The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives that ETA intended to use to blow up Torre Picasso in Madrid
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