This is what we're celebrating or observing This Week
Run your cursor over the pictures. If your cursor changes to a hand, click on the image for more information.
December 31, 2017
Champagne Day - 12/31
New Year's Eve - 12/31
Resolution Day - Dec. 31
Hogmany (an Auld Year's Night Celebration held in Scotland) begins on New Years Eve - 12/31
Times Square New Year's Eve crystal ball drops for the first time (1907) - Dec. 31
World Peace Meditation/Healing Day - Dec. 31
Boris Yeltsin announces his resignation as President of Russia on Russian Television (1999) - Dec. 31
Farthing coin is no longer considered legal tender in Great Britain (1960) - Dec. 31
Make Up You Mind Day - 12/31
Manhattan Bridge (suspension bridge that crosses the East River in NYC) is opened (1909) - Dec. 31
Taipei 101 (101-floor landmark skyscraper in Taipei) opens as the world's tallest skyscraper (2004) - Dec. 31
Times Square holds its first New Year's Eve celebration (1904) - Dec. 31
January 1, 2018
January 1, 2017
Czechoslovakia is dissolved and the Czech Republic is established (1993) - Jan. 01
First-Foot Day (British Folklore concerning the first person to cross the threshold of a home on New Years Day) - 1/1
Japanese New Year - Jan. 1
Mummer's Parade (Philadelphia, PA since 1901) - Jan. 01
New Year's Day - 1/1
Rose Bowl (American college football bowl game) - Jan. 01
Czechoslovakia is dissolved and the Slovak Republic is established (1993) - Jan. 01
Solemnity of Mary (Roman Catholic feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary) - Jan. 1
Basil of Caesarea (Saint Basil the Great) feast day (379) - Jan. 01
Tournament of Roses Parade (Pasadena, CA festival of flowers, music and equestrians since 1890) - Jan. 01
Universal Hour of Peace Day - Jan. 01
World Day of Peace (feast day of the Roman Catholic Church dedicated to Peace - 1/1
January 2, 2018
Bruno Hauptmann (accused kidnapper of Charles Lindbergh's infant son) goes on trial in Flemington, NJ for the baby's murder (1935) - Jan. 02
US National Maximum Speed Law is set at 55mph and signed into law by President Richard Nixon in response to OPEC (1974) - Jan. 02
Get Over it Day - 1/2
Luna 1 (first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon) is launched by the USSR (1959) - Jan. 02
Mercurius (a Roman priest of the Basilica di San Clemente) becomes the first Pope to adopt a new regnal name upon his elevation to the papacy as Pope John II (533) - Jan. 02
Science Fiction Day - 1/2
Anne Francis (American actress best known for her role in the movie "Forbidden Planet") dies of complications from pancreatic cancer at age 80 (2011) - Jan. 02
Pete Postlethwaite (English actor) dies at age 64 after a lengthy battle with cancer in Shrewsbury, Shropshire England (2011) - Jan. 02
January Full Moon - Wolf Moon
Mahayanna (Buddhist New Year) celebrated on the day of January's full moon (2018) - Jan. 2
January 3, 2018
Alaska joins the Union as the 49th State (1959) - Jan. 3
Apple Computer is incorporated in Cupertino, CA (1977) - Jan. 3
Flash Airlines (Egyptian Charter flight company) Flight 605 crashes into the Red Sea shortly after takeoff killing all 148 aboard (2004) - Jan. 3
March of Dimes (US health charity for children and babies) is established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to defeat polio (1938) - Jan. 3
Start Your New Year's Resolution Day - Jan. 03
Venus transits Jupiter (1818) - Jan. 3
Chocolate Covered Cherry Day
Festival of Sleep Day - Jan. 3
Drinking Straw Day - Jan. 3
Fruitcake Toss Day - Jan. 3
Manuel Antonio Noriega (Panamanian dictator charged with cocaine trafficking, racketerring and money laundering) surrenders to American Forces (1990) - Jan. 3
National Express Coach Crash occurs on the motorway slip connecting to the M25 motorway in London results in the death of 3 people with several more injured (2007) - Jan. 3
Earth's Perihelion Day occurs in early January when earth is closest to the Sun (2018) - Jan. 3
January 4, 2018
Blender Day - Jan. 4
Flower Basket Day - 1/4
Nancy Pelosi (Democratic US Congresswoman) is elected as the first female Speaker of the US House of Representatives (2007) - Jan. 4
Old Rock Day - Jan. 4
The Palace of Whitehall (main residentce of the English monarchs in London from 1530 to 1698) is destroyed by fire (1698) - Jan. 4
Spaghetti Day - Jan. 4
Topsy (elephant attraction at Coney Island's "Luna Park" in NJ) is electrocuted by Edison for killing three men in three years (1903) - Jan. 4
World Hypnotism Day - Jan. 4
Trivia Day - Jan. 4
Braille Day is the celebration of the birthday of Louis Braille (1809) - Jan. 4
New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City (1865) - Jan. 4
Sputnik 1 (the first Earth-orbiting artifical satellite) falls out of its orbit and burns up on its reentry into the Earth's atmosphere (1958) - Jan. 4
Burj Khalifa (Dubai, UAE) offically opens becoming the tallest man-made structure ever built at 2,717 ft (828 m) as part of Downtown Dubai (2010) - Jan. 4
Elizabeth Ann Seton (first American born saint) dies of tuberculosis at age 46 (1821) - Jan. 4
Isaac Newton (English physicist, mathematician, astronomer and theologian) is born at Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire, England (1643) - Jan. 4 (N.S.)
Luna 1 (Soviet interplanetary station) becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon (1959) - Jan. 4
Rose Heilbron (first woman appointed Queen's Counsel) becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey (1972) - Jan. 4
Spirit Rover (NASA's MER-A) lands successfully on Mars three weeks before its twin (Opportunity) landed on the other side of the planet (2004) - Jan. 4
January 5, 2018
Alfred Dreyfus (French artillery officer of Jewish background) is convicted of treason and sentenced to Devil's Island (1894) - Jan. 05
Amelia Earhart is declared dead approximately two years after her initial disappearance (1939) - Jan. 05
Amy Johnson (English Aviatrix) dies in service to the Air Transport Auxiliary (1941) - 1/5
National Bird Day is created by bird activists to draw attention to the exploit of pet and captive birds - Jan. 05
Catherine de Medici (widow of Henry II of France) dies at age 69 most likely from pleurisy (1589) - 1/5
Edward the Confessor dies in London England (leaving three men to claim the throne of England - 1066) - 1/5
Elizabeth of Russia (daughter of Peter the Great and Catherine I) dies at age 52 after a 21 year reign as Empress (1762) - Jan. 05 (New Style)
Eris (largest dwarf planet in our solar system) is discovered (2005) - Jan. 05
Louis XV is subject to an assassination attempt by Robert Damiens (1757) - Jan. 05
Nellie Tayloe Ross takes office as the governor of Wyoming (becoming the 1st female governor in the U.S. (1925) - 1/5
Twelfth Night (aka Epiphany Eve) marks the coming of the Epiphany and conclusion of the Twelve Days of Christmas - Jan. 05
Westley Allan Dodd is executed for child molestation and murder becoming the first official hanging in the US since 1965 (1993) - Jan. 05
Get on the Computer Day - Jan. 5
Sri Guru Gobind Singh Sahib (10th Guru of Sikhism born in Patna, Bihar in India) birth is observed in India (1666) - Jan. 05
Turn up the Heat Day - Jan. 5
January 6, 2018
Allessandro de' Medici (Duke of Florence age 27) is assassinated by a distant cousin Lorenzino de' Medici (1537) - 1/6
William and Harry (sons of Prince Charles, heir to the throne of England) have their first double portrait unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in London (2010) - 1/6
Constantine XI (last Roman Emperor) is crowned at Mistra (1449) - Jan. 06
Epiphany (commemorates the visitation of the Magi to the child Jesus) last day of the Twelve Days of Christmas - Jan. 06
Frances Burney (aka Fanny Burney) an English novelist, diarist and playwright dies in Bath, England at age 81 (1840) - Jan. 06
George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis (1759) - Jan. 06
Harold Godwinson is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey in London (1066) - Jan. 06
Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves (they divorce seven months later) at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, London (1540) - 1/6
Nancy Kerrigan (American figure-skater on right) is attacked during the US national championships in Detroit and is forced to withdraw (1994) - Jan. 06
Daylight Savings Time is implemented 4 months early in the U.S. due to the 1973 OAPEC oil embargo and subsequent energy crisis (1974) - 1/6
Philip of Swabia is crowned King of the Romans at Aix-la-Chapelle (1205) - 1/6
Three Kings Day - 1/6
Crown of Saint Stephen (coronation crown of Hungary) is returned to the people of Hungary by order of U.S. President Jimmy Carter (1978) - Jan. 06
Feast of Theophany (Eastern Orthodox/Julian Calendar Day of Epiphany) - Jan. 06
Cuddle Up Day - Jan. 6
January 7, 2018
Afonso IV of Portugal becomes King of Portugal upon the death of his father, Denis (1325) - Jan. 07
Boris Gudonov (brother-in-law to the tsar) seizes the throne of Russia upon the death of Ivan the Terrible'x feeble-minded son, Feodor I (1598) - Jan. 07
Catherine of Aragon (annulled wife of Henry VIII) dies at Kimbolton Castle in Cambridgeshire England (1536) - 1/7
Feast of the Nativity of Christ - Jan. 07
Harlem Globtrotters Day (commemorates the founding of the Harlem Globetrotters by Abe Saperstein - 1926) - Jan. 07
Hirohito (124th Emperor of Japan) dies from complications of duodenal cancer (1989) - Jan. 07
Mark Essex shoots and kills 9 people and injures 13 from the New Orleans Howard Johnson's Hotel (1973) - 1/7
International Programmers Day (celebrates the contributions made by computer programmers) - Jan. 07
Nikola Tesla (Serbian-born inventor known as "The Father of Physics") dies alone from heart failure in the New Yorker Hotel (1943) - Jan. 07
Golden Globe Awards - hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC 8 ET with arrivals starting at 7 CT (2018) - Jan. 7
Iberia Flight 602 (EC-ATV Sud Caravelle VI-R) crashes into Sa Talia hill in San Jose on approach to Ibiza Airport killing all 104 on board (1972) - Jan. 07
Baptism of Jesus - held on Sunday after 1/6 (2018) - 1/7
