What are the important events that happened on December 26? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
December 26: Facts & Myths About This Day
December 26 is the 361st day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 5 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Thursday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is December 13, 2024 – a Thursday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 1,735,171,200 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.
Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘trihectahexacontahenagon’ day.
Capricorn is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Turquoise is the modern birthstone for this month. Onyx is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 34 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,388 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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December 26 Historical Events
- 1861 –American Civil War: The Trent Affair: Confederate diplomatic envoys James M. Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus heading off a possible war between the United States and United Kingdom.
- 1870 –The 12.8-km long Fréjus Rail Tunnel through the Alps is completed.
- 1900 –A relief crew arrives the the lighthouse on the Flannan Isles of Scotland, only to find the previous crew has disappeared without a trace.
- 1925 –Turkey adopts the Gregorian Calendar.
- 1941 –U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
- 1972 –Vietnam War: As part of Operation Linebacker II, 120 American B-52 Stratofortress bombers attacked Hanoi, including 78 launched from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the largest single combat launch in Strategic Air Command history.
- 1975 –The Tupolev Tu-144 SST goes into service in Soviet Union.
- 1980 –Aeroflot puts the Ilyushin Il-86 into service.
- 1982 –Time’s Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer.
- 2005 –A gang-related shooting on a busy shopping street in Toronto kills one and injures six.
Who were born on December 26?
- 1820 –Dion Boucicault, Irish actor and playwright (d. 1890)
- 1927 –Stu Miller, American baseball player
- 1935 –Abdul “Duke” Fakir, American singer (The Four Tops)
- 1942 –Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo, Guatemalan president
- 1947 –Carlton Fisk, American baseball player
- 1960 –Jim Toomey, American syndicated cartoonist
- 1963 –Bill Wennington, Canadian basketball player
- 1966 –Sandra Taylor, American model and actress
- 1971 –Jared Leto, American actor and singer (30 Seconds to Mars)
- 1984 –Leonardo Ghiraldini, Italian rugby player
Who died on December 26?
- 268 –Pope Dionysius
- 1966 –Herbert Otto Gille, German SS officer (b. 1897)
- 1983 –Violet Carson, British actress (b. 1898)
- 1989 –Doug Harvey, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1924)
- 2000 –Jason Robards, American actor (b. 1922)
- 2001 –Nigel Hawthorne, English actor (b. 1929)
- 2004 –Marianne Heiberg, Norwegian mediator (b. 1945)
- 2006 –Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States (b. 1913)
- 2007 –Stu Nahan, American sportscaster (b. 1926)
- 2010 –Teena Marie, American singer and composer (b. 1956)
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